Pound Sterling to US Dollar exchange rates aren't all the same. The total cost you are charged by your bank or foreign exchange provider consists of a margin from the interbank mid-rate plus fees.
To calculate your own GBP/USD amounts use our
Convert GBP to USD quick calculator.
Comparing Foreign Exchange Providers
The total cost you are charged by your foreign exchange provider consists of the margin from the mid-rate offered plus any fixed or percentage fees.
These margins and fees vary significantly for International Money Transfers, Travel Money and prepaid multi-currency Travel Card transactions.
The Exchange rate you are offered can also vary significantly depending on the transaction type (transfer, cash or card), currency pair and amount. The below table shows an example of total costs charged by FX specialists and banks for GBP/USD International Money Transfers. Costs are calculated against the current interbank mid-rate.
Example of the margins and possible savings when you order travel money online with a currency specialist rather than in-person from banks and currency kiosks.
10 Load Currencies: AUD USD EUR GBP NZD HKD SGD CAD JPY THB. Overseas ATM withdrawal fee: FREE Card Purchase Fee: $5.00 Maximum Load Amount: $100,000 Monthly Fee : $4 (after 12 months inactive) Currency Conversion: 5.95% (when you withdraw a currency not loaded on your card) Offers 24/7 Global Emergency Assistance service with fee free emergency funds up to the available balance on the card
The success or failure of post Brexit negotations will dominate GBP trends and forecasts in 2020. Read more
GBP and USD in the Markets
When determining the best time to make a foreign exchange transaction, in this case the GBP vs USD, you should pay attention to the recent market trends for both currencies.
Pound Sterling (GBP)
With the Bank of England holding interest rates steady amid signs of a recovery in the health of the UK economy following the general election, the pound is showing strength against most currencies early in 2020.
In the post UK election euphoria the pound rose to over 1.33 USD and 1.20 EUR but has since dropped back over the uncertainty of what sort of trade deal the UK can realistically negotiate with Europe over the next 11 months.
GBP has given up all of those election result gains as Mr Johnson pledged to outlaw any extension to the UK’s post-Brexit transition period at the end of next year. It appears the Brexit volatility in the pound is set to continue for the foreseable future.
Growing fears of the coronavirus outbreak has moved the market into safer currencies such as the USD and away from AUD, NZD and CAD.
The US dollar held its value in 2019 despite a serious escalation in US-China trade tensions, mainly because the greenback is still considered a safer currency to own than most others.
At its October meeting the Federal Reserve cut the target range for the federal funds rate to 1.5-1.75 percent, the third rate cut so far this year, amid soft inflation indicators and general worries about the economy. However the central bank also signaled a pause in the easing cycle.
Taking the blame for the economic downturn is US President Donald Trump, whose trade war policies have set a ball rolling that could wipe $455bn from global output according to the IMF.
All foreign exchange providers charge a fee for providing their service and this fee is usually contained within the exchange rate margin (or difference to the mid-rate).
The transaction margin you end up being charged can be considerably reduced by around a few percent (of total amount being exchanged) for
travel money and possibly over 5% to 6% when sending money.
The exact potential savings depends on the currencies being exchanged and the amount you are transferring and if you are willing to shop around.
This is a difficult question and the answer really depends on many factors. The best way to consider an exchange rate's relative value is to look at the rate's history.
The following table looks at the change in the GBP to USD exchange rate to the present day for periods going back upto 10 years.
*For period to 01-Apr 21UTC when GBP/USD was 1.2399
When is the best time to exchange GBP to USD?
Getting a good market rate is all about timing to help with this you can use BER Smart Alerts to make the most of currency movements.
Rather than requiring you to set a target rate, our rate alerts work differently. We check for daily high/lows and changes (up/down) over a range of periods up to 90 days rather than requiring you to set target rates.
United States (USD)
United Kingdom (GBP)
Guernsey (GBP)
Isle of Man (GBP)
Jersey (GBP)
South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands (GBP)
East Timor (USD)
Ecuador (USD)
El Salvador (USD)
British Virgin Islands (USD)
US Virgin Islands (USD)
Caribbean Netherlands (USD)
Turks and Caicos Islands (USD)
Zimbabwe (USD)
