You can get a slightly better rate with a currency specialist or perhaps with another bank. You need to choose carefully who you deal with though when large amounts are concerned. There may be useful information in this thread.

http://www.moneysupermarket.com/community/forums/t/us-dollars-transfer-to-uk-26892.aspx

The best method I would say is a direct bank transfer (they take less than a week). You could save a small amount by getting a bank draft and posting it but I wouldn't expect the saving to make this worthwhile.

I am an Australian working in the USA for the next 12 months and need to make regular payments from my USA bank account to my Australian mortgage. What is the best service to use for such a transfer? I want to ensure I get the best rate and am using a secure service. I have done one international transfer from my USA bank account which went through fine but the exchange rate seemed very poor - about 15 cents less then the listed rates (http://www.x-rates.com). A few points ...

- I am transferring between bank accounts in the same name (mine)

- I am transferring approx $10,000 USD each transfer

- It is not a problem if the transfers take more then a few days to transfer, 5-7 days is fine.

I am just inquiring as I would have expected I could get a much better exchange rate then my USA bank is giving me ... something at least within 5 cents of the listed rates.

Thanks for any advice.