Hello,

Need to transfer money from my CHF Swiss account to my GBP bank account in the UK- anyone able to advise best way?

Spoken with Xe.com who advised their CHF account is in London so not sure if will be worth the hassle paying an international transfer fee over just a normal bank transfer.

Many Thanks

I use Postfinance's E-finance. Very affordable rates and prompt. Transfers to SEPA accounts ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single_Euro_Payments_Area ) are free.

I transfer once a month from my CH account to my GB, I just do it via an international transfer in my online banking, it costs me about 5CHF (could be more than this), only thing to watch is the exchange rate

I also transfer money each month - it costs me CHF5 and arrives usually in 2 days (Quicker than a GB -> GB transfer! )

I find the exchange rates very good, but I guess that depends on the banks involved?

Dont use Paypal.

I have 2 Paypal Accounts, and sending 1200 chf ended up costing me 109 chf :-(

Doc.

paypal is evil.

How do you compare the rates you got and to what? as maybe competitive to other banks but not normally anywhere near to specialists who are much near the actual stated currency exchange rate at that time.

Banks are notorious for loading curency rates on top of the 5CHF fee ie adding 1-5% admin fees hidden in the currency rate. Thats why they have different rates for over 100k/businesses as people who know would go elsewhere!

When you book an international transfer with PostFinance, do they tell you which exchange rate they will apply before you commit to the transfer?

I was also considering XE, as the original poster said their CHF account is in London so an international transfer fee will still apply, but XE have the benefit (I think) that they tell you in advance what the rate is, so you know exactly what you will get.

Check out www.wechselstube.com or.ch. They are Swiss and charge about 0.75% one way (so total spread back and forth is 1.5%). Over 10k, it is free I think if your bank is modern (uses IBAN Nrs for SEPA payments). Check the faq.

The rates are live until 11pm at night so you can pick your transfer. You can compare rates by going to Postfinance or UBS web sites, and look for the currency rates. I find both UBS and PF always to have more expensive rates than the site above. I am not affiliated with them, but like the transparancy and the rates, and most of all, with present exchange rate fluctations, that you can pick the time, and are not tied to rates set by banks.