How do you send a bank draft in British Pounds to the UK without getting ripped off by Thomas Cook-Travelex?

Answer 1

Try your own bank.

It appears no US bank I contacted (mine, my children's, etc.) offers the service of writing foreign currency drafts. They either just said no, or recommended I contact Travelex/Cook. The latter charges a $20 fee, which isn't bad, but they also use an inflated exchange rate of about 7-8%.

I assumed there would be other firms competing with Travelex, but I haven't found one yet that would deal with a single draft. Is it possible for your bank to send the money direct to an account in Britain? I send money once a year from my bank in Britain to an account in Australia. Mind you, my bank does charge me £10 to do so. If I felt very confident, I could possibly do the groundwork myself on the internet and save myself the £10. Possibly you could do so for your transfer from the USA to Britain.