Australian Money Forum

[mickyjtwin]

My wife is a US citizen who now has permanent residency in Australia. We are settling down here, and she has a personal loan for her college education back in the states. The loan is in the range of USD15,000, and at the moment, we are sending over the repayments from Australia, taking a hit on the exchange rates in the process. As the dollar is now up around 80c, we thought it would be a good idea if we could transfer the loan to Australia, that way not having to constantly worry about fluctuating exchange rates.

Has anyone done this before, and/or how would be go about doing it?

[wulfgar]

You could perhaps arrange a personal loan with an Australian bank to pay off the US loan. But you may be looking at up to 11% interest. It would depend on the interest rate of the student loan.
However, it appears the AUD is heading back into strength. We might see the AUD get to 110 cents by next year at a guess. So I wouldn't be too quick off the mark and wait for a good moment. Currencies are extremely volatile in this era.