Ozforex.com safe?

Slunk

I am planning on transferring a fair amount of money to my austrailian bank account and these seem to be offering a good rate. How safe is it to use this compnay as they are offering a much better rate than the bank.

mandrake04

I used them a few months ago they are good and easy to use + far better rates than a bank or FE, they don't charge any fees if you are transferring more than a few grand.

Zambia

What mandrake said is correct ... I used some other crowd but rest assured you will be robbed if you use the major banks.

ballooba

I'm in the middle of setting up an account with them myself. They were recommended on BritishExpats.com. They seem kosher.

kdevitt

I'm using currencyfair.com for all my transfers home - very good rates, you can choose your own if you can find someone who wants to match off against it too.

johnnyfruitcake

It doesn't seem to hae ireland in the list for selecting what country your from, whats the deal there?


And how exactly do you transfer the money from your account to oz through the site?

ballooba

You just leave nationality blank. They have an issue with their website. They recently removed Ireland from the address dropdown because they have no banking licence in Ireland, so can't service Irish residents. If you are an Irish resident then call them, but they may be unable to help you.

Beachband

How it works - Transfer euro to aus and then onto aus bank account using company/bank of your choice, in the case above Ozforex is the example, so they are the middlemen, offering better transfer rates as they make money off larger amounts that are transferred.
So in using a company like them, they are the middleman, your money after it is transferred, goes to their account for a day/maybe a bit more or less, then onto your Oz account.

ballooba

OzForex have a EUR account with Barclays in the UK. (i.e. within SEPA and should be free transfer)

Ozeire

My sister in law in Australia has used this twice now to transfer large sums of money to us in Ireland and works fine no trouble at all with it .

sonic.trip

can somebody that has used ozforex explain how you transfer the initial funds?

say for example I am transferring 3000 euro into australian dollars? do you get your rate first, then get the ozforex account details and transfer the 3k euro through your local bank using an iban number, then update your account details with the bank account you want the austrlalian dollars to go into?

I'm a bit lost, ozforex emailed me steps, but doesnt have any of the initial steps in the document

also, i have setup a westpac account. are you charged for transferring the AUD into that account? I know ozforex charge 10 euro and free if you transfer 5k or more.

brendansmith

sonic.trip wrote: »

can somebody that has used ozforex explain how you transfer the initial funds?

say for example I am transferring 3000 euro into australian dollars? do you get your rate first, then get the ozforex account details and transfer the 3k euro through your local bank using an iban number, then update your account details with the bank account you want the austrlalian dollars to go into?

I'm a bit lost, ozforex emailed me steps, but doesnt have any of the initial steps in the document

also, i have setup a westpac account. are you charged for transferring the AUD into that account? I know ozforex charge 10 euro and free if you transfer 5k or more.

Set up acc with forex first of all

then you set up your westpack account as a beneficiary and then click new deal.
You put in how much you have to change into oz $ and it tells you the rate and how much you will get. If you like, you proceed and lock in the deal. They then ring you to confirm all details after which you go to your bank and transfere the money into their acc as per their details (not forgetting the deal number/you forex acc number)
Job done

Westpack will charge a small fee no doubt to accept the money just because banks like to do that.

Oz banks are shockers for fees.

myhorse

brendansmith wrote: »

Set up acc with forex first of all

then you set up your westpack account as a beneficiary and then click new deal.
You put in how much you have to change into oz $ and it tells you the rate and how much you will get. If you like, you proceed and lock in the deal. They then ring you to confirm all details after which you go to your bank and transfere the money into their acc as per their details (not forgetting the deal number/you forex acc number)
Job done

Westpack will charge a small fee no doubt to accept the money just because banks like to do that.

Oz banks are shockers for fees.

Thats pretty much it. I would just pad out alittle bit.
The important bit is set up the forex a/c first as they send out the activation code to your residencial address in country of origin (Ireland) and you need this done before any deals can be done.

The destination a/c can be entered at any time.

(As an aside I usually transfer the money to forex first and then do the deal. I am not waiting on them to phone and also usually have the money at this end in three days. However I dont think you have to do it this way)

Also I have found the customer care excellent down to getting a mail saying that the person I usually deal with was going on maternity leave and giving me the details of their replacement.

I am not with westpac but commonwealth bank and have never had any fee's for transfers that I can remember* but they hit you for pretty much everything else

*will check this out another time when I can

sonic.trip

thanks brendan and myhorse, that clears it up nicely for me.

@myhorse, I think I would do it your way myself, and transfer the money first, saves a lot of messing around and waiting I think.

going to setup an account now, so I have it ready to go when I want a rate.

thanks again

mandrake04

you can set a rate alert, you get a sms to your mobile when the rate hits your target. But the way the $Au is climbing you could be waiting a long time for a decent rate.

