TransferWise

[DavidatLWH]

Delays? With Transferwise the money is in the recipient account in hours, and sometimes minutes. With high street banks it invariably takes days.

Mrblobby would tend to disagree:

"Funny this subject coming up now . I am having a problem with TW , I transferred some money last Wednesday and it still has not arrived yet . I have never had a problem with them until now , I will let you know when they sort it out ." You only need one transaction to go awry and all faith is lost.

I transfer sums from Lloyds several times a year to my BoC account here. A transaction undertaken say, before 10a.m. results in the money appearing in my account here in the afternoon (occasionally resulting in a call from the BoC manager asking if he can help with funds!!)

[Poppy]

I think you may not have seen Mr Blobbys last post Davidat LWH. He has posted that the issue with Transferwise is resolved to his satisfaction and he would not hesitate to use them again! I quite agree that some Banks may be speedy although I think this often depends on the time of day BUT if you can show me that a Bank, any Bank, can compete with the exchange rates given by currency transfer firms I'll eat my hat! Transferwise normally give the rate as shown on the currency exchange site and then charge a small amount on top. Firms like Currency Fair etc will normally offer a lower rate but with only a small fee. All in all very little difference but the Banks as I am sure you must know charge a fee and give a low rate.In fact on a large ish transfer it could be a couple of hundred pounds difference.

[DavidatLWH]

Poppy - you are quite right that Mrblobby and I posted at the same time, and if he's happy to carry on using an intermediary, fair enough.

Do you recall the long-ish thread on CyprusLIving last year when there were reports of quite a few problems of delays with various companies? I'm surprised that didn't put anyone off.

What surprises me is the amount of potential savings people quote. When I saw the original threads on this subject on CL, I assumed the amounts in question were 10's or 100's of thousands at a time, but it seems not. If you make a lot of small transactions, then the cost mounts up of course. I find with Lloyds that the amount charged can vary considerably according to the amount sent - by which I mean a transfer of, say, £9999 costs a lot less than £10000. Lloyds have always been helpful to me over the years in this respect. As I said above, I just don't understand how anyone can save £25k, unless you're transferring a seriously huge amount of money - and in which case you don't need advise on this forum if you have that sort of money! (or, alternatively, you're getting bad advice). The figures don't seem to stack up.

[Poppy]

I have to agree that the 25k savings referred to does not seem right but I certainly think that it could be possibly 2.5k on a possible 100k transfer - certainly worth considering?

[Lofos-Jan]

According to one of the transfer companies, if you transferred GBP£1,000 today, you would get euro€50 more than if you used a high street bank. This is probably a fair estimate of the savings. To me €50 is €50 and I would rather it in my pocket than in the bank's considering the ease of the transaction. But each has their own preference and I know many people who still prefer to do it via their own bank which is absolutely fine.

Jeanne

[Expresspete]

If you're having a dig at me David, the 25k savings is fact. I do not romance!

[Expresspete]

Bugger, apologies all round, it seems I do romance ( in this instance) it was (ahem) 2.5k..
* whistles aimlessly whilst leaving the room......

[Dominic]

2.5K is not to be sniffed at.

[DavidatLWH]

Bugger, apologies all round, it seems I do romance ( in this instance) it was (ahem) 2.5k..
* whistles aimlessly whilst leaving the room......

LOL

For a while I thought you were Sir Philip Green in disguise on here, looking for advice........

[Expresspete]

There is a small difference between and Sir Phillip and me David, I'm acutely embarrassed Lol

[Jimgward]

Did a wee comparison of some routes, to see the differences on £5,000 being transferred into Euros...
VENDOR RATE SUM FEE BALANCE Difference from Cheapest

RBS 1.1635 5817.50 25.60 5791.90 +150.60
Currency Fair 1.1833 5916.50 3.00 5913.50 +29.00
TRANSFERWISE 1.1884 5942.00 29.57 5912.43 +30.07
BoC 1.1841 5920.66 25.60 5895.66 +46.84
AlphaBank 1.1844 5922.07 25.60 5897.07 +45.43
REVOLUT 1.1885 5942.50 0.00 5942.50 Cheapest

Caveats.

It costs me £22 to transfer a sum from RBS overseas in Sterling.
REVOLUT only allows transfers of £5,000 per month free, then .5% fee applies, so if it was a second £5,000, it would cost you €50 fee - at this point, CurrencyFair becomes the cheapest.



So, for up to £5,000, REVOLUT wins, for over that, CurrencyFair, but TransferWise fee slides downwards, so needs for be checked for large sums.

From what people have said, TransferWise is fastest. Revolut quote around 3 days.

[mike strand2]

I have been using Currency Fair for a number of years now & just once used Transferwise when CF didn't at that time deal with Thai Baht.

There is of course a small risk of using an intermediary, though CF is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland & Transferwise is Authorized by different authorities according to country. https://transferwise.com/help/questions ... nformation

[Mrblobby]

Well I took the risk and used TW again on Thursday , only for £500 , and guess what it still has not got to Cyprus yet .

Despite them claiming it only took 26 seconds !! , they do say it could take up to 20 minutes at this end .

Not impressed at all , this could be the last time .

[trevnhil]

Have you inquired at you Cyprus bank as to where the money is ?

Trev..

[surreyboy]

If you didn't initiate the transfer until after mid-day on Thursday, the exchange may not have arrived in Cyprus until Friday and may not therefore show in your bank account until Monday. In my experience transfers late in the week invariably don't show in my Hellenic account until after the weekend!

[Poppy]

Could it be your Bank in Cyprus that are holding things up? I have certainly experienced this.

[Mrblobby]

It was not my bank when I had the problem a few weeks ago , TW admitted they screwed up .

The transfer was made at 10.30 Cyprus time .

The problem is TW make these claims they do the transfer so quickly . They should not make false claims , I was happy when they used to say within a couple of days .

[Poppy]

I have done over 30 transfers with TW this year and all were received within a couple of hours and some much quicker than that.This was with my cypriot debit card and sending to a UK Bank. All transfers I have done to my UK Bank whether TW or other have all shown very quickly however I believe cypriot banks have to perform a manual release of incoming funds which can be slow!! siga siga!!

[JimX]

I have used all of the above over time to transfer cash to Cyprus, all were no problems, but the ease of use it has to be TransferWise for me, the debit card system makes the transaction so easy, 2K only though for debit cards. I will continue to use this company, I have no problems either with transaction time, same day or if the weekend just a day later, never had to wait long.

[Mrblobby]

Well the money I sent last Thursday has finally got here to Cyprus , and TW have again admitted it was there fault .

After this happening for the second time in a row , obviously I will never use them again .