Foreign currency conversion.

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6miths
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Foreign currency conversion.

Post by 6miths »

Does anyone have a Norbert's Gambit equivalent for GBP or AUD? Or any suggestions to minimize the bank bite on conversion to CAD or USD? Thanks.
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Re: Foreign currency conversion.

Post by jaguar »

Open an account with Interactive Brokers. Their spreads between bid and ask will be as little as 0.01% on lots over the equivalent of USD 25,000 and a little higher for trading under USD 25,000. About 20 currencies are offered.

https://www.interactivebrokers.com/en/? ... -Forex.php
pmj
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Re: Foreign currency conversion.

Post by pmj »

Do you have a UK bank account? Are you looking to convert "large" amounts?

I'm looking into the options for converting UK pensions, which would be relatively small amounts - and I just found these guys: https://transferwise.com/
Payments from GBP: https://transferwise.com/support/custom ... -transfers
Transfers to CAD: https://transferwise.com/support/custom ... es/1740911

0.5% on GBP > CAD transfers over £200. Quoted rates every time I've checked are true mid-market.
Local payment in Canada (should mean no wire fees).
I haven't used them yet. Two years ago I had to move at least £10k to get 0.5%.
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Re: Foreign currency conversion.

Post by Peculiar_Investor »

Forum member Phil D has also previously posted on GBP conversion, check out CAD to GBP? which links to more of his posts on the subject.
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gsp_
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Re: Foreign currency conversion.

Post by gsp_ »

Similar to Transferwise is CurrencyFair.

It's a person to person exchange with CF taking a .15% vig but they also seed the market, at less than .5% from mid market. A relative's experience exchanging Euros to Cad has achieved about .4% to .45%. Free transfers in from a Euro bank(SEPA) and $4 for an EFT to your Canadian bank account.

All in all, a very good experience. That being said it's hard to provide advice as it's unclear what the OP is trying to accomplish.
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6miths
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Re: Foreign currency conversion.

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Sorry if I was unclear. I am trying to find away to avoid the bank forex fees on conversions of AUD to CAD (or USD) and GBP to CAD (or USD). I can go to USD if that will get me better rates. Doesn't matter. The AUD is a relatively small amount 5K. The GBP are larger amounts in the range of GBP 20K a go. I'm not really look at trading in the currencies unless it were ridiculously easy. TD exchange rate is 3.7% on GBP and 6.2% on AUD conversions. Robbery in this day and age. Remind me to buy more bank stocks.

Thanks for the advice so far. I will check out Transferwise and CurrencyFair. I had heard of Interactive Brokers' great Forex rates but looks like a bit too much work. Thanks again.
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6miths
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Re: Foreign currency conversion.

Post by 6miths »

Transferwise responded promptly to my queries. One needs to have a bank account in the native currency. GBP and AUD in this case. My wife's sister is in the UK so we can get her to do the GBP to CAD transfer if we can't come up with another option. We're in the UK this summer so will enquire as to the logistics of just setting up our own account as well. Thanks for the advice.
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Re: Foreign currency conversion.

Post by queerasmoi »

A friend who went to Australia for a year was still earning USD and CAD that he needed to convert to AUD while living there. I suggested XE Trade as I'd use them for USD/CAD so he signed up and gave it a try. He had overall good experiences with it.
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Re: Foreign currency conversion.

Post by 6miths »

Thanks. I have e-mailed XE. Do you know whether one can exchange currency when they don't have an account in the original (foreign) currency. This is required for Transferwise. Thanks again.
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Re: Foreign currency conversion.

Post by gsp_ »

XE will cost about 3x as much as the 2 services(TW and CF) mentioned upthread.

6miths, how are these funds held if not in an account denominated in their currency? All online transfer services work through bank account transfers.

How often are the recurring transfers likely to occur and in what ballpark amount? How are they being received if not in an account in that currency?

It's all in the details.
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Re: Foreign currency conversion.

Post by 6miths »

AUD is just cash 4k and non-recurring.

GBP is 18k in a bank draft from Barclay's and will recur a couple more times. Hence not in bank accounts.
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Re: Foreign currency conversion.

Post by gsp_ »

AUD cash is going to be hard to get a decent rate on unless you can find someone travelling there, even then it's unlikely they'd need 4k. Perhaps check with a few local currency exchange places and take your lumps.

Your intended course of action with the GBP seems like your best option. TW or CF will require you or your SIL's ID and proof of residence documents to open an account but once that's done it should be smooth.

From my recollection TW was better for frequent small amounts while CF was better for larger ones but either should get the job done.
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Re: Foreign currency conversion.

Post by 6miths »

Thanks. Yes I think I'm beat on the AUD I'll check at the airport next visit and am in the US in a couple of weeks so might be able to get a better rate to USD there but it's not going to be a large amount either way.
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