Best way to transfer and exchange funds for purchase?

[svrecess]

I am going to use Commonwealth for my boat. They say they can do better than Transferwise without the annual limits of Transferwise. They also buy currency at key times/dates to get the best price. A French boat dealer recommended them:

St. John Webb
Senior Account Executive
Commonwealth Foreign Exchange
56 Pine Street, Suite 600
Providence, RI 02903

Phone: (800) 239-2389 x 7120
Fax: (401) 274-9339
www.commonwealthfx.com
st.john@comfex.com

[sailingforfun]

Originally Posted by klawrence

I am going to use Commonwealth for my boat. They say they can do better than Transferwise without the annual limits of Transferwise. They also buy currency at key times/dates to get the best price. A French boat dealer recommended them:

St. John Webb
Senior Account Executive
Commonwealth Foreign Exchange
56 Pine Street, Suite 600
Providence, RI 02903

Phone: (800) 239-2389 x 7120
Fax: (401) 274-9339
www.commonwealthfx.com
st.john@comfex.com

Anyone that can consistently "buy currency at the key times/dates to get the best price" is one hell of a trader.

[svrecess]

Originally Posted by sailingforfun

Anyone that can consistently "buy currency at the key times/dates to get the best price" is one hell of a trader.

Not really. This isnt day trading but there are trends based on times of day that you can count on. In other words, they aren't a service you log into to do your own work, click submit, and you're done.. you give them authorization to debit your account and provide whatever guidelines you want to give, and they do the transfer for you. You get the interbank rate and less fees than Transferwise, and that's way better than what any bank would get you.. TW limit was $200K per yr and $50k daily last time I checked. I don't know if they have a minimum, but I got the contact from Outremer guy

[El Pinguino]

Originally Posted by sailingforfun

Used https://us.ofx.com/version3/registra...personal/step1 in 2015. I needed to sell dollars and buy euros to make payment in France. Excellent speedy service. Which ever service you choose avoid the Banks if you don't want to pay high fees and wide spreads.

^^^ what he said ^^^

I used them between Oz$ and NZ$ when I did my refit....

They used to be known as Ozforex.

[yachttie]

What about Paypal?

[El Pinguino]

Originally Posted by yachttie

What about Paypal?

Caught once with a fairly small sum... sub 1K.... never ever again....

[El Pinguino]

Originally Posted by El Pinguino

Caught once with a fairly small sum... sub 1K.... never ever again....

Was 750UKP....

This site has some info....https://www.finder.com.au/internatio...ansfers/paypal

[valhalla360]

Check around with local credit unions. We did a direct transfer thru them for a flat $50 at spot rates to a UK account.


Credit unions are easy to join.

[Dave22q]

Originally Posted by exMaggieDrum

I have "heard" many times now that travelers' check have gone the way of the dinosaurs. Many places won't take them and even some banks, and if they do, they will charge you fees for the service.

Used them in Italy and Greece last year with zero problems. For a boat purchase traveler's checks are inconvenient and too expensive versus banks or transfer agents. I used Paypall as buyer and seller between US and UK at no cost but I suspect the dollar value would be too high for them.

[exMaggieDrum]

Originally Posted by Dave22q

Used them in Italy and Greece last year with zero problems. For a boat purchase traveler's checks are inconvenient and too expensive versus banks or transfer agents. I used Paypall as buyer and seller between US and UK at no cost but I suspect the dollar value would be too high for them.

Thanks for the update.

[SailingFan]