Transferring funds to the UK

So you work overseas and wish to transfer money back to the UK. For me the transferring of money back to the UK was, and still is, an absolutely necessity as it's where my home is and where my wife and kids live.

My need to transfer money was to help with bills, mortgage payments, food and the general running of our home. So when you find yourself in a foreign country and not sure how to transfer your salary (if paid in local currency) to your home currency, this can be a pretty daunting place to be.

Thankfully the expat community tends to be a place of support and with everyone having gone through it at some point, help is never far away.

I'm sharing my experience in the hope it helps one of my readers.

To begin with I must stress this is by no means financial advice, nor may it be relevant in the country you live. Please ensure you seek professional advice from those qualified to help. I am simply sharing my experience.

So my employment contract is in Saudi Riyals, however, and as above, I need to transfer some of this to the UK to support my family on a monthly basis. First things first, I needed to open a local bank account, for me this was with SAB (a part of HSBC) and pass these details on to my employer so I can get paid. Pretty standard stuff really.

Following this, I needed to create an account with Currencies Direct (other companies are available) making sure that when setting up the account I state that I will be paying in SAR. My company has a preferential rate with Currencies Direct, hence using them, so please do check with your employer as they may also have a similar arrangement with an international transfer company.

From here I set Currencies Direct up as a beneficiary in my SAB account ensuing to pay super close attention to the details input as this is where I was going to send my hard earned money.

After I'd been paid my monthly salary into my SAB account all that I needed to do was to log into Currencies Direct and place a trade (i.e. sell SAR for GBP). Upon receiving confirmation from Currencies Direct of the trade, I simply logged into my SAB account and transferred the exact amount of Saudi Riyals to Currencies Direct. Once Currencies Direct received my transfer they simply transferred the agreed amount of GBP to my UK account. Job done.

Sounds a little complicated, and it is a little daunting at first, however once everything is set up, and once you've gone through the process once, it's pretty easy.

A slightly different blog this time, less personal, however I do hope you found it informative and please do follow me if you wish to receive emails on future blogs.