Most cost effective way to send GBP from a foreign currency account in Turkey to GBP in a bank in the U.K.?

[thatbaicong]

Asking for a friend. She’s sending quite a large sum of money (maybe £10-20 thousand, not sure exactly how much). She currently has this money in her Turkish bank account.

Her Turkish bank has quoted her something ridiculous and the U.K. bank says they may charge on their end too, but she can’t find how much written anywhere.

My first thought was Wise (transfer wise), but that’s usually for sending X currency to Y currency. Since this is sending GBP to GBP, I’m not really sure what’s best.

Any thoughts?

EDIT: added details.

 

[constantine1946]

@thatbaicong In Wise you need to go into account details and find the IBAN for the GBP account. Then go to your Turkish account and setup the transfer into the Wise account using the IBAN and not the account number and sort code as these only work between UK Banks.

Edit to add: once the money is in the wise account you can then do a straightforward GBP to GBP transfer to another UK bank using account and sort code

 

[thatbaicong]

@constantine1946 This makes sense. The only problem now would be that the Wise IBAN number is a GB code, so from the Turkish bank’s perspective would they still consider it an international transfer, therefore the same high fees?

 

[constantine1946]

@thatbaicong I don’t think there is any way around doing an international transfer from a Turkish bank out of the country. By any definition it’s an international transfer.

If the Turkish bank fees for international are really high consider opening another Turkish account with lower fees? Or if their fees for producing a bankers cheque are lower you could do this and hand carry it to a UK bank? I think up to £10k you can carry it in cash across the border but not sure the risk is worth the gain.

Instead of talking to the Turkish bank, can you use their online platform to do a transfer? It could be that it simply accepts the Wise IBAN and charges you reasonable fees. How much do you think is too much anyway? You haven’t actually said what the ridiculous fees are. They may be completely normal…

 

[thatbaicong]

@constantine1946 She told me it was over 2000 Turkish lira (>$120). Seems very steep to me. I always thought swift transfers were 10s of dollars. But perhaps her bank is taking a percentage fee?

 

[constantine1946]

@thatbaicong Was that for £10k or £20k?

 

[thatbaicong]

@constantine1946 She never told me the total amount. We’re close but not that close. I think it’s somewhere in between.

 

[constantine1946]

@thatbaicong So I think a responsible fee for this type of transfer is probably anywhere between 0.5% and 1%.

0.5% of £15k would be £75

1% would be £150

So maybe it’s not such a huge fee?

 

[thatbaicong]

@constantine1946 Huh, fancy that. Not something I ever considered but it makes sense. I’ll pass this onto her.

Thanks for your help

 

[constantine1946]

@thatbaicong No problem and suggest that she check the transfer rates of other banks too to understand how reasonable that fee is. Never just trust some bloke on the internet

 

[thatbaicong]

@constantine1946 Aye aye!

 

[monamie]

@constantine1946 This only mitigates the cost of OP's friend UK bank's fees.

She still needs to do a SWIFT transfer which will incur into the fees we are talking about. That will be very or impossible to mitigate at this point.

 

[rob_roy]

@thatbaicong Wise.

 

[thatbaicong]

@rob_roy It doesn’t seem to work. I just checked, unless I’m doing it wrong?

If I select “send GBP to GBP” it automatically adjusts it to a local transfer. Meaning it only gives me the sort code and account number, which mean nothing to a Turkish bank.

 

[rob_roy]

@thatbaicong When specifying the beneficiary account details, it gives you the option to use the local account number or IBAN.

Also, when you find the transfer, the payment you send from your Turkish bank will not be direct to your UK bank. Instead, you will send to an account specified by Wise (using an IBAN), who will then send the funds to you.

 

[thatbaicong]

@rob_roy If that’s the case then will her bank still charge her the same fees to transfer the funds to Wise’s account since the IBAN will most likely be a GB code, not a TR code, so from their perspective will be an international transfer?

 

[rob_roy]

@thatbaicong They can also fund transfers via debit/credit card payments. Easiest thing is to just go try it. If you don’t like the final offer, don’t fund the transfer.

EDIT: It can be funded via debit or credit card

 

[thatbaicong]

@rob_roy Worth looking into. Thanks!

 

[monamie]

@thatbaicong

Her Turkish bank has quoted her something ridiculous and the U.K. bank says they may charge on their end too

How much is something ridiculous? On the other hand the UK bank can't say that, the answer is they charge or not.

The easiest way to wire the currency is via SWIFT. Transfers are usually not expensive, 25/50 USD. There might be correspondent banks involved, usually 25 USD extra.

Since she is sending GBP to a GBP account there are no FX fees so your friend doesn't need to use any remittance system like transferwise or OFX, etc.

This services will only make the transfer more expensive as she will have to do a SWIFT transfer to the GBP account owned by the remittance company, which will probably be in the UK anyways. This transfer, as her origin account is in Turkey will be via SWIFT.

Just cut the middle man and do it yourself.

 

[thatbaicong]

@monamie

How much is something ridiculous?

I’m paraphrasing but she said something like >2000 Turkish Lira (>$123). This was for a SWIFT transfer as far as I’m aware, directly to her U.K. bank. I’m assuming it’s a percentage fee?

Thoughts?