Might just have to bite the bullet.

sonic.trip

mandrake04 wrote: »

you can set a rate alert, you get a sms to your mobile when the rate hits your target. But the way the $Au is climbing you could be waiting a long time for a decent rate.

Might just have to bite the bullet.

that's a great idea, I have been watching the rate and it seems to be dropping every day :rolleyes:, might just have to bite the bullet.

By the way, just tried to register with ozforex there and Ireland does not appear on the country list, says you have to ring if your country is not on the list. what is this all about?

midlandman

I have used transfere mate . I found them very good , dont charge commision .They make their money on the currency rates flux. Easy to do if you have bank accounts in both countries.:)

sonic.trip

Ok, tried to register an ozforex account with an Irish address there, Ireland does not appear on the country list and says to call them.

Rang up, and they say it was taken off the list because of some regulatory problem and the guy on the phone said this was hoping to change in the coming months :rolleyes:

what the hell is this all about?!!


EDIT: response from ozforex



Thanks for your email.



Due to current restrictions by the Irish Government, we are currently unable to register clients resident in the Republic of Ireland. There is currently no way around this although we do hope this situation will change in the not too distant future.



Please feel free to contact us with any further queries.



Kind regards



Emmet

brendansmith

Nightmare.

Guess you could try transferemate like midlandman suggested.

sonic.trip

brendansmith wrote: »

Nightmare.

Guess you could try transferemate like midlandman suggested.

I know, just when I was getting ready to set it up :rolleyes:

Anyway, I have decided to go with www.hifx.co.uk, the guy was really helpful on the phone, took my details and this evening I just had to scan 2 bills and passport in and email it to them, so it should be setup tomorrow.

I don't think there is any charge for the hifx end and as I am a westpac customer, there is no charges for transferring the AUD to my newly setup oz account.

I'm going to keep an eye on the market over the next 2 months and hope it goes back up to around 1.42 ish to buy.

Will keep you's informed

ballooba

I've had no problem using OzForex because I have an Aussie address.

sonic.trip

ballooba wrote: »

I've had no problem using OzForex because I have an Aussie address.

kind of seems pointless when your trying to use them to get a better rate than our rotten banks though doesn't it? seems like the government are useless at just about everything, even allowing foreign exchange intermet companies trade, thank fcuk im out of here soon. the country is fcuked forever. .. .

brendansmith

sonic.trip wrote: »

kind of seems pointless when your trying to use them to get a better rate than our rotten banks though doesn't it? seems like the government are useless at just about everything, even allowing foreign exchange intermet companies trade, thank fcuk im out of here soon. the country is fcuked forever. .. .

Its funny, when you get to Australia you will realise how easy life can be.
The postoffices, banks, gov departments etc there are not out to ruin your life and prevent you from achieving your goal by any means necessary.
You will love it there.

sonic.trip

brendansmith wrote: »

Its funny, when you get to Australia you will realise how easy life can be.
The postoffices, banks, gov departments etc there are not out to ruin your life and prevent you from achieving your goal by any means necessary.
You will love it there.

sounds great mate, just what I am looking for! wanted to go with ozforex but HIFX had a really good service so would reccomend.

myhorse

Wow that's really weird. I am using them (up to last Thursday and from an Irish account) and no issue. I wonder if it's new accounts only?

I know it's a moot point as you have gone with HIFX but would be interested to know why this has come about and how HIFX can operate but not ozforex?

strange.....

sonic.trip

myhorse wrote: »

Wow that's really weird. I am using them (up to last Thursday and from an Irish account) and no issue. I wonder if it's new accounts only?

I know it's a moot point as you have gone with HIFX but would be interested to know why this has come about and how HIFX can operate but not ozforex?

strange.....

I was baffled myself mate, maybe this is only a new thing if you have an account. when did you set it up?

I went with hifx, but actually when they give you a rate its not to far off the bank. today for example they will give you 1.33, TSB here is quoting 1.32. However they guarante no charges for transferring etc, not including the initial transfer of funds to there bank,

Checked ozforex and its 1.385 now, but obviously yo won't get that becasue they make there margin out of that

jonnybravo

Anyone know if you use Ozforex to transfer money home do Irish banks charge a fee for receiving the money? Transferring to AIB if that makes a difference? If yes how much?

ballooba

jonnybravo wrote: »

Anyone know if you use Ozforex to transfer money home do Irish banks charge a fee for receiving the money? Transferring to AIB if that makes a difference? If yes how much?

No, they have a Euro account in a Euro jurisdiction that you transfer to. It's free because it's within SEPA.

myhorse

sonic.trip wrote: »

I was baffled myself mate, maybe this is only a new thing if you have an account. when did you set it up?

about 5 years ago so maybe that's the case as it's a fairly old account