Transferring Funds - What Do You Think?

My bank here in Houston has a branch in London. They can open an account for me while I'm here and wire transfer my money for free in USD. All I would have to do once in Leeds is make a trip to London and withdraw the money. I would then have the control of exchange rates. My only real concern is weighing the cost of the London trip against the benefits of the wire transfer.

Any thoughts or suggestions?

The bank is BBVA.

Well, wouldn't you figure on passing through/visiting London anyway?

My wife & I are planning a business trip, apart from banking, to London, so it is feasible.

I don't have a crystal ball, and I'm certainly not the best at providing financial advice, but I would wait before converting funds, if you can. The £ is unusually weak versus the $, right now, so you're going to end up taking it in the pants. Who knows what'll happen with the economy, but conversion rates have traditionally been closer to 1:2 than the current 1:1.4 or 1.5.

I don't have a crystal ball, and I'm certainly not the best at providing financial advice, but I would wait before converting funds, if you can. The £ is unusually weak versus the $, right now, so you're going to end up taking it in the pants. Who knows what'll happen with the economy, but conversion rates have traditionally been closer to 1:2 than the current 1:1.4 or 1.5.

But that's an advantage if you're transferring from USD to GBP.

Would you even need to go to London to withdraw the money?  It seems like interbank transfers within a country are much easier than between countries; however, I haven't moved yet, so I'm just basing this on my US banking experience. 

Keep in mind that a lot of people seem to have trouble opening an account in the UK when they get there because of identification requirements, etc.  If I had an easy way of opening an account in the UK before I moved, I would certainly take advantage of it.

But that's an advantage if you're transferring from USD to GBP.

D'oh! I always get these things backwards. Nevermind my silly statement. =)

traditionally been closer to 1:2 than the current 1:1.4 or 1.5.

Probably should be backing this up with some stats too if you're gonna say it. Cause one ridiculous year does not tradition make. When giving out financial advice, probably best to provide some justification especially since something like this is so easily verified:

http://finance.yahoo.com/echarts?s=GBPUSD=X#chart1:symbol=gbpusd=x;range=my;indicator=volume;charttype=line;crosshair=on;ohlcvalues=0;logscale=on;source=undefined

Glancing at this chart, I make a rough estimate that over the past 10 years, the pound traded somewhere between 1:1.6 and 1:1.7. Wistful thinking probably does not tradition make.

Glancing at this chart, I make a rough estimate that over the past 10 years, the pound traded somewhere between 1:1.6 and 1:1.7. Wistful thinking probably does not tradition make.

To be fair, I did look at the charts for the past 5 years and the average was much closer to 2.0 than 1.5. Perhaps the ten year view tells a different story, but it wasn't an entirely unresearched statement.

http://finance.yahoo.com/echarts?s=GBPUSD=X#chart2:symbol=gbpusd=x;range=5y;indicator=volume;charttype=line;crosshair=on;ohlcvalues=0;logscale=on;source=undefined

When I visited the US in 1995, 1998, 2000 and 2001, the exchange rate was fairly consistent at about 1:1.6 each time. In 2002, it dipped to about 1:1.4 after 9/11 and then when I lived there in 2003/04 it was about 1:1.7. In 2006 and 2008 it was up to almost 1:2.0, but that trend only lasted for about 2 years, compared to the general 1:1.6 value I experienced between 1995 and 2005.

Looking at this chart and table (1990-2009), the exchange rate fluctuated between 1.35 and 1.7 for 12 years (1992 to 2004), with peaks above 1.9 between 1990 and 1992, in 2005, and again between 2007 and 2009.

Sticking all of the figures from the table into Excel, we get an average exchange rate of 1 GBP = 1.67 USD for the years 1990 to 2009.