[willowshouse]

I have registered .. no mean feat in itself! But I'm a bit wary of the fact that you have to commit all the details of your transfer before they will give you an exchange rate .. and then you have only 60 seconds to accept it. I'd love to hear from someone who has done it already.

Also .. I don't understand how we get them the money. We are in NZ, the money is in the bank in UK and we have no set-up in place to transfer it to them. I have an account with Scottsh Widows and when I want to pay money into that account I phone and tell them and they take it - this is what I thought would happen with xe.com but I obviously got it wrong. Do I really have to try and get my stupid UK bank to send the money by transfer? They couldn't even change my address without receiving a swown affadvait written in blood!!

It's all getting too, too, too difficult and I hate it :wah

dawn (all toys now on the floor)

[jo-and-jeff]

You might check out Custom House (http://www.customhouse.com)'s website, and see if they might suit you better. We found that they didn't take too big of a cut as a fee, and other than the fact that a transfer can take a week or so to fully process, the 3 transfers we've done through them worked well.

You get to see what sort of exchange rate you're going to get before you have to commit, and if you expect the current rate to worsen, you can even "reserve" a set amount of currency at the current rate for transfer at a later time.

Before your first exchange, you will have to go through the initial validation process which will likely take a few extra days, so if you need to do the transfer right this instant, they probably won't suit your needs.

Jo

[Big Puku]

I've used xe (xetrade to be exact) for 3 or 4 smaller deals (hifx don't do under 5k GBP usually), and they've been really good - true you can't see the exact rate until you get to the "deal" page, but then there's no commitment unless you press "buy"!! Alternatively I use hifx (http://www.hifx.co.uk/members/custom_quotes.asp) for up to date quotes before using xetrade for the trade.

Once you've done the deal, you've got up to 5 days (although they tell you 3) to get the money into their account (they send you a confirmation with all the details) - it doesn't matter how you do it as long as it gets there - internet/phone banking etc.

Matt

[jess]

You might check this thread (http://www.emigratenz.org/forum/showthread.php?t=6217&highlight=xe.com)too. We used our US bank to transfer to the NZ bank, but there are several people's experiences on that thread inlcuding xe. Maybe of some help? :)

For some reason it was a lot harder to get our US bank to update our address than it was to transfer $.

[willsken]

Willowhouse I used ex to transfer some money earlier in the year and I had no problems with them. I will use them again.

[DB]

First off, XEtrde.com is custom house currency exchange!

You need to be able to get money electronically to a specified bank account in the UK, which will probably be by a BACS transfer. If you can ring up your bank to transfer money to Scottish Widows, then you should be able to transfer money by phone call to any UK bank account, and that is all you need.

When you complete an XE trade, you get a page that says to send x pounds and pence to a specified bank account with a specified reference number (just like in the demo!), you just then phone up your bank and have them do the transfer.


I've used XE for a few transfers from NZ, and in my opinion it pretty much rocks.

[jo-and-jeff]

XEtrde.com is custom house currency exchange!
Actually, I think that XEtrade.com just performs their transfers in alliance with Custom House.

That makes me wonder if they might add a surcharge on top of Custom House's fees. Or perhaps Custom House gives them discount rates so that the customer pays the same fee either way. It would be interesting to check both ways.

Jo

[Park City Partner]

I have used XE several times but not for a while now. We had no problems with them and as stated you don't have to take the rate the offer...but it is a bit of a hassel to set it up just to see the rate. As I recall, we set up our account so that they could just suck the money out of our US account to execute the transfer. Once we were set up it was easy. I also called them at one point about transferring a bigger amount and they gave me a better rate. I don't use them now because I found out that my investment house gives me the actual current rate and they don't make any money off the deal.

[willowshouse]

DB - just to clarify.. when you complete a trade do you send the money to a UK account? I have internet banking and can do this easily .. but I thought I would have to send it to USA which I cannot do .. probably just being a dipstick. I'm afraid my brain overloaded when trying to find info on their website.

Cheers - let's hope it gets back up towards 3.00

[Big Puku]

Actually, I think that XEtrade.com just performs their transfers in alliance with Custom House.

That makes me wonder if they might add a surcharge on top of Custom House's fees. Or perhaps Custom House gives them discount rates so that the customer pays the same fee either way. It would be interesting to check both ways.

Jo




Yeah I think they're different people, but you do pay into a Custom House account when you do a deal through xetrade. Apparently the rates should be better through xetrade due it mainly being online (rather than talking to a Custom House person) - I couldn't better their rates when I tried, even after taking into account the wire fee (6 GBP?) - although I managed to get Hifx to match them for a larger deal!

btw you pay into a London based Bank of America UK account

Matt

[Ana&Steve]

For some reason it was a lot harder to get our US bank to update our address than it was to transfer $.
:roll So true....

