[DavidGordon10]

I am sure there must be other forum members who have to make international bank transfers from a UK bank account.

We regularly make fairly small fee payments (about £2500 – 3500) to advisers from all sorts of countries, both near (such as EU countries) and far. The “far” includes some exotic places – Kazakhstan, Sudan and the like. The exotic places are predictably trouble-free.

The only countries from which payments are often returned are the USA and Canada. The USA is unpredictable, but I have just had payments to banks in California and NY returned, both accounts to which we have transferred money easily and event-free in the past. Canada is predictably hopeless, so much so that I gave up on one recent payment, was due to meet the payee in Seoul – about equidistant from London and Ottawa – and hand-carried $3000 in cash to pay her.

That is nuts – hand-carrying bundles of cash around the world because banks cannot make a transfer.

Does anyone have the same problem as me, and is there any solution to suggest?

[capetonianm]

I have used Revolut for transfers. Mid rate, in some case the receiving bank make a charge, which is annoying because you don’t know how much your payee is going to receive, and then when you send the balance, ditto!

Apart from that, I have been very satisfied but my needs are more limited in both geographic scope and magnitude than yours.

There are also currency dealers such a HiFX, XE-COM, Currencies Direct whom I used in the past. For various reasons I am not recommending them, particularly Currencies Direct with whom I had a less than satisfactory experience when transferring money from GBP-CHF, and because I was in ZA at the time they decided this was ‘money laundering.’ Had we been talking thousands of pounds, fair enough, but it was less than £100, and it was to someone to whom I’d made regular transfers in the past.

Commercial banks are probably the worst and most expensive way to do transfers.

There is one FX dealer I would recommend : https://www.sterlingfx.co.uk/international-transfers but they do not currently offer the service, I believe it is on the way. I’ve used them to get travel cash in unusual currencies and have been delighted with their service.

[Swissdiver]

I guess DavidGordon is thinking about a company bank account. While there is a business version of Revolut, I don’t know it.

I work with Swiss banks and never face any transfer problem. That said, I always give ALL the information, including Swift code (ABA or Routing Number in the USA), full name and address of the beneficiary and the bank, … At the end of the day, the game is very simple: if you don’t give all the information your bank wants, it will play you by gaining value days!

2 users thanked author for this post.

LuganoPirate, cwoodward

[LuganoPirate]

I used to use Moneycorp, as they would make instant transfers, whereas HSBC would take up to 5 days -for security reasons!!! Transfers from my account to Moneycorp done online were instant. These days I’m really impressed with HSBC and no longer use Moneycorp. I give an order at 9am, and it’s on my account in South Africa by 11am, sometimes sooner. I’ve also made transfers to other destinations and beneficiaries in Africa and it’s just as quick. I also make transfers from broker in the UK. They give me a spot rate and it’s also there same day, sometimes next day.

Like Swissdiver I also use Swiss banks, find them very fast and very good exchange rates.

Another friend who has to make regular payments to more exotic destinations such as you mention David, uses a bank account in Dubai. He never has any problems, very good forex rates and very fast transfers. Could be worth looking into.

[MartynSinclair]

For personal transfers, i use my Barclays banking app to USA. It may not be the most cost effective but for the amounts I am transferring, ca. £3-5K, it is easy and darn quick, virtually instantaneously credited to BofA.

Larger amounts, Moneycorp.

For ATM money, still use the Post Office Card. Again, it may not be the most cost effective, but it carries all the currencies I need and is easy to use.

I have not used this though for corporate account transfer

[JonathanCohen09]

I regularly send transfers to different countries and I find that Transfer Wise is very good indeed and also very reliable.

There are good rates of exchange and reasonable charges, highly recommended.

[Inthesandpit]

For the last 9 years whilst resident in Dubai i used TORFX based in Cornwall, good rates and more efficient that HSBC UAE. i could do an online transfer from my HSBC UAE account to TORFX at 0730 local and the funds were in my Santander and FD accounts within 2hours. HSBC UAE could take 4 days, at one point they lost 40000AED, it took over a year for them to rectify the mistake. Initially they blamed me for doing the transaction online. Glad to back in Europe now, my days in Dubai are over and hope never to return. I think i better change my user name now.

[Montysaurus]

inthesandpit – no need to change name – it stands out. I adopted montysaurus because a work colleague appeared to think something I said was old fashioned so she called me after a fictitious dinosaur as I was called Monty at work. Sorry to stray off topic.

[MarkCymru]

We use Revolut business accounts in many currencies. They’re cheap and very helpful (via chat, instead of interminable waits on a “helpline”). We had one client whose transfers to us kept getting returned. They’re a Fortune 500 corporation so we couldn’t get trace information and never got to the bottom of it. Other than that, all works beautifully. There are a few very high-risk countries (e.g Uganda) in which Revolut does not yet operate but they have a banking licence in the US and are promising Canada soon — we never have any problems sending money there. All in all, much cheaper than HSBC (our other bank), more efficient and more responsive

[K1ngston]

[postquote quote=985795][/postquote]

I totally agree with you Jonathan, we use Transferwise to transfer funds throughout Asia and for paying amounts to accounts both personal and business globally

[Inthesandpit]

Montysaurus
Inthesandpit it is then, seems your work colleagues and my god kids have the same idea, they saw me writing with a fountain pen, i explained at work i always do this taking meeting notes in small A5 books. I then went onto explain what a joy it is to receive a hand written note or letter. Quizzical looks.I then explained what a typewriter was, a telex, a roneo vickers copier and how in load control / ops we used to send load-messages etc by preparing the message on a ticker tape, dialling up the recipient, waiting for the connection and then pressing send to transmit the message. I was hoping for a look of wonderment and awe instead they decided to call me Uncle Dinosaur. Quaint really but i do play on it a bit.
Sorry all for going off-piste.

1 user thanked author for this post.

Montysaurus

[BPP]

Hi Inthesandpit
Bet you can use a Slide Rule too!
I have great fun on occasion explaining – and showing this wonderful piece of 60’s kit.
BPP
Again off topic – sorry!

1 user thanked author for this post.

Inthesandpit

[Chris in Makati]

I’d also like to add a recommendation for TransferWise. I’ve sometimes had transfers completed within a matter of minutes with them. They have excellent exchange rates too.

https://transferwise.com/

1 user thanked author for this post.

K1ngston

[MikeSmith]

Forget HSBC – terrible. But here’s another vote for TransferWise….use them all the time to Canada and no problems at all. Like that you can book a rate and not have to actually make the payment to TransferWise for 24 hours (or 72 hours if done on Friday)….gives you the advantage to hedge in case the currency moves in your favour. Have cancelled payments and rebooked the transaction many many times as the FX moved in my favour in the 24 hour period. Fast, easy, excellent rates, can do it in the app or pc.

[Shoni BR]

I also use Revolut; I am more than satisfied, and, definitely do reccomend; they did send information about a new product for business type of account. Also, their Customer Service is excellent; I did have a missing credit last year, called them, and the CS solved it almost immediately; the contact by e-mail is also very good. Works!

[Author]

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