Oz Forex - Is it legit?

Litx on 22/05/2011 - 23:09
Last edited 23/05/2011 - 00:01

I've recently stumbled upon Oz Forex, a site that apparently changes money and transfers it to a beneficiary you nominate for a low fee and at extremely favourable rates (see http://www.ozforex.com.au/cgi-bin/customer-foreign-exchange-…). The only catch is the transfer has to be above $2000, and a $15 fee is charged. As I'll be going to North America later this year this seems like a great way to lock in a good rate, but is there a further catch? In fact, is it legit at all? The last thing I want to do is sink $2000 into some scam… Thoughts?

Thanks guys!

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Comments

  • camelgrass on 22/05/2011 - 23:57
    +3

    Definitely legit. A few months ago I created an account to transfer money to Southeast Asia for a non-profit. I even received a personal call from a rep to confirm my identity and the reason for creating my account. In the end they didn't let me transfer the money, something to do with they don't deal with non-profits, something like that. Still, they seemed very professional to deal with.

    It's a bit strange that you ask "In fact, is it legit at all". The bottom of their website lists all their details. You can do a simple search online.

    To find which company registered the domain name <ozforex.com.au>:
    http://www.ausregistry.com.au/whois.php

    OzForex Pty Ltd ABN 65 092-375-703
    http://www.abr.business.gov.au/%28ewuqpd55v1bmzp55sckensbu%2…

    Regulated in Australia by ASIC (AFS Licence number 226 484)
    http://www.search.asic.gov.au/fsr/flb.html

    Member of FOS (Financial Ombudsman Service)
    http://www.fos.org.au/centric/home_page/members/list_of_fina…

    Full Member of AFMA (Australian Financial Markets Association)
    http://www.afma.com.au/membershiplist.html,c=y

    • itx on 23/05/2011 - 00:39

      Yep I did check their AFSL and ABN, just still wasn't sure- the service just seemed so much better and cheaper than what any of the banks etc were offering, I thought I'd better ask someone else to help me have a look in case there was some glaring indicator of it being a scam that I've missed. So thanks for the info!

      Also seems to be a great alternative to my 28 degrees card in the sense that I can lock in a rate I'm happy with now, though obviously no one knows which way the rate will fluctuate in the future.

      • camelgrass on 23/05/2011 - 01:03

        Yes, always best to ask if not sure, especially when it's your money!

        It all depends on how much money you are going to spend in North America. I have usually spent most of the holiday budget even before I go on holiday (airfares, hotels, etc). I'm a fairly thrifty traveller and in my case I would rather have the convenience of the using the credit card while having my cash sitting in a high interest account back in Australia. But then, I don't spend all that much while travelling.

        To be honest, nobody knows which way the dollar will go. It could go up or down, but I think it's a pretty safe bet the AU $ will not fall drastically against the US $ for the rest of the year (by drastic I mean crash, it could well indeed fall).

    • stumo on 23/05/2011 - 19:06

      I've used them before too, 2 years ago.

  • [Deactivated] on 23/05/2011 - 00:06

    A very good site. Don't trust me, though! You don't even know me!

    Google is your friend

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OzForex

    Check the references for details.

    It just shows you who the scammers really are:

    Commbank, travelex, etc. If you bought forex and then sold it back you would lose 10-15%. That's two years of mortgage interest for what?

    • itx on 23/05/2011 - 00:54

      Saw that wikipedia page and I had the feeling it was maintained by OzForex themselves so didn't look too closely at it, but now that I have I've noticed subtle differences between their sites (OzForex, Tranzfers, ClearFX) - ClearFX seems best for transfers between 2K-10K, OzForex for 10K+, Tranzfers (maybe) for <2K, but those differences are very minimal.

      And yea, grrr to travelex haha…

      Thanks for your help!

  • TCM on 23/05/2011 - 01:04

    Definitely legit, I used it last August to transfer money to Hong Kong and the rates were definitely a lot better than the banks. One thing I noticed was that the more you transfer, the better the rate got.

  • fpernone on 23/05/2011 - 10:08

    I've used them last August to transfer money to France. No issues with the transactions.

    Note that they are so cheap to Europe since they transfer your funds to England (through a Barclay acccount) and then transfer for free into a EU nation of your choice. Just make sure that they keep your Account comments when transferring to the destination.

    The receiver of my funds did not recognise the money in their account since the agent did not ensure that the description/comments attached to my transfer were not placed on the forwarded transfer to the receiver.

    Another thing was that my first transfer was free so it was even cheaper!

    But the short answer is… they're legit. They are cheap and they are good.

  • allthedeals.com.au on 23/05/2011 - 14:56

    Used them plenty of times over the last couple of years .. never had a problem :-)

  • bragains on 23/05/2011 - 17:15

    http://brsolrprd.fairtrading.nsw.gov.au/businessnames/Busine…

    http://bit.ly/jRmoJQ

    Looks legit enough.

    EDIT: Used URL shorterner (because the ATO's URL was too long for OzBargain)

    • camelgrass on 23/05/2011 - 17:57

      Did you read the page on your first link?:

      Registration status: REMOVED
      ABN: UNKNOWN
      Trading status: NOT TRADING

      Nevertheless, yes, it is a legitimate company as per my links in first comment.

  • Noslen on 23/05/2011 - 21:55

    Used them before, worked like a treat. no hassle. no worries.

