Transferring money from Australia to the UK...

[Rollie]

Good morning. I have recently had to change my plans from moving to Australia and am now staying in England for the Foreseeable future.

I have money in an Australian bank account that I would like to be sent back to England. I have contacted the Australian bank and they have informed me that I would need to send a letter to them. In the letter I would have to state full name, account number etc. Does anyone have any ideas on how long this would take? And is there an easier way of doing it? To have the funds transferred to Australia it only took a 10 minute phonecall with HSBC (my UK Bank) Is there a similiar process i can go through to get it returned?

Thanks for any input.

Edited by Rollie on Wednesday 15th April 11:38

[SleeperCell]

Perhaps you could try using one of the transfer services, better currency rate, less fees and usually much quicker. Might be a bit of hassle to register etc but probably no worse than trying to prod your bank into action.

here's a couple I found in 5 seconds on google but there's a few around, someone else here might have a better suggestion.
http://www.tranzfers.com/
http://www.ozforex.com.au/

[durbster]

Which bank are you with? I've got a Commonwealth account in Oz and can transfer money over here using their online service. It costs $20 per transaction I think, but only take a couple of days. I'm not sure I can close an account online but it might be possible.

Edited by durbster on Saturday 18th April 12:52

[g_attrill]

I use xe.com - they have a "best rate" guarantee and it has worked for me. They have an account in Sydney so you can easily transfer the money. Only snag is the account will take a few days to get up and running, and they need to telephone you once to run through all your details, but all the paperwork is done online (scanned ID). edit: There is a wire fee, it's pretty much the standard charge, but you will easily save that on the exchange rate if you are transferring a decent amount.

Edited by g_attrill on Sunday 19th April 14:03

[Rollie]

I had forgotten about this thread.

Cheers for the replys I have managed to sort it out with the commonwealth bank after a bit of a struggle.

Thanks again.

[Scarbs289]

hi - i agree - xe.com are really good. american based company - they will phone you up and help you through sendng cash home - no commission and best rate