Set up currency exchange for your move

Moving money across a currency, whether it's proceeds from selling a home, savings, or ongoing income, usually costs less through a dedicated transfer service than through your bank's own foreign exchange.

How to do it

1. Compare your bank's exchange rate against a dedicated transfer service. Banks typically mark up the exchange rate significantly above the actual market rate; dedicated services generally use something much closer to the real mid-market rate plus a small, transparent fee.
2. If you have a specific date you need funds to land by (a settlement date, for example), ask about locking in an exchange rate in advance -- some services let you lock a rate for a short window, which protects you from the rate moving against you before the transfer completes.
3. Time larger transfers around your actual needs, not just convenience -- if you're moving a large sum, even a small difference in exchange rate adds up to a genuinely large amount of money.
4. Check any transfer limits and verification requirements before you need the money urgently -- larger transfers often need extra verification that takes time to complete.

Common mistakes

• Using your bank's default international transfer without comparing it to a dedicated service first -- the difference is often larger than people expect
• Not planning for a rate-lock if your transfer is tied to a specific settlement or payment date
• Leaving a large, time-sensitive transfer until the last minute, when any verification delay becomes a real problem

Related tasks

If you're selling a property to fund your move, time this task around your actual settlement date, not moving day itself.