How to transfer $5k to the UK?

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Talkiet

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#215120 13-Jun-2017 09:30

I need to send my sister $5k NZD to help with airfares for her and her baby back to NZ early next year and I am wondering what the cheapest way to do it is... I have thought of (but not fully costed) the following options...

Paypal her the money (There are fees - last time I sent her $2400nzd it cost $120nzd in fees)

Bank transfer

Pay for her tickets directly (SHEESH some airlines have some pretty horrendous CC fees - in this case 95gbp (at least that's per transaction, not per passenger per sector)

Mail her a wad of cash (jk?)

Any ideas on options I may have missed, or tricks?

oooh, I could load money onto my onesmart card and give her a virtual card number for the transaction?

Anyway - Help please... I'd like to see my nephew!

Cheers - N

Please note all comments are from my own brain and don't necessarily represent the position or opinions of my employer, previous employers, colleagues, friends or pets.

jnimmo

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#1799114 13-Jun-2017 09:35

I found TransferWise seemed to be very well priced when I had to send some Euros to Spain (first transfer of up to £500 free with that link)

But I would have thought it would be cheapest for you to buy the tickets here directly - if you don't want the credit card fees travel agents will let you pay by debit card

eph

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#1799115 13-Jun-2017 09:35

You can wire the money from your bank directly into her account in UK.

You can also use companies like NZForex. I've used in the past company called 1st Contact to move money from central Europe to NZ. If it's just UK it should be much easier as even with bank you can directly exchange NZD to GBP. These companies usually have first transfer for free with better (individual) rates than banks.

jfanning

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#1799125 13-Jun-2017 09:44

I have generally used

http://www.currencyonline.com/

timmmay

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#1799126 13-Jun-2017 09:49

I have used Currency Online as well.

acetone

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#1799133 13-Jun-2017 10:05

I can recommend Transfer Wise. I have used it every month for the last year and a half.

If you use my referral code to sign up with you can send £500 free.

https://transferwise.com/u/stephena14

backfiah

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#1799152 13-Jun-2017 10:15

I had a good experience with http://www.directfx.co.nz/ who are a NZ company and had good rates.

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lxsw20

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#1799155 13-Jun-2017 10:18

+1 TransferWise, I use it to send money the other way UK>NZ and it's fine.

Talkiet

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#1799162 13-Jun-2017 10:22

Thanks all... Seems like there are a few good options. It also looks like the Transferwise approach of having the money in the UK paid directly from a UK account minimises any further risk of my sisters bank charging for receiving the international transfer so I'll probably go with that.

The options are a lot better than when I last looked seriously at sending money internationally. It's also great to have had a few PMs from people personally endorsing services (including transferwise)

Thanks all!

Cheers - N

Please note all comments are from my own brain and don't necessarily represent the position or opinions of my employer, previous employers, colleagues, friends or pets.

acetone

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#1799168 13-Jun-2017 10:29

Talkiet:

Thanks all... Seems like there are a few good options. It also looks like the Transferwise approach of having the money in the UK paid directly from a UK account minimises any further risk of my sisters bank charging for receiving the international transfer so I'll probably go with that.

The options are a lot better than when I last looked seriously at sending money internationally. It's also great to have had a few PMs from people personally endorsing services (including transferwise)

Thanks all!

Cheers - N

I can confirm, you will not be charged any bank fees on the NZ or UK end of the transaction. TransferWise now has direct access to the UK faster payments system so things are pretty quick now. To give you an idea, last month they had processed my transfer from my UK bank account to theirs within a few minutes. The NZ side of it took a day to show up.

ajobbins

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#1799246 13-Jun-2017 12:15

timmmay:

I have used Currency Online as well.

Another vote for Currency Online. I've used them dozens of times for moving money between AU and NZ

Twitter: ajobbins

mattyb

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#1799260 13-Jun-2017 12:28

I used to use these guys all the time moving money from the US to NZ (and vice versa).

http://www.xe.com/xemoneytransfer/nz/

There's a bit of setup pain to go through, verifying accounts etc, but it works well once it's all up and running. Rates were always pretty sharp.

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Senecio

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#1799268 13-Jun-2017 12:39

Another alternative here

TorFX

http://www.torfx.com.au/

I've just used them my immigration into New Zealand transferring EUR and AUD. Much better rates than major banks and no fees or commissions to be paid.