Brett Finnigan: currency changing tips

Currency Online CEO Brett Finnigan.

The holiday season is almost upon us and more people than ever are sending money to relatives and buying gifts online via overseas companies.

Currency Online chief executive Brett Finnigan offers up some ideas about saving money when changing currency or paying overseas bills:

The way we shop or send money abroad may have changed but the way we complete these transactions has not. People continue to use banks rather than better and cheaper alternatives, such as do-it-yourself online payment systems.

Many people are put off by the fear of buying and selling foreign currency but actually it's simple. All you're doing is making a payment into an overseas bank account, no different than paying a bill online or making a local transfer.

Here are some ideas about the new ways to change money or pay overseas invoices:

1- Only 30 per cent of Australians and New Zealanders feel their bank would offer a better rate than a specialist currency provider.

2- Most banks don't offer retail customers a simple online solution to purchase a foreign currency, requiring you instead to visit a branch. This takes time when you could complete a transaction online in less than five minutes from the comfort of your own home.

3- Most banks offer unattractive rates to purchase currency and also charge large transaction fees.

4- Most banks have a minimum transactional amount whereas specialist online currency providers typically do not dictate a minimum amount.

5- Specialist online currency providers offer better rates to purchase currency because they have lower overheads and because that's all they do - they are specialists.

6- They also have lower transaction fees (some waive fees all together).

7- They are more convenient than banks, offering 24-hour access to the markets.

8- They also offer market orders whereby you can set a rate you would like to transact at and your currency provider will watch the market for you, a service the banks do not provide for retail customers.

9- 83 per cent of Australian and New Zealanders would consider purchasing currency via an online platform.

10- People with family overseas, property owners and ex pats are the biggest users of online currency platforms, with most payments amounting to less than $10,000.

11- A customer buying £5,000 saved $167.05 by using a specialist online currency provider rather than making the transfer through their local bank.

*Statistics supplied by an independent SigDiff questionnaire which asked 2000 New Zealand, Australian and British residents about their attitudes towards banks and specialist brokers.