Transferring money to the UK

[Effected After]

I'm going to be transferring money to the UK fairly regularly over the next few months. I just made a transfer of 1000 pounds last week, but I got charged 4000 yen by shinsei bank, as well as a 12 pound fee from someone somewhere in the middle. This is pretty steep (nearing 6000 yen), so I'd like to find something a little cheaper. I used to do post office money orders back in the day to Canada, they were 1000 yen I think (or 2000?). Do they still offer this? Does anyone know how much they cost? Any other recommended methods?

In this case, paypal isn't an option, or it's probably what I would use.

Edit: I did look at Lloyds TSB, but it appears they charge 2000 yen, plus 0.1% at a minimum of 1500 yen - so their base charge is 3500 yen plus the intermediary fee. This is slightly better than Shinsei, but still a little too much in my books.

[veracotti]

I post Traveler's cheques by registered mail along with a paying-in slip. Never failed. YMMV.

[cucashopboy]

I'm going to be transferring money to the UK fairly regularly over the next few months. I just made a transfer of 1000 pounds last week, but I got charged 4000 yen by shinsei bank, as well as a 12 pound fee from someone somewhere in the middle. This is pretty steep (nearing 6000 yen), so I'd like to find something a little cheaper. I used to do post office money orders back in the day to Canada, they were 1000 yen I think (or 2000?). Do they still offer this? Does anyone know how much they cost? Any other recommended methods?

In this case, paypal isn't an option, or it's probably what I would use.

Edit: I did look at Lloyds TSB, but it appears they charge 2000 yen, plus 0.1% at a minimum of 1500 yen - so their base charge is 3500 yen plus the intermediary fee. This is slightly better than Shinsei, but still a little too much in my books.

Not used Lloyds TSB for a few years, but they also provided a poor exchange rate on top of the charges and I definitely had to pay 12 pounds at the other end with them. Shinsei only charge 1 yen per pound on the exchange rate, less if you are a Gold or Platinum Customer.

[Effected After]

I post Traveler's cheques by registered mail along with a paying-in slip. Never failed. YMMV.

What is a paying-in slip, and what does YMMV mean?

[Effected After]

Not used Lloyds TSB for a few years, but they also provided a poor exchange rate on top of the charges and I definitely had to pay 12 pounds at the other end with them. Shinsei only charge 1 yen per pound on the exchange rate, less if you are a Gold or Platinum Customer.

I never really thought about the actual rate itself, that's a good thing to consider.

[Effected After]

No one else?

[HarryHurry]

I post Traveler's cheques by registered mail along with a paying-in slip. Never failed. YMMV.

But then you lose out on the crap exchange rate vs direct transfer.

[Seattlegirl]

What is a paying-in slip, and what does YMMV mean?

Paying-in slip = deposit slip
YMMV = Your Mileage May Vary

That'll be 2000 yen, please. I do take PayPal.

[Gaijindriftchic]

Hey I usually use JP Post for making a money transfer, it usually costs 2,500yen for the transfer and there is usually a charge from the receiving bank account.

Hope this helps! But yeah its pretty expensive to transfer money from Japan. Good Luck!

[mr.sumo.snr]

I wonder if we all suffer from short-term memory loss.

Money transfer issues have been beaten to death, buried, dug up again, put through a mincer, cremated and scattered on the mountain. There are NO cheaper options than the ones that always get listed: Post Office, GoLloyds, bank transfer, travellers' checks.

The rates are the same now as they always have been, there is no miracle cure to this condition.

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[tequilla]

I wonder if we all suffer from short-term memory loss.

Money transfer issues have been beaten to death, buried, dug up again, put through a mincer, cremated and scattered on the mountain. There are NO cheaper options than the ones that always get listed: Post Office, GoLloyds, bank transfer, travellers' checks.

The rates are the same now as they always have been, there is no miracle cure to this condition.

--

I completely disagree: https://www.moneyswap.com/

[mr.sumo.snr]

I completely disagree: https://www.moneyswap.com/

Fee details please.

It's possible to find them on the website (with a bit of a search) but I'm sure we'd all prefer to hear from someone who's used the service first-hand.

Cheers in advance.

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[Effected After]

I could find the buy and sell rates, but I couldn't find any service charges.

