Sending Money to the UK

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  1. #11

    Join Date
    Oct 2006
    Location
    Hong Kong
    Posts
    15,557

    Another option.

    Seems you are most likely to get hit with some form of charge.

    Get an HSBC account in HK and in the UK. I think the charges are cheaper when transferring between the two. I can't remember exactly, but will be about £10.

    Rather than transfer monthly, transfer every six months or so, in a lump sum, that way you will save on the £10 each time you have to transfer.

    PDLM's idea is good, by opening a sterling account in HK.

    Another thing you could do is open the sterling account in HK and every so many months get a banker's draft, then post the bankers draft and get a friend to cash it into your UK bank account where your bills come out from (btw there are charges for bankers drafts).


  2. #12

    Join Date
    Jun 2008
    Location
    CWB
    Posts
    411

    I send money back to the UK every month, and have done for the last four years or so. Couple of things to note: I have sent sterling to LloydsTSB and to Smile (co-operative bank) - neither has directly charged me for receiving sterling. I have sent money from China Construction Bank and from HSBC and both of those banks have charged fees on each and every occasion.

    Where a direct relationship exists between the sending bank and the receiving bank, then the figure that your (sending) bank quotes (accounting for the exchange rate at the time and adding their fee) is the final price you pay. Where no direct relationship exists, then the two banks must use an intermediary and usually this third bank will levy an additional fee of its own.

    Of course, if your bank in the UK has to change HK$ into sterling, then you cannot guarantee what exchange rate will finally be used (as it will almost certainly have changed in the time it takes you to wire it), so it's always best to send sterling back. Essentially what happens is your bank in HK buys the amount of sterling that you request and then deducts the correct amount (according to the precise exchange rate of the moment) in HK$ from your account (plus their fee).

    The bank in HK then sends this to your bank in the UK and in the case of HSBC you can choose whether it should be the sender or receiver who will take care of any additional charges that may crop up after the money has been sent (whether levied by your bank in the UK or by an intermediary bank).

    To send hundreds of pounds per month by PayPal you would need a merchant's account, I think. This comes with monthly fees and may not be cost-effective.

    I have found the various bank fees to be never too high and on the whole acceptable, especially given the stability, security and convenience of remitting money direct from one bank account to another by internet banking. Any alternative method would have to represent SIGNIFICANT cost savings for me to change the way I remit money. That might, however, speak more to my laziness than to my good financial sense.


  3. #13

    Join Date
    Jan 2009
    Location
    Kowloon
    Posts
    144
    Quote Originally Posted by pin:
    Another option.

    Seems you are most likely to get hit with some form of charge.

    Get an HSBC account in HK and in the UK. I think the charges are cheaper when transferring between the two. I can't remember exactly, but will be about £10.

    Rather than transfer monthly, transfer every six months or so, in a lump sum, that way you will save on the £10 each time you have to transfer.
    ^ This.

    With internet banking set up, it's only a few mouse clicks and as mentioned by M Khan, you can set it up so that all fees are deducted from the HK HSBC account (e.g. You transfer $1000, $1150 (approx) will be deducted from HK account and £90 will be paid into your UK account)

    Plus it's pretty quick, Less than 24hrs.