When you are thinking about sending money abroad, an international money transfer provider is a great option. They can help you with the whole process, provide useful online tools and most importantly bank-beating exchange rates and low or zero fees.
| Foreign Transfer Providers Ratings & Reviews | Receive USD($) | Exchange Rate | Fee GBP | Total Cost | Transfer Services | Transfer Speed | Deal Links |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
  OFX exchange rates are highly competitive for global money transfers, great customer service. ^Zero transfer fees for BestExchangeRates customers. More▾ | 6,457.5 USD Best Overall | 1.2915 | £0^ | 0.72% | Bank Transfers - Online & Phone | 1-2 days | |
 TorFX provide no fee transfers with good exchange rates and excellent customer service. More▾ | 6,454 USD 3.5 USD less | 1.2908 | 0 | 0.78% | Bank Transfers - Online & Phone | 1-2 days | |
 Great rates and platform for personal, business and online sellers. Get local currency accounts in GBP, EUR, CAD, USD, AUD, NZD, JPY and CNY. More▾ | 6,478.5 USD 21 USD more | 1.2957 | 0 | 0.4% | Bank Transfers - Online & Phone | 1-2 days | |
 Excellent rates and platform. Get local 'Borderless' accounts in GBP, EUR, USD, AUD, & NZD. More▾ | 6,470.68 USD 13 USD more | 1.3009 | £26 | 0.52% | Bank Transfers - Online | 1-2 days | |
 Money transfers made simple and cheap. Online, with app, or speak direct to dealers. More▾ | 6,451 USD 6.5 USD less | 1.2902 | 0 | 0.82% | Bank Transfers - Online & Phone | 1-2 days | |
Banks - Average Rate      Average rate from these selected Banks. Click icons to see each bank's individual rate and fee. More▾ | 6,258 USD 199 USD less | 1.2554 | 15 | 3.79% | Online, Branch, Bank Transfers | 2-3 days |
This is the current GBP-USD mid-market exchange rate. The Total Cost of each foreign transfer in the above table is calculated as the sum of all fees and the exchange rate margin, which is the difference between the provider's exchange rate and the mid-market GBP-USD exchange rate.
Whenever you are interested in an exchange rate you are actually interested in two currencies due to the fact that the value of a currency must always be quoted in comparison to a second currency.
So it follows that if you are determining the best time to transact, in this case the GBP vs USD, you should pay attention to both British Pound Sterling and United States Dollar news and forecasts.
20-February-19: Given Brexit uncertainties, 2018 wasn’t too bad of a year for the pound. Although it lost 7.5 percent of its value against the US dollar, it only lost 1.9 percent against the euro and gained nearly 3 percent against the Australian dollar.
In early 2019, the pound has been resilient, having gained several percent against most of the other G10 currencies despite UK politics being in a state of disarray and with all Brexit options still on the table. Sterling remains well down when compared with its recent history though: at the time of writing, against the US dollar it was 12 percent lower than levels prior to the UK’s EU referendum in June 2016.
Pound forecasts are futile given uncertainties over Brexit but estimates can be made for different outcomes. Currency analysts at HSBC said in February that sterling would be valued at levels near US$1.10 in the event of no-deal, near US$1.45 with a deal and at US$1.55 should Article 50 be revoked and Brexit cancelled. GBP/USD was quoted at US$1.305 at the time of this report.
26-January-19: 2018 was a reasonable year for the dollar. Measured by the US Dollar Index, the greenback appreciated by 4 percent, which was much better than 2017’s 10 percent loss. It was, though, something of a stuttering end to 2018 and the dollar has had mixed fortunes in early 2019.
In December, after lifting US interest rates to 2.25-2.5 percent, the Fed lowered its expectations for future hikes due to so-called “cross currents” (China, Brexit, trade wars etc.). Skepticism among analysts over future Fed hikes has for some time been the main reason for dollar pessimism for 2019, but now, there is also the prospect of a US economic slowdown to contend with.
“A slowdown in the economy is likely to weigh on USD particularly in the second half of this year,” a CIBC researcher said in January.
Of the same opinion was an expert at ING, who argued that the dollar is soon to “embark on a gradual long-term bearish trend.”
January’s extended US government shutdown also has dollar-negative ramifications. Not only is the shutdown likely to hit first-quarter GDP growth, disagreements within Congress bode poorly for the future of potentially inflationary fiscal spending.
