How we saved $1000 just by dissing our bank!

Just a quick digression from the big bike ride to let you all in on something cool we just discovered. It’s saved us hundreds of $$$$’s and it can save you too.

As per usual, we’ve been busily planning our next adventure while out on the road. Because we usually have to make pre-payments of some kind, it can put a strain on the current funds available. That’s why when I found a new way to transfer these payments, that literally saved us $100’s, I got very excited. The Aussie dollar has dropped almost 40% since we first had the idea to learn to sail and crew on a yacht  as a way to see the Caribbean. That hurt! So saving a large amount of cash with barely any effort was a big help.

Anyway, we had to put down $2000 USD as a deposit, around 3 months before we joined our yacht and then a further $8500 the following month. But, I was transferring it into a UK account as the skipper of the yacht is English. It could have gotten very complicated and cost us huge amounts in exchange fees. Thankfully, our latest discovery made it a piece of cake.

We had had an offer from HiFX,  a money transfer company, to become partners. I investigated them thoroughly through online reviews and went through their website with a fine toothcomb. All looked extremely positive. People raved about the convenience, reliability and value.  But as always, the proof is in the pudding. It’s FREE to open an account and get quotes so I thought I’d give them a try. Holey Moley! So glad I did.

……so I thought I’d give them a try. Holey Moley! So glad I did.

Amazing Savings

Here are the total costs, including fees to transfer the equivalent of $2000 USD into a UK bank  from our AUD account in September 2015:

Commonwealth Bank (Our day to day banking partner in Australia) – $2956.54

PayPal – $2897.97

HiFX – $2749.50 (NB. There is a $15 fee for transactions under $2000 but this is way lower than our bank’s $22)

A $207 saving on CBA, and $147 saving on PayPal.

That’s about 8% and 5% respectively.

So over the whole payment (10500 USD), we saved over $1000 AUD, if we’d used our bank. $600 if we’d used PayPal. That’s well over a fortnight’s budget when we’re cycle touring. Even in the most  expensive destinations, a grand still goes a long way.

To set an account with  is super easy and completely FREE. You do have to prove your identity, but this too is an easy process. We used our passports details.

And, I can now state from experience, the service is not only much cheaper than my bank and PayPal, but it is very reliable as well.

• We accepted their quote Day 1, then transferred the funds, cost-free from our bank to our new HiFX account.
• A message arrived Day 2 to say HiFX had received the funds and made the transfer to the UK account.
• Day 5, word came through from the skipper, the funds had arrived in his account.

No fuss, no stress. All $ present and correct. That was a relief first time round, but now I’m confident in the service, it’s completely worry free.

With Christmas coming up, many of you will be sending funds overseas for one reason or another. They handle all the major currencies and then some. If you’re anything like us, you are looking for the best deal available and don’t want to be paying more than absolutely necessary to the banks. We can’t guarantee, HiFX is the absolutely cheapest way to send your funds, but we do know it saved us a lot of money, was easy to set up and make the transfer, and is eeextremely reliable. If nothing else, you can set up a FREE account and do the calculations for yourself.

set up a FREE account and do the calculations for yourself.

Just in case we don’t get to post again this year, have a Merry Xmas. We’ll be in The Cayman Islands (Life’s tough I know!) Tell us where you’ll be in the comments below.

Disclosure: We were so impressed with HiFX, we agreed to become partners with them. If you open your FREE account through any of the links or advertisements in this post, we will get a small commission. It definitely won’t cost you anything, but it might pay for a Pina Colada for us on a Caribbean Beach.