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Moving to Canada but unsure on how to bring money

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mpitillo
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Moving to Canada but unsure on how to bring money

Post by mpitillo » Thu Feb 13, 2020 1:19 pm

Hello everyone,

My partner and I are soon moving to Montreal, Quebec (Canada) in the next couple of months.

We have a relatively large amount of money (£) saved across both our UK Bank Accounts (Barclays and Santander). We would like to bring this money with us, but we are having a hard time to find the most cost effective method to do so, without losing too much on conversion rate, or without having to bring it all by hand.

I was wondering if anyone here had a similar experience and how did you deal with this? I've heard about Scotiabank Startright Program, where you can open an international account and transfer up to $50,000 CAD before moving to Canada. But there is the limit of 50k, and I am unsure how their conversion rate works. Maybe there's another more recommended method?

Any tips?

Thank you so much!

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Zerubbabel
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Re: Moving to Canada but unsure on how to bring money

Post by Zerubbabel » Thu Feb 13, 2020 1:35 pm

Hello

The only tip I can give you at the moment, is to avoid going online asking people how to move a large sum of money. You could well end-up in Canada with 25 quids.

See with your bank. Exchange rates are always a ripoff. You have to swallow the pill at one point.

If you find a valid commercial offer that is capped. See if yourself and your partner can open an account each or something like that.

mpitillo
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Joined: Sat Jul 13, 2019 8:31 am
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Re: Moving to Canada but unsure on how to bring money

Post by mpitillo » Thu Feb 13, 2020 1:46 pm

Zerubbabel wrote:
Thu Feb 13, 2020 1:35 pm
Hello

The only tip I can give you at the moment, is to avoid going online asking people how to move a large sum of money. You could well end-up in Canada with 25 quids.

See with your bank. Exchange rates are always a ripoff. You have to swallow the pill at one point.

If you find a valid commercial offer that is capped. See if yourself and your partner can open an account each or something like that.
Thanks for the reply.

Obviously I wouldn't be stupid enough to follow a random person's tip about a random bank account or what not. All I wanted to know is if there's a specific process that most people go through, or a specific (known) bank that offers a good service for this, similar to the Scotiabank StartRight Program I've mentioned above.

I don't want to just use my bank directly, because I know that's the worst and most expensive scenario.

secret.simon
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Re: Moving to Canada but unsure on how to bring money

Post by secret.simon » Fri Feb 14, 2020 10:45 pm

A quick web search pulled up the following links.

How to Open a Canadian Bank Account From the UK

Money.co.uk: 10 best money transfers to Canada

How to choose the best bank in Canada for you

That should help you start off on your research.

Also, most banks in Canada have special schemes/bank accounts for migrants, given the number of new immigrants that Canada receives every year (think about it, about 3500 successful applicants per Express Entry draw every two weeks, and that is just one immigration pathway to Canada).
I am not a lawyer or immigration advisor. My statements/comments do not constitute legal advice. E&OE. Please do not PM me for advice.

avro1959
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Re: Moving to Canada but unsure on how to bring money

Post by avro1959 » Sun Feb 16, 2020 5:24 pm

Hey mpitillo, there’s a foreign exchange company that I use called OFX (formerly called Canadian Forex). I’m Canadian and my wife lived in the UK for several years and I needed to transfer money to her monthly. Through my research then I found that Canadian Forex had the best rates and lowest transfer fees. I think this is still the case, even though I only use it 1-2 times a year now.

The way it works is you set up the destination account and source account and request a live quote online - it’ll show you exactly what will be debited from your UK account and what will be deposited in your Canadian account, including the fees. If the rate isn’t great, you should stick with your bank, but I found their rates to be better every time.

I believe the reason they’re able to provide better rates is because they’re not actually sending your money across borders; with offices in several countries, they’re sitting on cash and doing virtual transfers if you get what I mean. So they’ll take your pounds and put it in their UK corporate account, and they’ll transfer Canadian dollars from their Canadian corporate account into your Canadian bank account. This also means that the “transfer” is generally quicker - typically within a few days.

So yes check out the OFX website.

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