XE Trade

XE Trade is great!  For anyone who still needs to pay off bills in the states, this is the way to do it.  I transfer a set amount of money each month to pay off my student loans and XE trade gets it there so fast!  My last transaction took only 3 days!  Whereas, moving money by Paypal took about two weeks! 

If you have money to move over here to back to the states, I highly recommend them.

xx

I signed up for XEtrade on Monday and wasn't sure how easy it would be to get approved as they need so much information and contact names, etc. However, I had my confirmation call from them yesterday afternoon and received an email from them in the evening saying my account is now active. I'm going to try my first transfer this weekend to my brand new UK HSBC account.

Couple questions about this:

Can you transfer any amount? 
What are the fees for doing so?
Can it work like a direct debit? a fixed amount every month that goes out?
Can it work both ways?  US to UK and UK to US?

I only have one bill left in the states that being a credit card.  Is it worth it to pay this off? I need any easier route than putting a few hundred dollars into my account everytime I go back to the states. 

Thanks!

We have been using XE Trade for a few months and are really happy with it.

To answer your questions whispersarah:
There is a total limit on the amount that you can transfer and I think it is per month, but we needed them to raise it for us and they did without any problems or questions.
The fees will vary, but we were pay £30 for transfers to Germany through Barclays and with XE we pay £8.41...big difference.
I don't think you can do it like a direct debit because you have to actually set the transfer through XE and then transfer the money from your bank to them. There isn't usually a fee for this because it is a BACs transfer and UK banks don't charge for those. You can, though, fix your trading rate for up to a year.
As far as I know you can transfer from anywhere to anywhere except for a short list of countries that, for security reasons, you cannot transfer money to.

I know this may sound like a silly question as I usually check the exchange rate on xe.com but can you provide the link to xe trade just so I know I am reading the right thing?  lol

Cheers!

I know this may sound like a silly question as I usually check the exchange rate on xe.com but can you provide the link to xe trade just so I know I am reading the right thing?  lol

Cheers!

No problem...    www.xetrade.com

You can sort of set it up like a direct debit.  First off, I transfer money from my UK bank account at Lloyds TSB as a BACS to XE Trade.  My online banking page remembers and keeps records of everyone I have paid to from my account.  Depending on which bank you use and how savvy their online banking is, you can set it up as a standing order to pay into XE trade each month for the same amount.  I am sure you can do it the vice versa way with online automatic bill pay as well. 

I never have to pay XE trade a fee as I do a BACS transfer. 

I was really confused at the beginning with the whole "are you selling" or "are you buying" "are you bidding" but it all made sense in the end after a lengthy discussion with one of their representatives.  I think they also guarantee the best exchange rates too.

I have to pay a fee because I use a wire to transfer from XE to the banks in Germany and Sweden. I don't have a charge, though, from Barclays to XE.
Unfortunately, Barclays only allows online transfers up to a certain amount so we have to call in the transfer every month. Still much easier than filling out a huge form and paying £30 everytime we wanted to transfer.

does anyone have an experience doing this with HSBC, just to get a rough idea of what fees or hold ups there might be?

does anyone have an experience doing this with HSBC, just to get a rough idea of what fees or hold ups there might be?

From what I understand, HSBC uses a system called Worldpay that allows you to do international transfers online for a low fee. I remember someone on here mentioned it and I checked it out and it sounded great, but by that time we were already with Barclays and after that hassle we didn't want to bother switching.

I have HSBC accounts in the UK and US for receiving payments and paying expenses in each country.  There is no charge and no limit on depositing cheques drawn on one account and deposited in the other.  However, it may take as long as two weeks for such cheques to clear.

But I don't have an HSBC account in the states and that's why I wondered about xe trade.  This sounds like something I might want to look further into.  Might have my dh check into that worldplay option as well!

...I never have to pay XE trade a fee as I do a BACS transfer.  ....

what is BACS transfer ?  Can you give us example for transfer and cost ?

i just signed up with XE and sent them all my info. today....just waiting to be verified before i can start sending money to the US.

for those of you already using XE trade...i'd like to ask a question.... 

essentaily, i can get the money out of the UK for free using BACS.  it then goes to XE trade, they convert it from GBP to USD and then it's transferred to my bank in USD.  if i set it up as an EFT on the US end, shouldn't it essentially be free for XE trade to transfer the money to me? 

my employer in the US used to direct deposit my paycheck into my account (which was no charge to me)...isn't that considered an EFT? 

am i missing something?  or is my "free" concept correct?

Can you deposit money from XE into an ING account?  Anyone know?