Hi, family are over for a holiday next month so looking to move funds and also are giving me some money. Any ideas on the best way? I have an HSBC account, is it possible to use an Oz based HSBC account to transfer into this? Use a 3rd party to transfer? Or simply bring cash and exchange here? Total value less than £10k so probably no customs issues etc.

They don’t need a HSBC account in Oz, they just need to go into their bank and arrange an international transfer. They’ll need your bank details, including the BIC (which your bank should be able to give you)

The bank will probably charge them £20-£30ish.

Or Paypal gift to you (dunno if there’s a limit on PP gift though), you draw it out to your bank account.

EDIT – or they put their holiday spends on a credit card and pay it off when they get home, using an ATM for any cash needs, like I’d do if I was going to Oz.

https://transferwise.com/ will probably save them a few quid, not just on the banks’ charges but on the exchange rate too.

When I looked at moving a couple of grand from the UK to Holland the costs of Paypal gift were only slightly less than the utter robbery suggested by Natwest.

XE.com: £2000 = €2700
Natwest £2000 = €2200

Still looking for a good/fair solution.

My sister did PayPal gift into my bank when they came over last year. She seemed to think that was the best option for her, don’t know how much research they did tho

They don’t need a HSBC account in Oz, they just need to go into their bank and arrange an international transfer. They’ll need your bank details, including the BIC (which your bank should be able to give you)

The bank will probably charge them £20-£30ish.

Yep, HSBC is free between accounts, plus the rates don’t seem too bad. Those prepaid cards look good but not for the cash they’re leaving with me, IYKwIm.

My uncle Abayomrunkoje in Lagos may be able to help. Simply send me your bank details and he’ll take care of the rest

YHM 🙂

2nd for TransferWise. Used the service extensively over the last few years without issue, and saved plenty.

3rd for Transferwise

Cheers all, Transferwise looks pretty competitive.

^ I use it all the time (UK/Aus)…. defo the way to go.

For small amounts bank to bank is easy, my folks sent me some cash for my birthday and it was here in 2 days. Rate wasn’t the best but on small amounts it’s not that bad.
After that the proper transfer people make sense for larger sums but make sure you know any tax implications as that is a resonable number in Aus Tax terms.

When I sold my house in the uk I used these guys:

UK Forex

Banks are very expensive.

Another vote for transferwise, we used to use PayPal but we’re getting at least 10%-15% better exchange rate compared to PayPal,

It’s offset most of the cost of devaluation of the pound since the Brexit vote last year.

Using the bank to transfer the money is a total rip off even compared to PayPal.

Oh and we only send between 500-1000 a month abroad, so having a larger amount would be much better for you.