XE Trade

Looks good to me... especially because you got higher than the market rate.

Hello
I don't know if anyone is still following this thread, but I just read through it and found it really useful. I signed up to XE trade and just initiated my first transaction. Thanks to the thread (ie using BACS) I think I've avoided additional fees.

However, I am now really unclear on whether or not I got a good rate. I feel really stupid for not knowing this myself and wondered if anyone can tell me how/where you find out whether or not you've gotten a good rate. I was offered USD/GPB at 0.49816551 the market is showing .490195.

Any thoughts greatly appreciated!
Mimsy

XE Trade currently takes about 1.4% profit on trades.  I checked and the exchange they were giving was either 0.4832 or 0.4968 depending on whether you were buying or selling (versus a true exchange of 0.4901).

That's pretty decent compared to most.  They used to take a lot less than that though, when I first started using them they took 0.4% profit.

I just used Moneycorp for the first time based on the recommendation from Chrissy.  I had XE open at the time I got a quote from Moneycorp and the exchange they gave was much better, they took just 0.9% profit.  Down side is they charge a flat fee of 15 quid for it which means it's only better if you're exchanging a large amount of money.

Long story short, you get a pretty good deal using XE but if you're doing large amounts (thousands) try Moneycorp.

I just used Moneycorp for the first time based on the recommendation from Chrissy.  I had XE open at the time I got a quote from Moneycorp and the exchange they gave was much better, they took just 0.9% profit.  Down side is they charge a flat fee of 15 quid for it which means it's only better if you're exchanging a large amount of money.

Long story short, you get a pretty good deal using XE but if you're doing large amounts (thousands) try Moneycorp.

Really happy my recommendation helped you! 

And I agree 100% with mbmasters in saying large amounts of money, moneycorp are better... small amounts go with XE.

Really happy my recommendation helped you! 

I'm even happier, your advice got me an extra $200 on the transfer!  Where do I send your commission?
 

I'm even happier, your advice got me an extra $200 on the transfer!  Where do I send your commission?
 

Wow! Thats excellent! I make about $200 extra per year with my transfers w/ moneycorp. 

Long story short, you get a pretty good deal using XE but if you're doing large amounts (thousands) try Moneycorp.

Is this over time or for a one-off?  I want to start making regular (fairly small...maybe £100-200) payments back to my US account.

Is this over time or for a one-off?  I want to start making regular (fairly small...maybe £100-200) payments back to my US account.

Moneycorp charged me a flat fee of £15 for the transfer but Chrissy mentioned she only pays £4 because she has a long-term contract for transfers done on a regular basis.  If you regularly sent £200 through Moneycorp and they charged you a flat fee of just £4 the total cost would be about £6 (£4 + 1% of £200).  XE would charge £3 (1.5% of £200).  for £100 Moneycorp would charge £5 versus £1.50 for XE.  Therefore I would go with XE for these smaller amounts.

Thanks, mbmasters, that's really helpful!!

thanks for the info. i think i may give moneycorp a try as well. my transfers will be small and big so may need both!

thanks again....

Can anyone help?  I did my first trade through XE and was given a good exchange rate.  I wrote to XE to ask how to do BACS transfer from my UK account so that they could send the funds to my US account.  The guy wrote back to say that the trade had to be setup as Wire from UK account to Custom House and Wire from them to US account but that I should do a normal BACS transfer from my Internet Banking to them.  Wire seemed to be the only choice (there was no BACS option on their booking form).  The transfer amount was £499.64 but they charged me £505.64 and said that the BACS transfer was free but the Custom House to US account wire cost £6!  I didn't think XE charged for sending across to the US???  Does anyone know if I can avoid this in future?  I was very happy with how quickly they actually sent it, it got to my US account in 2 days!
Thanks.

Can anyone help?  I did my first trade through XE and was given a good exchange rate.  I wrote to XE to ask how to do BACS transfer from my UK account so that they could send the funds to my US account.  The guy wrote back to say that the trade had to be setup as Wire from UK account to Custom House and Wire from them to US account but that I should do a normal BACS transfer from my Internet Banking to them.  Wire seemed to be the only choice (there was no BACS option on their booking form).  The transfer amount was £499.64 but they charged me £505.64 and said that the BACS transfer was free but the Custom House to US account wire cost £6!  I didn't think XE charged for sending across to the US???  Does anyone know if I can avoid this in future?  I was very happy with how quickly they actually sent it, it got to my US account in 2 days!
Thanks.

Use EFT in US for delivery instead of wire and it's free.  This is what I do with XE.

Use EFT in US for delivery instead of wire and it's free.  This is what I do with XE.

Yup. EFT is a bit slower, though. I think it's about a week usually. And by the way, £6 is cheap for a wire transfer!

When I asked about the transfer the XE guy specifically wrote me a long email saying I must choose Wire for both transfer to XE and XE's transfer to US.  Maybe they were trying to get some extra money out of me?  In the end it might have been best for me to do a wire this particular time as I needed to get it there pretty quickly (under a week) so I guess it was ok this time around.  thanks.

Quick (stupid) question - do you have to have a separate account to make transfers from a US account to the UK & vice versa (say if both account are in your name?)?

Thanks for the EFT tip, I'll definitely use that next time.  You can transfer from your account in UK to US and vice versa, I've been doing it for a few years now and both are in my name.  All they need are the account number and swift code (ie the code that identifies the bank).