  • StewBalls on 24/05/2011 - 01:12

    I ran around like a chook with it's head cut off looking for a cheap way to xfer some money OS last year; I ended up just doing it at AusPost for $18 flat rate & the exchange rate was pretty much same as everyone else! :)

  • tomsco on 24/05/2011 - 08:46

    Sorry to go off topic, but where do you guys go for simply exchanging currency? Heading overseas (Sth Africa - Egypt - Thailand) and was wanting to get some money changed before I go.

    • retiredfeline on 24/05/2011 - 08:53
      +2

      Check if the airport in those places has an ATM. A 28degrees card and an ATM that will take it are your friends.

      Otherwise take some international currency like USD or Euros and change there just enough to get you through the first day and to an ATM. Changing exotic currencies in Oz gets you poor rates.

      • StewBalls on 24/05/2011 - 11:18
        +1

        Yeah definitely with GP on this one, don't buy anything exotic onshore here, you'll get rorted. Just ask around for a good money changer when you get OS.

        However, taking some USD is a great idea right now; against our dollar it's still quite weak, and easy to get; but for some reason still has more favourable street exchange rates than the little Aussie battler, certainly in many parts of Asia (from what I hear; I have to rely on reports of friends for this, no holidays for me for a while…bloody work).

        • camelgrass on 24/05/2011 - 13:04

          Yeah, when changing money overseas USD is nearly always preferred to AUD. It's much easier for them to deal with USD, therefore you will get better rates. Can't think why I would ever take AUD overseas.

        • retiredfeline on 24/05/2011 - 13:25

          There are a few places where AUD is more common, Pacific Islands I think are some. Haven't experienced that personally.

        • camelgrass on 24/05/2011 - 14:17

          I was in East Timor 10 years ago. Even they preferred changing USD over AUD (that was before USD became their offical currency). You may be right regarding the odd Pacific island though.

        • retiredfeline on 24/05/2011 - 15:32

          ET was a special case, they were under UN protection for many years. I think places like Fiji use AUD more than USD.

        • camelgrass on 24/05/2011 - 16:27

          It was nothing to do with the UN. Even before the UN came in both the Indo Rupiah and USD was used as local currency (depending on where you did buiness) and that continued for a few years after the UN arrived. Most money changers would accept AUD but would much prefer USD (and give you a better rate) to change into Rupiah.

          I'm not saying that's how it works everywhere, but that was East Timor.

          You're probably right regarding Fiji, well above half of their tourist arrivals are from Australia and NZ.

      • tomsco on 24/05/2011 - 12:29

        OK, cheers guys. So just to reiterate, get some US$ locally and than change it into foreign currencies when in the country. 28degrees is a definite consideration, I just heard there may be limits on the amount you can cash out from it

        • retiredfeline on 24/05/2011 - 12:33

          Any limits are due to the local banking, not to 28degrees. I've encountered silly low limits like 200€. Which makes 28degrees even better because there is no per transaction charge.

        • tomsco on 24/05/2011 - 20:49

          By limits for cashing out, I read on whirlpool something along the lines of if you withdrawl more than your credit limit in a month, they might frown upon in.

  • gadgetguy on 24/05/2011 - 12:14

    I prefer HiFx.

    http://www.hifx.com.au/

    Once you are signed up you can now do it all online with them and there is no fee. Used them many times to send money to the UK. Only takes 2 - 3 days and they have the best rates.

  • ozforex on 24/05/2011 - 12:21

    Hi Everyone!
    I work for OzForex and yes, we are 100% legitimate, operating since 1998 with offices in Sydney, London and Toronto. If anyone has any questions, please feel free to email me on [email protected]. You can also follow us on Twitter for market updates www.twitter.com/ozforex or check out our Tranzfers Facebook community on www.facebook.com/tranzfers.
    Cheers,
    Sandra

    • camelgrass on 24/05/2011 - 12:56

      Hi Sandra, Can you confirm you don't allow transactions for non-profit organisations? I was refused.

      What service is best to use, OzForex or Tranzfers?

      • ozforex on 24/05/2011 - 15:27

        I checked with our dealers - transactions for non-profits are very case by case, it depends on the charity, the amount you want to send etc. If you are a charity yourself, it is not so easy to register and satisfy compliance, you need to jump through a few hoops and provide a lot of documentation. Feel free to call us and speak to one of our dealers if you need more details. Australia Local Call: 1300 300 424 - 24 hours Monday to Friday.

        Re OzForex or Tranzfers - OzForex accepts transactions starting at A$2,000 and is fee free from $10,000 upwards (the fee is A$15). Tranzfers charges a flat fee of A$15 per transaction, no matter how much the amount. So for larger transactions I would suggest OzForex and for smaller ones Tranzfers. (Tip for Tranzfers: Users who like our Facebook page and post something on our wall usually get the fee waived as a thank you :) www.facebook.com/tranzfers)

        Hope this helps!
        Cheers,
        Sandra

  • seanism on 24/05/2011 - 21:34
    -1

    anything with that kind of transaction invovled, I never seem to believe them to be legit.

    • tomsco on 26/05/2011 - 12:43
      +1

      What sort of a comment is that? What do you even mean?

  • slowmo on 26/05/2011 - 14:19

    if my word is to be taken any seriously (like any other online poster), transferred substantial amounts with these people before, not only they are efficient (2-3 days account to account), the rates are better compared to the joke of a bank who charges me fees (on both ends of the transfer) on top of their sh1tty exchange rates.

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