Best exchange rate for moving large sums from SGD to USD?

[sundaymorningstaple]

Hey Grumpy, Haven't seen you around for a while. Where you been hiding? Anyway, you know how this board goes, virtually anything posted become a pissing contest before the thread is done!

[JR8]

Should have little virtual awards to feature in the avatar, one for pedantry, another for drunk-posting hehe...

[BBCWatcher]

From the very first post in this thread, there is a "contest":

What method would give me the best rates?

Perhaps we could stay focused on answering that question? If a path involving Bitcoin gives the best rates, great, fantastic. Unfortunately I can't even come close to the best available rates with a trip through Bitcoin. I keep an open mind, though. Just tell me what path provides lower rates, that's all.

[Grumpy77]

Hi SMS, all good - all fine! I keep meaning to swing down for a beer on one of your Eagle nights but either previous commitments or out-of-townishness jams the gears... Crappy excuse but it's the only one I have.

Cheers,

[rajagainstthemachine]

Sorry I didn't know this was a contest. I was simply giving my uneducated best answer in response to the OP's query.

I'll defer to your experience.

Regards,

These message boards are very serious, please don't post opinions based on hearsay or your experiences,how dare you post information that is a.) not well researched b.) not well thought out c.) has an element of risk d.) does not coincide with the collective thoughts of a majority of posters e.) infuriates others f.) has different opinion

-moderator

[sundaymorningstaple]

[rajagainstthemachine]

[Grumpy77]

[sundaymorningstaple]

[JR8]

Was it toddy o'clock?

[sundaymorningstaple]

Not unless that happens at 11:30 am !

[Brah]

So far the best deal seems JR8's suggestions some time back for one-the-street money exchangers, and hopeful for alternatives but looks like Block Chain is not quite it yet.

[BBCWatcher]

No, Interactive Brokers is a lower cost option than that. (Much safer, too.)

[Grumpy77]

Can you let me know how that works in real life, ie: document the flow as I have difficulty understanding how you can get SGD from a Sg bank to USD in a US bank for 0.15% all-in, and with mention of negative carry if using a credit card? If you could show where fees and mark-ups show up and how you are auditing the rate to get such a miniscule cost structure.

Having been in the industry for the past 15yrs, for small transfers this is a VERY good rate. It's far better than I would give to large corporates with a lot more zero's on the transaction. If IB is actually doing charity work for small investors, then good on them, but I can't see why they would walk away from a lovely revenue stream.

And I promise this isn't a bait-post. I'm actually curious to hear.

[JR8]

Since you're typically only allowed one 'linked' bank account for an a/c at IB, i.e. the penultimate a/c to send/receive funds vs IB then I'd be interested too.
If the above is right, that would require that linked a/c to have low/no-fee multi-currency capability too, and for you to have geographic access to it in two countries. Then you have both transaction and aggregate daily withdrawal thresholds at IB too.

A couple of years back I tried to do the reverse of the OPs aim. I.e. Take GBP, convert it at IB into S$ (you'd have to go via US$ IIRC, so double costs, but still ok), then send it to my own a/c in S$ in SG. AFAIR I could figure out no way of doing it, and I gave up on the idea.

Similar happened when I sold a property and wanted to get the funds from the UK lawyer into IB. Could she do it directly? Effectively no, not without all manner of certified copies of her credentials, passport etc and so on. So I gave up on that idea, and had her pay my high street bank-a/c, i.e. the one linked to IB, and then trfd it into IB day by day across about 3 days (more daily thresholds).

Also given IBs high reputation I really don't think they're in the market for facilitating cross-border/cross-currency cash transactions of this kind. And IMO it would be waaaaaay too much hassle to set up an account or accounts with them to facilitate what sounds like a one-off dilemma - even if it were possible.

[... perhaps my reasons for suggesting carrying it in cash are becoming a little clearer? ]