Singapore Expats

Hi

I am in Singapore for a year. During this time I will need to keep mortgage payments up in the UK and therefore need to make regular money transfers to the UK.

Any ideas of how to do this without incurring too many fees?

I haven't enquired yet but I think an international bank transfer will cost around 30 pounds sterling. Maybe its better to wire the money with the likes of western union?

Any ideas welcome.

Thanks

Ajax

Ajax,

I am in the same situation as yours, I need to transfer money back to Sydney to pay my mortgage. But, I only checked with all of major banks here, and they all charge around SG30 + commission + currency conversion everytime I send money back to my bank account there while receving bank in Syd will charge me nothing.

Haven't checked with western union yet .If you find out western union is much cheaper, I really like to know about it too.

found this website http://www.westernunion.com/info/homePa ... country=SG, but guess, will be clearer if call them to find out.

I just did this from my DBS account. The commission was set as the higher of a percentage of the amount or S$10. Unfortunately, can't remember the percentage amount, so not much help really, but it didn't seem to be too extortionate.

Hi. One other possibility ... Open an GBP account with a local bank (HSBC I know can do this, probably others too). You can then choose your moment to put funds into this account, depending on exchange rates, and then usually can transfer to your account in UK without getting so badly hit on the exchange rate. You still pay TT/wire charges of course. HSBC used to have a good arrangement with Midland (now also HSBC) and First Direct in the UK to have lower charges for wire/TT because they are part of the same group.

I experimented with this a while back but gave up (for other reasons) so I honestly can't say whether it's cheaper or not.

Good luck
P.S. I'd strongly recommend opening an account with First Direct anyway. Their phone banking service is world-class, and their internet banking is pretty good too.

If I'm not wrong, PAYPAL , which is the service provided by ebay can be also used for money transfer as long as you have a visa/mastercard /amex debit or credit card.

Although I havent tried it myself, it would require using your debit/credit card to put money into your paypal acc, and you can nominate a bank acc where money can be transferred to.

Using Australia as an example, they charge only $1 for each transfer. US based accounts are free. The fee is probably different for other countries but being a facility of Ebay, I can't imagine them charging too much, after all, it would affect their online bidding business if their facilities were too expensive to use.

From what I have gathered, most banks in Singapore offer at least a visa debit card service which is free of charge. So transferring money shouldn't be that hard. Only thing that you do lose out on is probably a very small percentage on currency transfer, as paypal is in US dollars, so if you covert from singapore dollars to US dollars when transferring to paypal, then covert to UK pounds when transferring to home account, i'm not certain whether how much you really lose out in the end. Perhaps those that use ebay often can tell us..?

Website to go to is http://www.paypal.com

kjlkjkl

Splatted,
You are right about this. But I don't have anyone there for me yet, at least from banking side while I am working in Singpaore. But, I guess, I can do the same by taking money directly from my DBS card when I am back to sydney for holidays.

jlkjlk

You might want to consider using a commercial currency broker.

I work for HIFX Australia Pty Ltd; we have offices in Australia, New Zealand, the US and the UK.

Globally, HIFX’s whole emphasis is on protecting the currency transactions of Private Clients and Corporations against the inevitable fluctuations from the foreign exchange markets, with a level of service which is simply not available from the banks.

Service for HIFX Private Clients:

• Provide clients access to competitive rates of exchange
• Execute currency transactions for same day value, spot and forward delivery (minimum transaction size AUD10,000 or SGD equivalent)
• Optimise the timing of trades using market orders
• Constantly monitor the markets via our dedicated dealers
• Proactively update clients on changing market trends and sentiment

Our service is free and without obligation. Furthermore, we are regulated by ASIC and we are holders of an Australian Financial Services Licence (in Australia & NZ).

If you would like to learn more about how our service may assist you with your currency transactions, please email me direct - [email protected] and I will be more than happy to call you back.

Belinda Davey
Private Client Brokerage Services
www.hifx.com.au
+61 2 9251 2626