How does BACS work?

Hello everyone,

We're about ready to have our first stab at an XEtrade transfer, from our UK account to our US one. I am not sure how to do this at our UK bank (HSBC), but I feel I've probably just been missing something, since anytime it comes up on the forums people talk about it like it's very straightforward.

The other day I went into the branch and asked the front-end person how I could make a BACS payment, and she didn't seem to have any idea what that was. I told her I was planning to transfer money to a US account, using a currency exchange service, and she got me one of their massive full-color packets on "International Payments". Let's see here... through "priority payments," a payment directly into our US HSBC account would be £10, whereas sending it to a non-HSBC institution, presumably including XE, would be £21. Seems insane.

People on UK-Y have mentioned being able to use BACS for free. Is that true at HSBC, anyone know?

Maybe I should have talked to an actual account consultant there.

If anyone can share their experience with BACS, especially if they're at HSBC, we'd be very grateful!

-Jeremy

You might be better off calling HSBC rather than walking into the bank.  I always do mine on-line now but before that I always did it via the phone.

There are two ways I know to send money electronically, BACS and CHAPS.  Make sure you use BACS as it is free but takes a few days (for amounts of 5000 or less).  CHAPS is done that day but costs a few pounds.  I assume BACS is free for HSBC too.

Can anyone give me a basic step-by-step instruction in sending money using XETrade? I have setup an account with them and it's now opened (all verification is done).

I login to XETrade and I didnt' see a menu that says something like "Transfer Money".

I clicked on "Basic Trade", because the HELP section says this is where I use it to transfer money between bank account and it asked me what currency to "Buy". I assume I want to ( correct me if I am wrong):
- BUY: USD
- SELL: UK

Next, it shows that the USD will be deposited via EFT to my US account. But the GBP (which I am "selling" above) will be paid to XETrade via WIRE and paid to Custom House Ltd..

I stopped at the above since I am confused whether I am doing the right thing. Can anyone help?

I do it like any transfer of money to another account.  I do it all online -set up a 'payee' and you put Custom House etc. as the name on the account and then use the account number and BACS number (very similar to our sort code on our accounts) as well as referencing the number they give you.  Then you go and pay the payee the amount you are selling.  I have a citibank account so it might be a touch different, but if you have to talk to your bank about it, ask about how to do a transfer to an account that is outside your bank and then do it that way.

Hi onetiger,

I setup my US bank account in the EFT Bank Account menu as the destination account. This is where the money will be transferred to.

I don't see my UK bank account as the payer, where I will withdraw the fund to send the money to the US bank account above. I don't see a button that say "Set up payer" or something like that.

When you send money, did you have to do the following:
- Click on "Basic Trade"
- Select amount to buy, say 10
- Select "Currency to Buy" as USD (currency to send to US bank account)
- Select "Currency to sell" as GBP (currency to fund the payment)
- Click "Next"
- Under "Account to deposit funds to" select my US bank account
- Under "Funds to be paid to", only Custom House Ltd. is shown and can't be changed.

Is this the correct process? If yes, does this means Custom House will deduct the money from my UK bank account?

Jeremyl,
I haven't used XE myself but hopefully can give you a bit of information.  BACS is the standard electronic transfer method of money between accounts in the UK.  You can't do a BACS transfer to the US because the US doesn't use BACS.  What XE is having you do is make a BACS transfer to their own account in the UK.  Once that transfer is done, then XE will do an EFT between their account in the UK to your account in the US.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BACS has more information.  BACS generally takes about 3 days to clear, unlike CHAPS payments which happen, I think, same day, but can be very expensive.  BACS transfers are free so are more desirable unless there you are in a big rush to transfer quickly.
XE is essentially charging you to transfer from their UK account to your US account.

I setup my US bank account in the EFT Bank Account menu as the destination account. This is where the money will be transferred to.

I don't see my UK bank account as the payer, where I will withdraw the fund to send the money to the US bank account above. I don't see a button that say "Set up payer" or something like that.

When you send money, did you have to do the following:
- Click on "Basic Trade"
- Select amount to buy, say 10
- Select "Currency to Buy" as USD (currency to send to US bank account)
- Select "Currency to sell" as GBP (currency to fund the payment)
- Click "Next"
- Under "Account to deposit funds to" select my US bank account
- Under "Funds to be paid to", only Custom House Ltd. is shown and can't be changed.

Is this the correct process? If yes, does this means Custom House will deduct the money from my UK bank account?

This is correct, if you click next it will give you the chance to confirm, after which it will give you more details on how to send the BACS payment.  It will not be automatically withdrawn, you need to initiate it.

This is correct, if you click next it will give you the chance to confirm, after which it will give you more details on how to send the BACS payment.  It will not be automatically withdrawn, you need to initiate it.

I just did a "test" trade to transfer small amount of money. At the "Wire Transfer Instructions", it provides the Account Number and Sort Code for a BofA account belonging to Custom House Ltd.

Since I have the Account Number and Sort Code, can't I just use my online account to transfer the money to Custom House? When I transfer money or pay someone, I use my UK bank online account to send the money provided I have the account number and sort code, regardless of the bank.

If I can, that'll be terrific as I don't have to go to the bank to do BACS

Yes - you set it up to do the transfer like you would to anyone else.

I use newcomer link: http://www.transfermate.com [nonactive] , came as a recommendation from a buddy of mine whos been studying in the Uk. I have so far received at least 10 payments from the US, also cheaper and than xe and i got my payment in 1 day.