Sending money abroad

jonnyburgo

I need to send some money to my sisters sterling account in Turkey, as far as I can see bank charges will be a bit hefty, anyone had to send quite a large amount of money abroad? any way around the charges or at least minimizing them?

KrisGee

I use azimo via their mobile app for instant transfers to Poland. So far no issues and exchange rates are good.

Whistler

I have been using moneycorp.com for over a decade. There is a flat £5 fee, regardless of the amount, which is nothing when you compare it to bank charges. Set up an online account and either use a debit or credit card to transfer money or transfer money from your bank account.

spark240

What bank you sending from?...I use Barclays regularly to send funds to Spain..can’t recall the fee buts it’s not massive.

jonnyburgo

Moneycorp sounds interesting, do they allow you to send over 10k as a new customer @Whistler ? Ive had a glance around and most seem to have this limit.

Whistler

You can send more that £10,000. My first transaction with Moneycorp was to move £75,000 to buy a flat in another European country.

When you send a large amount - and I do not know how much makes it large - you will get asked where the money comes from, eg. savings or a lottery win, which I guess is them checking for money laundering.

boogieman

I’ve used Currencyfair to send money to my bro in law in the US. Really easy to set up, the exchange rate was way better than the bank and they take a fixed fee rather than commission. I think it was less than a tenner to send over a couple of grand. 

thermionic

Look into Transferwise - I used it buy my Rickenbacker from a seller on here who was in Spain. It’s a clever idea, it basically uses people who want to transfer money in the opposite direction to you, so the exchange fees effectively cancel out. 

jonnyburgo

Thanks for the advice guys in the I did it over the phone with my bank £35 charge I was more comfortable doing it that way 

Majorscale

TransferWise 

KrisGee

jonnyburgo said:

Thanks for the advice guys in the I did it over the phone with my bank £35 charge I was more comfortable doing it that way 

£35? Day light robbery. Unless you did it late night

hubobulous

Transferwise for me

Shmoo

I've use XE.com quite a bit.

eSully

Another option is Starling or Revolut.

https://www.starlingbank.com/send-money-abroad/

https://www.revolut.com/

I've used Revolut recently without issue however it was a small amount of money.

danishbacon

UKforex for larger amounts, transferwise for £1-2k and below.

Snap

£35 for peace of mind is worth every penny IMO. Dealing with your own bank so you have easy comeback should you need it.

notanon

eSully said:

Another option is Starling or Revolut.

https://www.starlingbank.com/send-money-abroad/

https://www.revolut.com/

I've used Revolut recently without issue however it was a small amount of money.

I find these cards excellent. Being able to turn on and off web based purchases, ATM access, chip and pin within seconds is very very useful. Beers rates abroad too. I have a asking account and wife has revolut card.