When I first came over (as a visitor in 2012), I moved some money to buy a car using Paypal... I Paypal'ed about six thousand pounds direct to my now-husband (as a "gift", so I wouldn't pay the transaction fee). I still didn't get the most favourable exchange rate, but it was better than a bank would've given me. Then in 2013, when I needed to give my new husband money for the FLR(M) he paid for because UKBA (that's what they were called at the time) couldn't take my US debit card, we did it by having my husband withdraw the daily limit from my US checking account at a "Free ATM" every day 'til he had the money. This resulted in Forex + 1% exchange rates and my US bank charged $1 per transaction for the foreign ATM... which was actually a really good deal at the time. But I was SOOOO glad when I finally discovered Transferwise (which I now know was virtually brand new when I came over, so I didn't really take too long to get on board)! I was no longer limited to just a few hundred dollars a day, and it was so much more convenient.