[mr.sumo.snr]

I could find the buy and sell rates, but I couldn't find any service charges.

In the Terms and Conditions section - which in itself tends to get the BS radar bleeping, though I am more than happy to be proved wrong. If there really IS a service available that offers rates at half a yen off the telegraphic rate (as Shinsei Platinum does) plus a transfer fee of less than 2000 yen (GoLloyds) - then I'm sold.

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[Effected After]

As far as I could tell go lloyds charges 2000 plus a minimum of 1500 yen on top, making it a minimum charge of 3500 yen.

[fxgai]

I never really thought about the actual rate itself, that's a good thing to consider.

In your first transfer, I take it you were working with only 1,000 pounds, but precisely because of the exhorbitant conversion fees that all banks (including Shinsei) charge, as soon as you start transfering amounts in much greater size than that, the costs really balloon higher. This is a cash cow for banks, no doubt about it.

The way to get a cheap deal on the conversions is to use a forex broker. Forex transactions are their bread and butter, and they much rather have your extra business than see you paying fat fees to the banks.

The downside is that to open an account, you probably need to have good enough Japanese to read the documents to get your account created (or have someone with equivalent abilities help you with it).

I know of the following three options:
1) Central Tanshi FX (http://www.central-tanshifx.com/)
2) Money Partners
3) Cyber Agent FX

Personally my wife has used Central Tanshi FX for converting a goodly amount of Euros to Yen. The fee for Euros with them is 0.03 yen (versus 0.5 yen or 1.00 yen with the cheapest of the banks), and I see their spread for GBP is 0.04. E.g. it's 25 times cheaper than using a bank. Whether this matters to you will depend on how much money you wish to send.

Besides the conversion fees, the sending / tranfer fees to get the money from A to B are essentially fixed, but if using an option like Central Tanshi FX the total costs should be less than 5,000 yen

[fxgai]

I completely disagree: https://www.moneyswap.com/

Maybe I am not understanding the service right, but according to the Currency Exchange page the rates for GBP/JPY are (currently) 129.4633 ~ 130.8813.

This is a 1.4 yen spread. It's better than some banks, but not all. And there are Japanese brokers such as Central Tanshi FX that offer a more standard market rate with a 0.04 yen spread.

I have only ever used Japanese companies myself, but I can't help but think there must be some foreign companies that offer truly tight spreads such as this also...

[tequilla]

Fee details please.

It's possible to find them on the website (with a bit of a search) but I'm sure we'd all prefer to hear from someone who's used the service first-hand.

A lack of time prevents me from writing much... And given that you'll want to check everything out before parting with your cash, the motivation for promoting the service is slim.

I could find the buy and sell rates, but I couldn't find any service charges.

I cannot recall the service charges I paid last time around. You need to deposit money in their JPY account (they do not charge for this service, but you may be charged a fee depending on how you make the transfer). You will be charged a fee to transfer GBP to a UK account, I think I incurred £10 in fees last time around, but don't quote me on that... However, the fee perhaps isn't the issue here, read on.

Maybe I am not understanding the service right, but according to the Currency Exchange page the rates for GBP/JPY are (currently) 129.4633 ~ 130.8813.

This is a 1.4 yen spread. It's better than some banks, but not all. And there are Japanese brokers such as Central Tanshi FX that offer a more standard market rate with a 0.04 yen spread.

I have only ever used Japanese companies myself, but I can't help but think there must be some foreign companies that offer truly tight spreads such as this also...

I don't really understand what your concern with spread is... Let me explain how the service works: it is peer-to-peer (P2P) money lending. You transfer money to their JPY account. The service offers your JPY for the foreign currency (e.g., GBP) that you want at the rate chosen by you. The money is exchanged when a buyer and seller are matched (i.e., your sell rate matches their buy rate). Finally, you transfer the money to a UK account, there's a fee for this.

COSTS:
Money in: dependent upon how you do the transfer
Exchange rate: chosen by you
Money out: I paid ~£10

This is most likely a lot better than GoLloyds because the GoLloyds rates suck. I'm not sure how this compares to Forex.


For other currencies, I recommend currencyfair.com (the fees seem lower, from my experience).

