How to Exchange a Reasonably Large Amount of USD to AUD without Losing Too Much Money

jowu15 on 23/01/2023 - 15:08
Last edited 23/01/2023 - 15:46 by 1 other user

I exchanged $20,000 AUD to $13778USD last week to send overseas, but that is no longer needed. Now I am thinking of exchange that $13778 USD back to AUD, but even with Torfx, I will loss about $600AUD. Just wonder if there is anyway to reduce my loss.

I looked into Revolut, but it seems I can only send AUD into my AUD account. I cannot send USD into my Revolut account.

All advices are appreciated.

Financial Currency Exchange

Comments

  • silenthillrocks on 23/01/2023 - 15:09
    +5

    Wise.com

    • AustriaBargain on 23/01/2023 - 15:12

      You can even spend it with your Wise debit card.

    • jowu15 on 23/01/2023 - 15:18

      I in fact looked into Wise, I open an account with them but they require to pay $10 for card fee, I was not sure if I can use it, so I did not go further. I will have a another look again. Thanks

      • silenthillrocks on 23/01/2023 - 15:20
        +1

        The card is optional, you can use them just for direct transfers. But in terms of rates, they are very close to xe.com mid-market rate with small fee on top (0.4-0.6%)

        • jowu15 on 23/01/2023 - 15:26

          Which one is better between wise and xe? I have never used them before

          • silenthillrocks on 23/01/2023 - 15:27
            +1

            @jowu15: Wise is better, I only use xe.com to find the latest exchange rates.

      • AustriaBargain on 23/01/2023 - 15:27
        +1

        The card was free when I joined. But you can just add a virtual card to your phone anyway, I don't know if they charge for that.

        • Kyle-K on 23/01/2023 - 19:09

          The physical cards are not free any more virtual cards are definitely free. They do occasionally run promotions where the card can be free or free via referral not aware of any current offers running though.

          • AustriaBargain on 23/01/2023 - 19:15

            @Kyle-K: I never use the physical card anyway. It's nice to have though, makes me feel grown up having lots of bank cards.

      • girafficlight on 24/01/2023 - 16:09

        i use wise to transfer canadian dollars quite a lot with out the card, and it is always under $10 fee and its usually same day. it's crazy

    • CodeXD on 23/01/2023 - 15:19

      Came here to say wise as well.

      $10 to get a wise card vs losing $600 with Torfx, the choice is yours.

      • jowu15 on 23/01/2023 - 15:25

        I was not sure if I spend $10 I can do I wanted to do and if they are trustworthy. Has anyone tried them?

        • CodeXD on 23/01/2023 - 15:27

          Yes they are trustworthy.

          Have been posted on ozb a few times

        • AustriaBargain on 23/01/2023 - 15:28

          Many people with an Amazon Affiliate account (earn money when people click Amazon links and buy stuff) have a Wise account, because Amazon will only pay to bank accounts that match the country of the local Amazon site.

  • jv on 23/01/2023 - 15:09
    +1

    How to transfer a reasonably large amount of USD to AUD without lost too much money

    International Express post

    • jowu15 on 23/01/2023 - 15:12

      Thanks I think I should change to "How to exchange ……"

      • peterpeterpumpkin on 23/01/2023 - 15:24

        Just to clarify, do you have physical USD right now? Or is it in some type of Australian or US account in USD?

        • jowu15 on 23/01/2023 - 15:51

          USD with Torfx

    • peterpeterpumpkin on 23/01/2023 - 15:21

      Is that allowed or insurable?

      Australia is on the list of countries that don't allow money being sent through their postal networks (https://personal.help.royalmail.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/…).

      • jv on 23/01/2023 - 15:45
        +1

        don't allow money being sent

        What is the penalty ?

        • peterpeterpumpkin on 23/01/2023 - 16:48

          I think $13778 USD being "lost" or forfeited by some country's mail service is penalty enough. Not declaring Cross-Border Movement of Monetary Instruments to AUSTRAC of an amount over $10,000 AUD is probably where the real penalties may apply. Since banknotes aren't considered dangerous I don't know if the Crimes Act 1914 and Criminal Code Act 1995 will realistically apply for improper use of mail services (unless you were suspected of financing other prohibited behaviour).

  • EightImmortals on 23/01/2023 - 15:19
    -4

    Buy Monero on Binance, wait a day or two and cash it out to your bank account?

    • jowu15 on 23/01/2023 - 15:28
      +1

      Thanks for the advice but I am not game enough to do that

  • GG57 on 23/01/2023 - 15:39
    +1

    The potential loss (~AUD600) is not a bad spread, between the buy and sell.
    You could hope for a large movement in the currency value, but that is a lot. I'd suggest cut your losses and change it back at the offered rate.

    • jowu15 on 23/01/2023 - 15:53

      Yes thats what I am thinking as well. I did not use a bank, its with TorFX

  • Niko123456 on 23/01/2023 - 16:51

    Open an International Broker account.

    Deposit the USD to the IB usd account.

    Exchange the funds when the FX is favourable.

    Withdraw the funds to your australian account.

    • jowu15 on 23/01/2023 - 18:22

      Do you have any International Broker to recommend?

      • Niko123456 on 23/01/2023 - 19:00

        Hey good question.

        But it's the name of a company. You use it to buy and sell shares. But it's also a great hack at getting usd into the country.

        • jowu15 on 23/01/2023 - 19:13

          Lol. Thanks for the info n I’ll look into it.

    • jowu15 on 24/01/2023 - 00:16

      I google and got interactive broker https://www.interactivebrokers.com/en/home.php is this right?

      • Niko123456 on 24/01/2023 - 15:53

        yep, sorry, i got the name wrong. interactive broker - that's it. I always call it IB so forgot.

  • 7ekn00 on 23/01/2023 - 17:23

    Bitcoin

    • jowu15 on 23/01/2023 - 18:25

      Thanks but no thanks

  • brendanm on 23/01/2023 - 17:28
    +1

    Wait for the FX rate to move in your favour, profit.

    • jowu15 on 23/01/2023 - 18:24

      There is a good chance of going the other direction

      • brendanm on 23/01/2023 - 19:01
        +1

        Put the money in GME, take out when it's worth $200m after the short squeeze.

        • jowu15 on 23/01/2023 - 19:15

          $13778 into $200m! How many billion have you made?

        • ValueInvesting on 23/01/2023 - 21:08

          @brendanm The short interest % float is way lower than it was when it peaked in January 2021 (22% vs. 140%). Where's the squeeze coming from?

  • ghoulie1 on 24/01/2023 - 08:36
    +1

    Casino. Cash it in in two batches for chips, then cash out later on.

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