# International money transfer question



## patp (Apr 30, 2007)

In order to get on with the bungalow, while remaining living in our house, we borrowed money from my brother in the States. When the money arrived here some had been lost in the currency transaction. Say, for instance, that we borrowed £50 from him, what arrived here was £49.41. Now the house is sold we want to pay him back. He says he wants no interest etc so we will leave that out for the sake of clarity. Do we send him back £49.41 or do we send him £50? 
If we send him £50 will he end up with £50.41 when we only received £49.41.

I will be sending him some sort of "interest" on his loan but want to sort out the above first so that he gets back what he sent here first. In other words I want to send him his lost investment interest and not leave it to the currency markets which will be different now to what they were then. I failed maths O level. In fact I don't think they even put me forward for it  I am not dyslexic but, if whatever exic applies to numbers is what I got 

I can not run this by my brother as his memory is failing. His accountant handled the original transaction for him but he was not conversant with international money transfers. I, with my number dyslexia, had to talk him through it line by line.:surprise:


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## raynipper (Aug 4, 2008)

We have used Currency Fair with excellent results Pat.

Ray


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## erneboy (Feb 8, 2007)

Consider transferwise too. Now Wise.


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## 242633 (Oct 21, 2021)

patp said:


> In order to get on with the bungalow, while remaining living in our house, we borrowed money from my brother in the States. When the money arrived here some had been lost in the currency transaction. Say, for instance, that we borrowed £50 from him, what arrived here was £49.41. Now the house is sold we want to pay him back. He says he wants no interest etc so we will leave that out for the sake of clarity. Do we send him back £49.41 or do we send him £50?
> If we send him £50 will he end up with £50.41 when we only received £49.41.
> 
> I will be sending him some sort of "interest" on his loan but want to sort out the above first so that he gets back what he sent here first. In other words I want to send him his lost investment interest and not leave it to the currency markets which will be different now to what they were then. I failed maths O level. In fact I don't think they even put me forward for it  I am not dyslexic but, if whatever exic applies to numbers is what I got
> ...


Hi Pat,

If the money was transferred direct to your Bank, a quick check on your Statement for that month may well show 'US$ 50 @ $1.3x [my guess re the exchange rate]. If you can't find the transfer details, a cautious email to your brother's Accountant, 'I appreciate confidentiality rules but would like to repay my brother's generosity. If you can't confirm the exact amount, could you suggest an amount that I might transfer that my brother would find helpful ... I know his memory is failing and I do not wish to burden him or cause anxiety, but I would like to repay his generosity'

It would be within the Accountant's Client's interest for disclosure [one of the 4 tests laid down in the English Law case Tournier v National Provincial Bank 1924 for disclosure of information] and the Accountant should have a record of you being the original payee, so, subject to your proving your bona fides [perhaps by telling the Accountant that the transfer to you went to XYZ Bank at ABC Branch and that this account will be used to make the reverse transfer], it would be within his client's interest to state the US$ sum to transfer. Then open an account with a Currency Dealer of your choice, or use your own Bank's [worse rate and possibly carrying commission charges], to arrange the transfer IN US$, so that your brother getsthe original Dollar transfer reimbursed and you carry any exchange risk.

E.g. if transferring US$10 and today's rate is 1.3, you pay £7.69. If the exchange rate rises to 1.4, you pay only £7.80, but if it drops to 1.2, you would pay £8.33, but in each of these simple examples, your brother will get US$10 [though his Bank may apply a handling charge; the Accountant may be able to give you an estimate of these fees, and I doubt that your brother is going tocomplain ifhe gets 25 cents less than he lent you! One of the advantages of using a Currency Dealer is that you can book the transfer online, and know exactly what exchange rate you have obtained. Using your Bank, you may have to wait a few days to find out.

Hope I haven't got the 'wrong end of the stick' or caused more confusion! If you think that I can offer any more information, or if you have any questions, please feel free to send me a PM

Steve


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## JanHank (Mar 29, 2015)

I use currencyfair all the time, but you have to register first. It´s office is in Dublin. If I recommend you to them we both get 50.00€ bonus :grin2:

The way I use it is to transfer money from my UK bank in £ to currencyfair, when the rate is good I change it into € or in your case Pat into $ this costs nothing. Each time I pay the € into my German bank it costs 3€ no matter what amount, if I pay a bill in € it costs the same 3€.



P.S. did your brother send this money in $ or £


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## powerplus (Oct 6, 2014)

Hi i would say if he sent you $50 you should make sure he gets $50


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## Glandwr (Jun 12, 2006)

If you and he have a paypal of account. It's dead easy and at no cost albeit at not the best exchange rate. Paying "friends and family" you just send it to his email address and he gets it instantly.


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## patp (Apr 30, 2007)

Thanks guys. I used my bank last time so I will take on board that I might do better using a currency transfer specialist. They might well have someone who can help me make sure he gets his money back with no losses due to currency fluctuations. While it was with us his money was stored in Premium Bonds and he did have a few little wins


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## erneboy (Feb 8, 2007)

With Wise you say how much the other end should get and the app does the calculation to make that happen. I reckon you could set it up in a few minutes.

We use it for paying all our foreign bills in whatever currency, so far Pounds, Euros and Dollars. Transferring is easy and instant.


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## jiwawa (Jun 22, 2007)

It sounds as if the main problem is you don't know how much the loan cost your brother, in $. His accountant should certainly be able to tell you that.

Then it sounds as if Wise or similar will able to let you transfer exactly that many $ and it will cost you whatever it costs you.


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## weldted (May 1, 2005)

£38.50 = $50 tonight on transferwise. Just put in the amount in US dollars and their website will tell you how many £ Stirling you need.


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## greygit (Apr 15, 2007)

Try TorFX they are really helpful, if you have trouble on their site they will tell you how to get the exact amounts in the transaction.


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## patp (Apr 30, 2007)

Thanks guys. I will get on to it later today.


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