Hi Guys,
I have UK£5,000 in my UK Natwest bank account that I earned there years ago, and as I'm more broke than the 10 commandments atm :-/, I need to convert it to Aussie $$'s and bring it back here to pay some rent. Rather than just going with Natwest's somewhat average exchange rates and £20 remittance fee, does anyone have any clever tips to make it go as far as it can re exchanging it, and remitting it?
Thanks,
UniQualz
Cheers mate. I forgot to mention I do have an Aussie $ account with Natwest in England along with my UK£'s one. Should I exchange it to Aus $ there, then just bring it back here?
Certainly another option.
These three are often mentioned. Some of them have referral bonuses for new customers, or lower fees through ozbargain.
https://www.ozbargain.com.au/deals/currencyfair.com
https://www.ozbargain.com.au/deals/ofx.com
https://www.ozbargain.com.au/deals/transferwise.com
Have used the first two and all went well. I just check which one has the best rate at the moment for what I want to do.
Brill, thx mate, will have a look.
I ended up using TransferWise. Virtually market conversion rates, with minimal fee, and money transfer completes in 6 hours. Amazing.
Unfortunately that value will not get you market-based exchange rates, but being over $10k you have a little bargaining power with your bank of choice.
I would insist that NatWest transfer it in GBP, and then your Australian bank should advise you of the receipt (and not automatically convert it). If you can manage to get them to do that, you can then work with your bank as to when to convert (they should be able to hold it in GBP, unprocessed to your account for a day or so while you decide if today is a good rate or not).
The other option is to transfer to a GBP account at HSBC in Australia, and go through the same process with them. HSBC can transfer smaller amounts out of the GBP account as you need it (rather than the full amount) so that might give you some level of management. Watch out for fees.