Help with transferring money from UK to Canada!

[bryandd]

Hello, my wife and I are immigrating to BC from Glasgow at the end of this year. We have a few thousand pounds in savings that we plan to take with us to Canada, and want to know if anyone has any advice on how to transfer over a large amount of money like that with the least amount of hassle. We have a Canadian bank account already, so is it best to transfer it a little at a time, or just bring it over in a chunk and then declare it when we arrive? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

 

[CharlieD10]

It depends which method you feel might be most secure. Personally, the idea of walking about with enough currency that requires me to make a declaration to Customs would scare the daylights out of me, so I would go with transfers between banks over time, in spite of fees charged. In the end, it comes down to which method makes you feel most secure.

 

[bryandd]

Too true on that one, I don't really feel that great about carrying our savings about an airport..but just wondering if anyone recommended any particular banks for better rates, etc..

 

[bally21]

Too true on that one, I don't really feel that great about carrying our savings about an airport..but just wondering if anyone recommended any particular banks for better rates, etc..

I've been transferring with paypal and so far have had no problems! I have a paypal linked to my UK bank account and a paypal linked to my canadian bank account. Each week when I get paid I email transfer money from my UK acc to my canadian one. It takes about 3-4 days to go through. I also keep an eye on the exchange rate and have been adding to my uk paypal account, then when the exchange rate is 0.60-0.61, I transfer. It's not a big difference but every little helps