I've trawled the FAQ but can't seem to find the answer I'm looking for.

Our relatives in the Uk often send us money for birthdays, xmas etc and most of them are happy to get the dollars there and post them to us - they're prepared to take the chance that they won't go missing and up til now none have. One relative however, refuses to send cash in the post and insists on sending us personal cheques which cost us $10 a time to cash! :angry: He even insists on sending individual cheques for our respective birthdays which all fall within a 2 month period - mine and my daughters our a day apart and we still get 2 cheques - so it ends up costing alot just to cash them.

So - I'm getting to the point now! :rolleyes: - does anyone know of a cheaper way of sending small amounts of money to us here that won't entail big fees, either for the rellies in the Uk or for us here. We've looked into electronic transfer but the fee's are quite big.

Any help would be much apprieciated.

Sally :what?:

Hi Sally

So you still have a UK credit card of any type? You could get your friends/relatives to credit money to that especially as the exchange rates are far better than using an ordinary bank to change to dollars.

Regards

Adam

Do you still have an account in the UK?

You could ask your rellies to deposit directly into your Uk account and then just withdraw this end via ATM.

That's probably the cheapest way for you to access it from here.

You won't have to wait so long for the cheques to clear either. :angry:


Angie x

Sally,

We always used to send Australian dollars but was gutted once when the cash didn't arrive. Poor litttle chap thought we'd forgotten him. :(

I now buy Australian travellers cheques - signed top left hand and bottom left hand and made out to son/dil...

The little chaps love finding their dollars in their cards and dad or mum just pay the cheques into their bank accounts and draw out the cash.

I know the travellers cheques can still go astray but at least they are no good to anyone else. Havent lost any since I've been doing this.

I know I could transfer it through my bank for a fee but would rather risk it and send by Travellers cheques.

Good luck Anne XXX

Try PayPal. It's free. ;)

That's a good idea Neil - or is that Becky?

I have a Paypal account as I love buying through Ebay and Amazon etc but not sure if my family have an account or would want one - so it may not work for us.

Good idea though and as you say - it's free!

Traveller's cheques are free for me.

http://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=p...privacy-outside

Thanks for all your replies. We don't have a UK account so that wouldn't be an option. Someone else suggested travelers cheques but I thought that they had to be signed infront of the people in the bank??

Cheap, but not free. The person receiving the payment gets charged a percentage.

That's probably much better than paying $10 a go. Alternatively they could use www.tranzfers.com - although I think the minimum is £50.

Sally, It was the bank who advised me to go down the 'traveller's cheques' road as I really didn't want to pay for a bank transfer. Obviously the bank transfer would be fine if we were sending over a lot of money but when sending over the odd £20 ($50) I'd rather give the kiddies more $$ than pay a charge to the bank.

He explained, as I said above, that the sender must sign all cheques top left corner and bottom left corner and then make out to .....whoever would have the bank account OR in our case which one can get to the bank easiest to pay them in - our son OR our dil! They then just pay them in as they would any other cheques.

I also try and put gifts together - ie Birthdays that come within the same month (daughter-in-law and one grandson) and at Christmas time I sent several cards together, plus a newspaper and a couple of comics for the boys altogether in a large brown envelope. Enough to make a 'package' as I don't think this looks as if there is cash in there. Obviously just write newspaper and comics if you have to fill in a customs form - then I think it goes as 'paper rate'. Everyone can still open their individual envelopes.

Anyway it works for us....which reminds me - son's Birthday soon - I think I'll put an envelope in for the lads' Easter Egg money....oh dear - that's making time fly isn't it? :D

Luckily the bank doesn't seem to mind how small an order I put in for traveller's cheques - they know what it's for.

Good luck Anne XX

PS I have just spoken to our son and apparently you would still have to pay a fee of $6 your end when you pay the cheques into your bank. $6 for the transaction - not for each cheque. Maybe this applies to all such transactions in Austrailia.

Toys R Us vouchers usually go down well.

:doh: Just received £20 each in UK notes for the two kids, in two cards just arrived late today... :rolleyes:

If you cash the travellers cheques you will be charged, but if you pay them into the account there should be no charge.

Hi sally

We had the same problem...jon's dad sent a cheque last xmas and it cost to pay it in, then it took 28 days to clear!

I told him to pay the money into my nationwide account back in the UK...but no he wont do that, so now he sends a wad of cash through the post!!!!!

Other relatives pay the money into my UK account...i then use my UK credit card or take the money out and buy the kids their stuff with it... if i use my Uk credit card then i just pay it off from the account online...

or...another idea is to do BIG W vouchers online....my sister-in-law did this for one of my kids birthday's....she orderd it online and it came by post...

lorraine

Thanks again for all your replies.

Just one more thing - when you get travellers cheques in the UK do you get them in sterling or oz dollars? And if they are paid directly into an account here how long does it normally take for the funds to be avalible??

Thanks again

Sally :)

Hi Sally

Your relatives need to buy the travellers cheques in Oz dollars so that they can go straight into your bank. I dont get any charges when buying foreign currency or travellers cheques and I think that applies to quite a few banks/post office over here now.

I'm not sure how long it takes for for the TCs to clear but I would have thought the money would go instantly into your account.

Maybe my son was charged the $6 dollars because he just asked to cash them - I'll have to ask him. I assumed he would pay them into his account and draw that amount of cash from his account. It's a bit late to 'phone and ask now but I will check on that. I would think your bank would give you that information if you gave them a ring.

Good luck XXX

Thanks again everyone! Your replies, as always, a real help! :)