Transferring money internationally with XETrade

D

DublinTexas

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I use XE frequently and have no problems.
To open the account I needed to upload or fax my Passport and copy of a bank statement as proof of address.
All you do online is to agree to a contract of exchange, you than need to use your Bank to do a Money Transfer to a bank account in Germany (IBAN so it's free or what ever your bank charges).
Once they receive the money they either wire it into your Canda account or do an EFT (which takes longer).
So the only benefit for me is better exchange rates and a free transfer which is faster than a 30€ money transfer to the US from my bank.
 
The currency converter website xe.com have their own way of transferring money internationally which seems to offer better conversion rates than the banks.

I'm going to be transferring a large amount of money to Canada in advance of my move there and I was thinking about using XETrade on that website but I'm wary of using the internet to do this.

Does anybody have any experience of using XETrade on the website xe.com?
 
Have never used XETrade, but have used Caxtonfx, who are based in UK - so all done online/phone/post.
The process involved opening an account, and various IDs are required for money laundering processes - would be surprised if XETrade didn't require the same. So there should be a bit of good old fashioned paper shuffling, if that gives you any more confidence in the transaction.
 
Is this an advertisement for XEtrade or something?

They do.

Er - did you not read the first post?!
 
xe rates on the charts are not real rates, you only get those when you register, they are not nearly as good. Its the same on most of these sites. they dont give you a rate until you have sent all your docs in to them.

Call your bank, around the banks, currency.ie and see who offers the best deal. make sure to ask transfer fees and xchange rates
 
But are the rates and charges from the likes of XEtrade etc. generally better than the banks (or in my case E*Trade who will convert from US$ to € for 2.25% which seems high)?
 
best to test xetrade and currency.ie and find out, with xe you will have to send in docs before finding out. they wont give a rate until you have done that plus you are charged wire fees although they claim that you are not charged transfer fees, just another label
 
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I'm in the process of opening an XEtrade account. They are to call me to check details tomorrow. But currency.ie looks (on the face of it) a lot simpler! E*Trade will be charging $25 for a wire anyway so I'd prefer not to have to pay more fees just for moving the money around. And obviously I'd like to minimise the forex margin. At least the $ has been gaining on the € recently!
 
Phew - the XEtrade account setup process is pretty involved. I opened the account, faxed back the signed form, faxed (didn't have the opportunity to scan/upload) my compliance documentation through, confirmed details on the phone to a support rep and now I still have to resent my passport copy as the faxed copy is not legible at their end (the rep said that he has never seen a faxed copy come in OK so scan/photo & upload is the only real option). So my account is still not activated until I get them a legible copy of my passport.

In the meantime I also contacted currency.ie online with the summary details of my intended transfer but they have yet to get back to me.
 
Currency.ie also require original or certified docs. Popping into their office on College Green is handier for me than getting certified copies etc. So once I've got both accounts open I'll see what rate they and the banks offer and choose the best (allowing for any ancillary charges).
 
XEtrade seem very slow to enable the account even after all the certification docs have been provided. They had everything last Thursday and my account is still not enabled. In contrast, on foot of an email exchange with one of their staff, I popped into Transfermate's (currency.ie's) offices in Dublin to show them original documentation (passport & bill) and I was in their system immediately. (Getting certified copies and posting/faxing them was more hassle to me than just popping in). I just wanted to be ready to try both of them and local banks for a rate before transferring the money to see how it goes. As much as an exercise as anything else. Transfermate's customer service so far has been great although I haven't actually executed any transactions with them yet.
 
One week on and XEtrade have neither activated my account nor answered my last query about what the hold up is. I'll probably go with TransferMate/currency.ie at this stage since they seem a lot more responsive and reliable.
 
So XEtrade finally activate my account over a week after I have supplied them with all the necessary documentation. Then I find that in spite of having discussed the sums involved with them they have a c. US$6K trade limit on my account!? Based on my experience they seem determined to ensure that customers do NOT trade with them easily. Transfermate/currency.ie seem much more helpful and on the ball so I will most likely go with them.
 
XEtrade upped my trading limit and adjusted the rates applicable to give me a better deal (so they said) but currency.ie were still a better deal even before the XEtrade wire fees from their bank to my Irish account were accounted for. So I went with currency.ie. They are lot easier to deal with all round in my experience so far in setting up an account and asking about various issues in advance of executing my first transaction.
 
I've been living in Ireland for 2 years, originally from the US of A. I have quite a bit of credit card debt and need to transfer money to my US account every month. I was browsing the forums and found the reference to currency.ie. I filled out the form on this page [broken link removed] and then was just given a response to transfer funds to their account. Seems kinda dodgy. Are they legit ? I'm transferring about 1000 eur a month. Do they not require some sort of picture ID ?
 
Yes - you will need to open an account with then by providing the necessary id (e.g. certified copy or original passport, utility bill etc.). The website is a bit basic and the form in question does not actually execute the transaction. You should give them a call or contact them by email. There is nothing dodgy about the operation as far as I can see even though I have not executed any business through them yet. Their support is very helpful so far though.
 
currency.ie will transfer small amounts of money without asking for your ID (do not know what the cap is, but 1000 euro is well within it)
 
Sorry - I did not know that. For the amounts that I was looking at they did require me to provide documentation and open an account first.
 
Finally managed transfer my money to Transfermate/currency.ie - the problem was trying to convince E*Trade to process a wire request to a 3rd party account (Transfermate's US clearing bank). They normally require a "notarized letter of authorization" but they made do with some other info including a letter from my US employer's stock plan administrator. E*Trade can convert from US$ to € but normally charge 2.25% of the amount on top of whatever forex margin is built into their exchange rate. They knocked this down to 0.75% without any haggling on my part and that made it just marginally more expensive than Transfermate/currency.ie and XEtrade but I decided to go with Transfermate since they were marginally cheaper and had been so helpful along the way.
 
After the feedback here I tried out currency.ie because I thought that it might be faster than xe which involves a SEPA payment to Germany but I found that currency.ie is not as good as XE.

With XE you do your SEPA payment to Germany (which usualy takes 2 days) and they than pay it to you via wire (15€ charge) or EFT (no charge) and you get it the same day they receive your money for wire or 1 day later for EFT.

With currency.ie it took according to them 2 days before a bank of scotland to bank of scotland payment was with them and than they only do the wire for the next day so it's 4 days. And they charge a 15€ fee.

With XE my money would have been there today with Wire or tommorrow with EFT, the same day currency.ie will be there (hopeyfull) but I would have paid less (i.e. the 15€ fee plus the 10$ incoming fee).

And as both are using Custom House in the background (hey some links on currency.ie point ot custom house) I think I stick with XE.

I know what I get for less fee.
 
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