# Transferring money from USA to Australia



## Sprite

Hi everyone,

Don't know if this is the right section to be posting this on but I was wondering if anyone had some suggestions on the best ways to transfer money from USA to Australia? I was going to use USForex but they aren't licensed in my state of KY yet and as such I was informed that they couldn't provided me with their service. Any thoughts are much appreciated


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## yh31

1. Open an account at an Australian bank. I used commonwealth bank of australia to open an account from overseas.
2a. Do a wire transfer if the amount is large

2b Or you can use paypal


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## CPMaverick

I use xe.com, works quite well and easy to set up. It is just a transfer site so you'll need accounts on both sides of the pacific set up already.


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## JandE

Be careful with bank to bank wire transfers, they can be very expensive.

I normally use a currency transfer service, and get a great rate with no fees.

But with a recent transfer to me of 30,000 Euro, I lost almost $1,000 in fees and FX rate charges when the bank did a direct bank to bank TT, compared to my normal system, which does however take 3-4 days.


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## chickensgirl76

What bank is better Commonwealth or Westpac Bank??


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## JandE

NAB  They are all basically the same really. They all make the odd mistake now and again, and get slammed for it.

I've been with Commonwealth, Westpac, ANZ and NAB at various times, but the only one I kept with was NAB. (I liked the no fees banking facility)

But for FX transfers I wouldn't use any of them to do the transfer.

FX rates are normally bad, and they charge an inward transfer fee for overseas receipts.


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## chickensgirl76

*so how??*



JandE said:


> NAB  They are all basically the same really. They all make the odd mistake now and again, and get slammed for it.
> 
> I've been with Commonwealth, Westpac, ANZ and NAB at various times, but the only one I kept with was NAB. (I liked the no fees banking facility)
> 
> But for FX transfers I wouldn't use any of them to do the transfer.
> 
> FX rates are normally bad, and they charge an inward transfer fee for overseas receipts.


Ok so I have checked them all out. I guess my big question is how do I transfer all my money then??? You say its not viable to do it online directly into the new account, so what would be the best way to transfer a large amount of cash ($60,000 or more)


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## JandE

chickensgirl76 said:


> Ok so I have checked them all out. I guess my big question is how do I transfer all my money then??? You say its not viable to do it online directly into the new account, so what would be the best way to transfer a large amount of cash ($60,000 or more)


Using a company such as Currency Online / HIFX etc, you transfer to their local account in your country. They then move it to their local Australian account and then transfer to your Australian account.
Fee free and better FX rates but takes a few days.

One other option. After checking out the costs of HIFX etc you approach your local bank and ask if they will price match. 
HSBC did that for me once for a large transfer.


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## NathanMerka

I used World First for very large transfer. Moving from California to Gold Coast end of April, transferred large sum in January. Got it an an excellent rate. With all my research, i was extremely pleased with World First. Was easy, safe and good service...... And best exchange rate I found.


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## JandE

An interesting page on currency transfers is at Choice:

www.choice.com.au/.../overseas-money-transfers

My personal info on the amount of US$60,000 is:

Todays (12:30pm) actual rate at 
Currency Online Currency Online - Foreign Currency Exchange

Interbank Rate: 1.30 = $78,000
Actual rate after margin 1.28737
Recipient will get: AUD 77,241.95
Earliest Receipt date would be 6th April​
WorldFirst show

Interbank Rate: 1.302 = $78,120
Actual rate after margin ??
Recipient will get: AUD ??

I can't see it on the WorldFirst site​
Others:
OzForex (now OFX) A$77,919 at Interbank Rate
Currency Fair $77,796.10 at Actual Rate

Looking at those ones, Currency Fair looks good, assuming the web site rate is the actual.


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## kittudawra

Openworld remit account . Regestred . On that . Make small nd less Transfer into your asutralian bank account its 4 $ fee at once you send 50 to 8000 $ at once . Try smaller transaction first . Nd wait to be get transferred . If you like the system make it big transaction


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## JandE

kittudawra said:


> Openworld remit account . Regestred . On that . Make small nd less Transfer into your asutralian bank account its 4 $ fee at once you send 50 to 8000 $ at once . Try smaller transaction first . Nd wait to be get transferred . If you like the system make it big transaction


I just tested worldremit for US $60,000 but it said "Please enter send amount less than USD 2,000" They also don't operate in all the US States


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## notsure

Not sure if you're still in need, of recommendations, but I'll post in case anyone else is looking.

Of late, my husband & I have started using Transferwise http://www.transferwise.com - it's built by the people who created skype. We've only used it a few times, but have found it fast, and the fees reasonable....so worth a look for anyone needing to do transfers.


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