# transferring money: bank or transfer specialist?



## sgaldo (Nov 15, 2010)

back story: moving to the uk to live with my wife (a brit) on a settlement visa. 

i need to transfer my savings over to my wife's bank account in the uk. i am considering 2 options to do this:
1- transfer from my credit union directly to her bank.
2- using a service, HIFX, to transfer. 

My credit union (which if you do not know is like a not-for-profit bank.. lower fees than a typical american bank) charges about 50 dollars to transfer the money. there will be another charge on the british bank's end to take the money (or exchange it?)

what i understand about the HIFX option is that the do not charge me to send the money out, and they claim that their exchange rates are the true rates (better than bank rates?). i will still be charged on the british side, however.

so which is better? has anyone used this service before? will the service also report this to the IRS like my credit union would?

thanks for reading this terribly boring question.
-galdo


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## Stravinsky (Aug 12, 2007)

sgaldo said:


> back story: moving to the uk to live with my wife (a brit) on a settlement visa.
> 
> i need to transfer my savings over to my wife's bank account in the uk. i am considering 2 options to do this:
> 1- transfer from my credit union directly to her bank.
> ...


As well as HIFX you have ITT Moneycorp. The dont normally charge, and you get a good rate of exchange. My experience of banks is that they make a transaction charge, and are not always the best rates.

You answered my question on another thraed about savings .. this may effect JSA, but it depends on the amount of course.


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## Bevdeforges (Nov 16, 2007)

sgaldo said:


> will the service also report this to the IRS like my credit union would?


All transfers of money or financial instruments into or out of the US over $10,000 have to be reported to the US Treasury Department (not the IRS). Normally this is done by the company making the transfer. No way to avoid it.
Cheers,
Bev


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## ClaytonP (Apr 15, 2011)

Here's a good page for figuring out which transfer options are best in which circumstances:

Money Transfer Guide

There's a big pros and cons list for the different situations. I hope it helps some!


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## eduboys (May 24, 2010)

I'd say try XE - The World's Favorite Currency and Foreign Exchange Site. Seems like they have gotten a decent amount of use and are a fairly well established company. 

You can transfer money in about 5 days between the US and the UK, and you can do it without transaction costs.

The exchange rate tends to be about 1% less then the live market rate.


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## rednrosy (Feb 6, 2013)

*I am a little bit late to the party*

I use HIFX on a monthly basis and the only transfer fee I pay is the amount to HIFX, any payment they make goes free (above gbp 3,000)

Good news is that they have now opened a local Barclays account in Dubai, so my transfer fee has dropped from aed 240 to 20 

I was using another company till I was contacted localy by a company called fxme.

They have a local presence so I can talk to them direct.


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## sgaldo (Nov 15, 2010)

actually, i ended up just drawing from cash points (ATMs).... my bank in the states had free withdrawals overseas, and most ATMs in england are free... so i got the straight up exchange rate and paid NO FEES!
i know i got the straight exchange rate because i checked the amounts against the 
it worked out really well.

but thanks for the advice, everyone!


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