Wire transfer to UK bank

I know it's probably not this simple... I'm really hoping it is. But my US bank only charges $25 to wire transfer money to an outside account. I do banking with a credit union, so I'm hoping this helps my cause... But if I were to wire my money from my US bank account to my newly created UK bank account will the money automatically convert to GBP? Or will it remain in USD and the UK bank expect me to pay conversion fees? I came over with some cash and it converted TERRIBLY, which I expected with cash. I'm hoping electronically, it goes much better... Thank you!

I've used XE.com to move money from US to UK and also UK to US.  You can set it up to move the money electronically so there won't be any wire fees from the banks, and XE doesn't charge a fee.  The catch is their exchange rate is a little worse than the official rate, so they make their money in the difference.  For me, the difference has never been so great that it outweighed the $25/£25 wire fee from the banks.

Same here.

I normally use XE Trade to transfer my money. You get a quote to convert the money between currencies and then depending on how you transfer it, you may pay a charge for the transfer as well (last time I did it, an EFT transfer was free and a wire transfer was £12.50).

My bank gives a better exchange rate, but they charge £10 per transfer, so usually I find that XE Trade is similar or a little cheaper.

Just had a look on XE Trade for transferring dollars to pounds: if you transfer $1,000, you'll receive £618 in your UK bank - no fee with EFT transfer, or a $20 fee for a wire transfer.

Alternatively, you can also transfer your money via PayPal - open a US account with your US bank details and a UK account with your UK bank details and then transfer the money between them. Not sure of their exchange rate/fees though.

I think I got almost $2 to the £1 when I did my cash... DB's mom works in a bank here so she set me up and took my cash for me. Gave her $665 and she came home with £375, best she could do. So as long as it's not THAT horrid, I'll do it... What's the exchange rate XE offers right now? I couldn't find out how to quote it and such when I looked into it. How does it work? Do I have to have access to online banking for both? Because my UK online banking isn't set up just yet. That's the only reason I'm not using Paypal at the moment.

You can normally do it either way.  Either the sending US bank converts to pounds and sends that amount or the receiving bank will convert to pounds on receipt.  Either way you should get the interbank exchange rates at the time of conversion, which is significantly better than converting cash. If you want a specific amount of pounds transferred let the US bank convert before sending that way you know how much should be deposited and know the fees applied along the way if it is short.

What's the exchange rate XE offers right now? I couldn't find out how to quote it and such when I looked into it.

I think you have to sign up and log in to check the exchange rates and get a quote. I just put in 1 USD to GBP and it's giving a rate of 0.62 (or 1.57 from GBP to USD).

How does it work? Do I have to have access to online banking for both? Because my UK online banking isn't set up just yet. That's the only reason I'm not using Paypal at the moment.

I don't think you need online banking set up for both - I have been transferring money to other peoples' accounts as well, and I've just needed their account details (bank name, address, account number etc.).

The way it works when I've done XE transfers is that I book a rate and get a quote, then enter the bank details I will be transferring from (my bank account number, sort code and branch address) and the bank details I will be transferring to (which I have already added and saved in my XE account). Then I get an email from them with a UK company account number and sort-code to transfer the money to, which I do using an online banking transfer. After I've done that, the money is usually delivered to the recipient's account within a day or two (time taken will depend on the transfer method).

This may not make much difference for people who already have accounts in both countries, but I opened an account with HSBC specifically for this since we're moving to France.  I have what's called a Global View on my accounts, one GBP and the other Euro.  I can transfer however much I want and it only costs £5 per transaction.  For example my last transfer was done at €1.228 per pound whereas the rate on XE at the time was about €1.260.  The transfers are also immediate and you don't have the lag time with wire transfers since you're working with your own account.  Of course if it's to someone else's account that may be a different matter. 

Has anyone heard of or used xoom.com?

I'm looking to transfer between my US and UK accounts and don't want to use Bank of America, who charge up to $50 for the privilege!

We have an HSBC account here and are trying to open one in the US.  We are told that we will be able to see both accounts with one log-in and will be able to transfer money between the two at no charge.  Will have to see how it will really work though....

My mother send me $50 via paypal the other day, they charged a $2.50 fee.  That seems ok for small amounts (cheaper than a check).

Used Xoom before. They charge $4.99 for a transfer and the exchange rate is the quoted international rate so no fees. The only drawback is the limit of $2,999 per month, so you can't transfer a larger lump sum. Took about 3 days to complete to my UK acount. I'd use them again. 

Previously I once paid to a UK account via wire transfer from USA account to UK recipient and BofA charged a fee plus a commission on the exchange rate of about 10 cents.