[fxgai]

I don't really understand what your concern with spread is... Let me explain how the service works: it is peer-to-peer (P2P) money lending. You transfer money to their JPY account. The service offers your JPY for the foreign currency (e.g., GBP) that you want at the rate chosen by you. The money is exchanged when a buyer and seller are matched (i.e., your sell rate matches their buy rate). Finally, you transfer the money to a UK account, there's a fee for this.

COSTS:
Money in: dependent upon how you do the transfer
Exchange rate: chosen by you
Money out: I paid ~£10

People exchanging currency will be concerned with the spread if they wish to keep as much of their money as possible on a transaction.

From the MoneySwap website, it looks like there is a man-in-the-middle, so it's not really P2P. There is a non-trivial spread involved, which in reality is a cost of using the service. From the FAQ:

Q: "How is the fee structure for currency swaps?"
A: "There are no fees for swapping currency. The costs are built into the spreads we offer."

Q: "What if there is no-one who wants to exchange money into a certain currency at a certain time?"
A: "There will always be a market-maker providing a buy and sell price in all listed currencies."

From the rates advertised, the spread the "market-maker" is operating with for GBP/JPY is about 1.4 yen. (Some Japan-based banks better this.)

Also for comparison, I just pulled these rates now for GBP/JPY
Forex broker: 128.76 ~ 128.79
MoneySwap: 128.0584 ~ 129.4989

If one is happy to specify a rate and wait for the order to be filled, then a service like MoneySwap might be perfectly OK. (And forex rates obviously bounce around a fair bit, you might always be able to get a better rate tomorrow).

But if you consider the effect of the spread, if you were converting 1 million yen to pounds, you'd basically end up with more than 40 GBP extra by dealing with the forex broker, all else the same.

At the end of the day it's all down to the individual of course, and I'm admittedly at the penny-pinching end of the scale

[tequilla]

But if you consider the effect of the spread, if you were converting 1 million yen to pounds, you'd basically end up with more than 40 GBP extra by dealing with the forex broker, all else the same.

At the end of the day it's all down to the individual of course, and I'm admittedly at the penny-pinching end of the scale

Thanks for the details! Given that 40 is around 5000 JPY, dealing with a Forex broker would save 0.5%, so I would argue that the services are essentially equivalent... For me, I'll stick with MoneySwap, because I know how to use it (and working out how to use Forex will cost me more than 5000 JPY worth of time), but it is useful to know what else is available!

[tequilla]

For me, I'll stick with MoneySwap, because I know how to use it (and working out how to use Forex will cost me more than 5000 JPY worth of time), but it is useful to know what else is available!

Actually, for me, my largest expense is getting the money out of my account! SMBC charge a standard rate of 9000 JPY to make the transfer. So if anyone knows a cheaper way... (I guess, taking the cash out of a SMBC cash machine and depositing it in person...)

I suspect this cost applies to many transfers?

[fxgai]

Actually, for me, my largest expense is getting the money out of my account! SMBC charge a standard rate of 9000 JPY to make the transfer. So if anyone knows a cheaper way... (I guess, taking the cash out of a SMBC cash machine and depositing it in person...)

I suspect this cost applies to many transfers?

9,000 sounds steep for just a overseas transfer. My guess is there is some other charges mashed in with that, or perhaps you pay more if you do it over the counter at the bank?

In terms of plain yen transfers, as "Effected After" mentioned Lloyds charge 2,000 + 1,500 yen as a minimum, so at 3,500 yen they are seemingly the cheapest bank for transferring funds overseas.

But if one were to get the full service (both transfer and currency exchange) at the one bank then I think Citibank and Shinsei have better exchange rates, so on the whole they would seem to be better options if dealing with higher amounts of cash.

For smaller amounts of cash, Lloyd's might be marginally better due to cheaper fixed costs, I imagine.

[tequilla]

9,000 sounds steep for just a overseas transfer. My guess is there is some other charges mashed in with that, or perhaps you pay more if you do it over the counter at the bank?

This is an over the counter JPY account to JPY account transfer. There may be other charges mashed in, but I don't know what they are.

EDIT: Withdrawing cash would be one option, but for large sums it would perhaps be problematic/ill-advised.