Hello
I currently hold funds in Canada, around 200k
I wanted to transfer this across to Australia however I don't trust the bank's exchange rates
What's the best way to get the exact exchange rate listed on google or even close to it
I will not use transferwise as they are rated extremely low however if anyone has any other suggestions please let me know
Last time I banked a cheque from overseas I ended up losing close to 2k due to their rates.
To be fair, banking a foreign currency cheque is the 2nd-worst method of funds transfer you could have chosen (cash is usually worse). The bank doesn't get their money (from the Canadian bank) until the cheque is presented back in Canada, so your Australian bank would have factored in that delay into their exchange rate.
Bank transfer is the quickest and the funds are available immediately to your bank. Contact your bank before initiating the transfer and ask them what market-based exchange rate you could obtain for that amount. They should base it on the market rates at the time they receive the funds, but you should be able to get an indicative rate now for assessment.
If you want to take ownership of when to exchange and at what rate, you could open a CAD account at HSBC in Australia. The funds would remain in CAD until you request the conversion.
"The bank doesn't get their money (from the Canadian bank) until the cheque is presented back in Canada, so your Australian bank would have factored in that delay into their exchange rate."
Not so. The cheque will be drawn on in CAD on the CAD account of an Australian Bank with the Canadian bank. When the Canadian bank issues a cheque the CAD funds will be credited to the Australian bank's CAD account with them.
When the cheque is presented to the Australian bank here they will purchase the cheque using the AUD/CAD TT buying rate. (The cheque will never leave Australia)
Correct, if the 'cheque' was an International Draft (or similar wording) issued by a bank in Canada (like a Bank Cheque).
Not correct if the cheque was issued by a bank customer in Canada, drawn on their normal domestic (Canadian) bank account.
Either way, OP is reliant on the postal / courier systems to get the physical cheque from Canada to Australia as well.
I used OFX (previously known as Oz Forex) back when I had to pay off my student loans in the States (AUD > USD). I did some shopping around at the time (2014), and they seemed to have the best rates. Not sure if that's still the case, but you might want to give them a look.
Can't you load it into a Canadian credit card (no Intl fees) and then cash advance it out from here ? Would be at the VISA rate.
Might have to do it in smaller amounts < $10k to stay under the radar, or if all legit and you can prove ownership, then you may just have to answer a few questions to the watchdog.
its 100% legit
I'm surprise Transferwise rated extremely low. I've used them numerous times and very happy with the service. Funds transferred Oz to Singapore under 30mins. Their rates are also very competitive.
I choose world first, they had the best rates compared to all the others. https://www.worldfirst.com/au/ I checked the rates over the past year, decided on a rate I wanted to get, then booked that rate at World First. Once the rate reaches my chosen rate they will contact me with their banking details so I can transfer my currency to their bank for the conversion then onto my AU bank. You set up your account with them, they contact you (your "dealer") and from there you can get the ball rolling.
Do not do BANK TRANSFERS!!!! The banks will rip you off!!! I know from experience as I lost over $900.00 on a transfer a few years back, based on the current cash transfer rate at the time.
I would also recommend looking at OFX. They had pretty good rates when I used them a couple of years ago.
Regarding depositing a foreign cheque (at least in USD, not sure about other currencies), have a look at Citibank. If you have a Citibank PLUS account, you can mail them the cheque and they'll convert to AUD and deposit into your account. I deposited a cheque equal to about $6k AUD and would have gotten $250 less if I had gone with one of the major banks.
Citi (someone mentioned HSBC above) tend to be slightly better than the Australian backs because of their big expat businesses, but other options listed above will be much better again.
I mentioned Citi only for cheques. Other options with better rates (eg. OFX) don't deal with cheques.
Sorry, I meant that Citi can work ok if you have an account in both countries, so that it becomes a Citi to Citi transfer, though in my experience larger amounts are still better with specialist forex companies, such as OFX and others of their type.
Can you hold on? ACCC is reviewing international money transfers, Australia has the second highest rates in the world.
Should hopefully see a decrease across the board later this year…
After my last bank to bank intl transfer I reported my bank to the Financial Ombudsman Service for excessive rates, and they came back saying the bank protected itself by stating "FOS accepts that the Bank is entitled to set its own exchange rate. And the information about the rate is readily available on the banks website." Now let me share that the exchange rate is not the typical cash for cash exchange rate you find on the internet. I cannot recall the maths they used to determine the rate but lets say the cash for cash rate was 1.25 = 1.00 but the banks rate was something like .75 and I never did fully understand how they converted it. As it was not .75=1.00 but some backward conversion so I ended up getting something like 1.07 = 1.00 (not the exact numbers but showing you generally how it seemed to work.) And on top of that it was near impossible to locate the exchange rate on their website. Let's just say I was hot under the collar. I lost 900.00 in that transaction.
Only 2k? You were lucky! I haven't used them yet, but when I had a look last year TorFX was the one which stood out to me, the higher the amount the more you can negotiate the fee of course.