Currency Exchange

I am trying to figure out how I should go about exchanging currency to set up life in the UK without getting shafted further by high commission charges or wiring fees on top of the already pretty miserable exchange rate. Anyone have some good suggestions?

You'll get charged where ever you go. The only place I've heard that doesn't charge is some banks but you have to have an account with them

<disclaimer> I have not used either of these.

http://www.xe.com/sitemap.htm

http://www.hifx.co.uk/pservices/

I use www.xe.com several times. The first time was a large sum to set up over here. I'm very happy with them haven't had any problems and their rates were much better than going through the bank.

I use www.xe.com several times. The first time was a large sum to set up over here. I'm very happy with them haven't had any problems and their rates were much better than going through the bank.

We use XE as well and are really pleased with their rates and customer service.

I think I might be missing something....when we came over last July, all I did was take USD directly out of my account in the States using my ATM card (Citibank).  I was not charged any transaction fees or ATM fees and I received the going exchange rate.  Isn't this possible for most people, or do most people get fees taken out or something? I'm just curious why exchanging cash back and forth seems to be more of a worry than it was for me. 

I am thinking of setting up another Citibank account in GBP so that I can do the same when I go back to the States- just go to a Citibank and take the dollars out from my sterling account using my ATM card. 

All this is my good luck that I live in and will be frequenting cities that have Citibank of course.  Perhaps some of the posters do not have that option?  Or maybe we're talking really really large sums of money?  I mean I paid for a lot of things in cash (even my security deposit on our flat) but maybe that is not possible for some things.

Someone clue me in...

(oh and the moderator might move this to the money/banking board...)

Geeta, that's exactly what I've been doing.  I use the ATM to withdraw money from my US account that I have with a small, local savings and loan bank, and I deposit it into my UK account.  I get the going exchange rate with no fees.  It's great!

We do get charge international fees everytime we use the ATM. Also b/c you can only take out 300 USD in one day from an ATM (with our bank anyway) that doesn't translate to very many GBP. We also wired over a lot of $$ the first time we sent $$ over - enough to buy a car.

Not true: You can get COMMISSION FREE/PENALTY FREE currency simply by banking with Bank of America.  BOA has a deal with Barclays.  If you use your US, Bank of America card at any UK Barclays card, you can withdraw at the current exchange rate. No penalties, no commission and no currency exchange fees. You can withdraw about 500 pounds a day using this scheme, so if you need to move a lot of money over, it might take you a few days & trips to complete. BOA also has deals with other European banks including DeutschBank in Germany and Paribas in France, so you can withdraw your US funds in Euros without charge.

Also, the UK Post Office does not charge commission and have one of the better exchange rates around.  And if you have a Eurostar frequent traveler card, you can exchange money without commission at Waterloo station.

Whatever you do, don't use those tourist trap "Commission Free" centers in West London. They are commission free, but you ge ta horrible exchange rate.

Ok good - I'm glad I'm not missing something big here.   I check my statements very closely and I haven't been charged and fees for taking the funds out so I wasn't quite sure if there was something else I wasn't thinking of.

But yes, as neeps said, if you don't have a bank that has a reciprocal agreement like Bank of America/Barclays, then you will get charged for using an ATM.  So I get that part of it.  And the part about daily withdrawal limits.  We had to take the max out every day for like 5 days for our security deposit.  I can see why you'd want to wire funds in the case of buying a car or putting a down payment down on a house.

I wonder if the BoA/Barclays thing works the other way around - can I go to Bank of America ATMs in the US and use my Barclays card?  I'm hoping this will save me from having to open yet ANOTHER account...

I'd be curious to compare the conversion rates that BOA/Barclays gives you on your ATM withdrawls with what you can get from xe or a similar site. I know when I called my US bank to see what kind of rate they would give me to wire $$ over for the car it was a terrible exchange rate. Which is why we went with xe. Of course I'm also convinced my US bank is out to screw every penny they can out of you. 

I'd be curious to compare the conversion rates that BOA/Barclays gives you on your ATM withdrawls with what you can get from xe or a similar site. I know when I called my US bank to see what kind of rate they would give me to wire $$ over for the car it was a terrible exchange rate. Which is why we went with xe. Of course I'm also convinced my US bank is out to screw every penny they can out of you. 

I thought that it was supposed to be a fee-less exchange rate but now I'm curious as well.  I will check some old statements to see how the rate I got compares with the published rate on that day.

I checked my Barclays account info and they say they charge a 2.75% fee to cover handling costs and Visa processing fees (this is if you make purchases I believe) and a 1.5% fee for additional foreign cash transactions using a non-Barclays ATM.  But it also says the fee is waived if using Bank of America ATMs in the US.

So I might call and ask about that 2.75% but otherwise I think it should be cost-free.

Also for my first paycheck I didn't yet have a UK account, so my company had to wire transfer the funds to my US account.  I received a HORRIBLE exchange rate and was charged fees even though my company told them they would pay all fees.  I tried to complain to the bank and find out why I got that exchange rate but never got an answer.  So annoying.  It ended up being a loss of like $300 or something.     So I am avoiding wire transfer at all costs.

When I use my American ATM card here in the UK, I first look-up the daily published exchange rate on the internet.  When I go to the ATM, that's the exchange rate I get.  I think it's because my bank doesn't know any better.  (They're a very small, local savings-and-loan bank from my hometown.)