[DB]

DB - just to clarify.. when you complete a trade do you send the money to a UK account?

Yep. They (as in Custom House, xetrade) have bank accounts in numerous contries, so the money goes in and out in the native currency. So you deposit pounds into a UK bank, and get NZD out of a Kiwi bank. If you have internet banking in the UK then its all rather trivial; just key in the stuff they tell you, and its all done.

For some countries (eg USA) you can set up a facility called EFT, whereby they can suck and blow money directly into and out of an ordinary bank account directly, with no processing fees. It takes a bit more setting up if you want them to suck, it works like a direct debit in UK banking parlance.

My experience with xetrade has been sending money direct to an account (EFT) to the USA, and sending a draft to the UK, and at the most a few thousand at a time, but it's worked fine for me every time no problems. In fact, once you're set up, it's verging on easy. On transfers of the size I make the lack of SWIFT fees is the saving, even if their rates were no better than the local bank.

[jo-and-jeff]

Apparently the rates should be better through xetrade due it mainly being online (rather than talking to a Custom House person)
When I made our transfers through Custom House, I did it online, not by calling someone at the company...

Jo

[Jenny & Mark]

We used XE trade and found the whole process ran smoothly. I really felt comfortable that there are several checks to know you are not being phished! They take the funds out of your account by direct withdrawl (at least in Canada).

Mark.

[gpbenton]

I have used XE.com, but only US Dollars -> UK Pounds. I've had no problems, although waiting for a bankers draft through the mail seems rather slow when its happening. I choose not to pay the charge for doing it electronically.

I still intend to use them when I reach NZ, unless someone suggests something obviously better.

[Big Puku]

When I made our transfers through Custom House, I did it online, not by calling someone at the company...

Jo



You must be really special!

[jo-and-jeff]

You must be really special!
Nope. I just went to their website (https://vantage.customhouse.com/cgi-bin/Login.cgi), signed up, and input all the information on our bank accounts in the US and in NZ. We had to either e-mail or fax them copies of official ID (I faxed it because e-mail is not secure). I did have to give them a call to kick them in the butt to get our bank account access verified. But once that setup is done, it's all automatic, and you can go out and generate transfers online to your heart's content.

You get to that page by going to the website's main page (http://www.customhouse.com), and pulling down Customer Login --> Individuals.

Jo

[jonSE]

Used XEtrade a few times now for transfers to and from NZ and OZ.
If you look at XE.com you will get a pretty close idea of the rate before going down the whole setting up the trade in XEtrade.

yes you just pay the UK branch of Bank of America - Custom House currency exchange account the money just like you would pay your gas bill via internet banking.

One thing to be aware of that caught me out recently is that some banks in the UK have put limits on the amount you can pay out of your account using internet banking. (Doesn't matter if you have millions in your account) I think XEtrade has warnings about this on their website now.

[Big Puku]

Nope. I just went to their website (https://vantage.customhouse.com/cgi-bin/Login.cgi), signed up, and input all the information on our bank accounts in the US and in NZ. We had to either e-mail or fax them copies of official ID (I faxed it because e-mail is not secure). I did have to give them a call to kick them in the butt to get our bank account access verified. But once that setup is done, it's all automatic, and you can go out and generate transfers online to your heart's content.

You get to that page by going to the website's main page (http://www.customhouse.com), and pulling down Customer Login --> Individuals.

Jo






cool - i was being sarcastic though!

[borea]

I quite like xe.com. I haven't had any trouble with them, but your first trade with them can take extra time as they get everything set up. I was really surprised how long it took (we had to get Electronic Funds Transfer thingies set up in North America, so it may be different from elsewhere). As others have said, you're not obliged to take the offered exchange rate. Just cancel the trade if you don't like the terms.

I have emailed various questions to them and they've been very responsive as well.

[NeilV]

I used world first to transfer 80K [in stages] from the uk to nz and they beat the XE rate hands down [esp as over 10k they have no fees :raebanana
try this (http://www.worldfirst.com) site.

they take 2 days to set up the first time, but have many advaced features like setting the rate of exchange and pre-booking.

they check out with all the money trading standards and [as my OH is tighter than the skin on an apple, and v cautious] we sent a small amount through successfully first to test out the system. :nice1

saved over $8000 doing it this way compared to bank-to-bank transfer

basically you choose from 2 core options

With World First you have 2 options.
Option 1) Receive the prevailing rate each month on the pre-agreed date of your transfer.
Option 2) Fix the rates for all your transfers in advance up to 1 year ahead.

and have a personal agent to handle all your transactions and watch out for good rates around the time of your transaction. :cheers