Money matters

This is a big day for Kickass Canada Girl – the first day in her new post in Victoria. I feel sure that you will all want to join me in wishing her well. It has been eight years since she last worked in BC and it is probable that much has changed in the meantime.

For the School at which I work here in the UK it is the last week of a tough term. When the boys return in April the clocks will have gone forward, the cricket season will have started and it will be ‘summer’ – though the weather can sometimes take a while to catch up. Regrettably I do not get the same holidays as other teachers (we IT types enjoy what are termed ‘normal business holidays’) but this year I am taking some time off and will be heading to Victoria in the middle of next week to spend Easter with the Girl and our dear friends in Saanichton.

I hope to get some decent pictures whilst I am in BC which will, naturally, appear on this site in due course.

One of the many issues that concern those whose lives are separated by an ocean is the question of money… more specifically the transfer thereof from one continent to another. The Girl and I decided to experiment a little to determine what might prove the most efficient – and cost effective – means of moving funds.

The Girl has an account with one of the major international banks here in the UK and, since they are also well represented in Canada, she thought it would be relatively easy to transfer money to her Canadian bank through them. She arranged a transfer immediately before leaving the UK in the expectation that the funds would be available when she reached Canada, and certainly by the time she arrived in Mexico. Unfortunately when I came home from work the day after she had left I found a voicemail from her bank informing us that there was a problem. Apparently the funds had left the Girl’s UK account but had been rejected by the bank in BC. She called her bank – from Mexico – and instructed them to abandon the transfer and to return the monies to the UK. When she next looked at the UK account, however, the funds were still missing. A day later – without any further action on her part – they appeared unexpectedly in her Canadian bank account.

This was not particularly impressive – and was rendered even less so by the exchange rate, which was distinctly on the miserly side.

I fared rather better with an online currency exchange that I found on the InterWebNet, which I used to transfer the funds to pay for the Girl’s new car. The operation seemed well organised, confirmed everything in detail electronically, transferred the money when they said they would and got me a decent rate. They now send me daily email updates on various exchange rates – including Sterling/CAD. They can also offer a potentially useful service for transferring pension payments abroad, which may come in very handy.

There are quite a number of firms operating similar services but this one has had some good write-ups. They are called Smart Currency Exchange, and if you are interested I would suggest you check them out thoroughly yourself before going ahead. Hopefully you will find them as useful as I did.

You might wonder why the caption picture is of a pile of Euros! Well – I just happened to find some lying about when I wanted to take a photo, and they seemed more photogenic than the somewhat rumpled and tarnished sterling in my wallet. Given the current state of affairs this side of the pond, however, little should be made of that particular analogue…

An addendum to my own post: This is a most useful comparison site if you want to contrast online currency exchanges.