Transfer Money To Uk - Low Fees?

[thebigchill]

We have a large sum of money we'd like to transfer from Poland to the UK, and i'm surprised at how difficult or expensive it seems to be to do so. The banks in Poland are saying it'll be very expensive (though i'm not the one in contact with those banks), which leaves me looking at money transfer sites. Has anyone had any experience with this sort of thing and has a recommendation? I'm also looking into Revolut as well, though getting a straight answer again seems tricky. Any help appreciated on getting our money into the UK without the banks getting their grubby mitts on a chunk of it!

[Sqad]

https://transferwise.com/

I have always used this company and found them cheap and efficient.

[TonyV]

You could just bring it yourself as cash?

[Sqad]

Tony...that would be fine if the cash was in £UK but if it was in Polish Zloty then he would need to change it in a UK bank which would be expensive.

[Khandro]

I endorse what sqad says. I use transferwise regularly, they have a very user-friendly website & are reliable, fast & give good exchange rates.

(I transfered 2,000 this week for less than £6 & the transaction took took 5 seconds!)

[Rockrose]

Depends on what they mean as large sums and is it traceable?

[TonyV]

Ok Sqad point taken, my ex FIL did it in reverse moving sterling to Spain, he just put cash in money belt.

[thebigchill]

Thanks people.
Transferwise is being looked at - the originating account in Poland isn't mine (FIL), so should he be initiating the transfer if we go this route? I suspect he'd rather give me the bank details than do it himself as he's not tech-savvy. Charge is showing as around £60 for this.
Cash - currently the option we're going with, but as I'm not traveling, I'm not thrilled at the thought of my wife carrying it all about. Thinking would be to exchange over there with Kantor and bring back £.

[thebigchill]

Squad and Khandro - how does the Transferwise transfer work? Can it all be done through the TW website, or do you need to "send" the money from your own bank to TW first? FIL doesn't do online banking so would he need to go to the bank to initiate a transfer to TW, or is it all rather simple with the "from" and "to" accounts on Transferwise?

[Khandro]

The money doesn't actually travel between countries; just as you want to move zlotys from Poland to the UK there are people wanting to move pounds to Poland, so Transferwise have 'pools' of money in each currency and you will be paid out of that.

[KARL]

Except for individuals physically carrying their own cash from one place to another, all transfers including between currencies are done the way Khandro describes. Each organisation has its way for accepting and delivering the funds and you will need to accept that and pay whatever fee is charged by the one you choose. I am not familiar with transferwise.com but they presumably explain their system on the site.

[-SharonA-]

Have you looked at Western Union??

[pumpjack]

i sent sum of 4000 from uk to thaiand recently, FREE !
my bank is usterbank and if i wanted it recieved in 1-2 days there was a charge but i td them i am in no hurry
the TT was sent and recieved at the other end in about 4 days.
FREE

[gness]

Another vote for TransferWise - Dave & I use it regularly for £/Euro transfers.

You need to move the money to TWise from a bank account with *exactly* the same name as that which you've used to register with TWise.

[waterboatman]

Write a cheque and pay it in. Job done.

[gness]

Interesting, Boaty....what would be the processing charge for a cheque written in Zlotys and how much would the bank gouge you on the exchange rate?