sending money abroad

m13

i would like to send £50,000 to germany - what are the options, i.e. where is it cheapest? i supppose bank transfers might be quite expensive...
thanks for some suggestions :rolleyes:

jonesMUFCforever

Depends on your version of expensive. If you have a personal a/c with the bank I work for this could be done for £30.
Because of the amount they should ask you to speak to a forex dealer first to fix an exchange rate - then euro transfer direct to a bank in Germany should take no more than 1-3 working days.

JoseChungsDoomsday

i agree, speak to whatever bank you're with. For large amounts like that they may offer you a better rate.

m13

thanks for that. i'm completely new to "big" transfers as i've only sent up to £3000 before via my lloyds' economy transfer option (i think £8 or so).
so what exactly is a forex dealer? is he/she connected to the bank or is that an independent adviser? what about those hfx (or sth. similar) companies where you can send money abroad? could they be cheaper?
i'm not sure about sending the whole amount or splitting it because german banks (or rather inland revenue) always question where huge amounts come from etc. nothing to hide but don't want potential hassle...:)

grumbler

m13 wrote:

thanks for that. i'm completely new to "big" transfers as i've only sent up to £3000 before via my lloyds' economy transfer option (i think £8 or so).

£8 is only one fixed part of the fee you pay for transfer. The other part is hidden it exchange rate.

so what exactly is a forex dealer?

Person dealing with currency trade/conversion.

is he/she connected to the bank or is that an independent adviser?

This does not matter. What matters is the exchange rate bank offers you. For £50K every 0.1% fluctuation means £50 for you.

what about those hfx (or sth. similar) companies where you can send money abroad? could they be cheaper?

Yes they could. It is worth comparing the resulting amount of euros that you get for your ££s after all fees.

i'm not sure about sending the whole amount or splitting it because german banks

I think the bigger the amount the better exchange rate you can get. The closer rate is to interbank rate the better. For interbank rate see http://www.oanda.com/

jonesMUFCforever

Forex dealers deal with large transactions usually over amounts of £25000 or currency equivalent.Branches have a rate sheet for daily use up to that amount but anything above has to be referred for an up to date 'spot' exchange rate which could be substantially higher or lower than quoted on an exchange sheet printed at 8 am.

r2mahara

If you trust the person you are sending the money to (a family member) - you can use a Nationwide flexaccount to transfer the cash - with no rate penalties or transaction costs.

mm66

the high street banks are not the best way to send large amounts. Like advised before try forex dealers. I use hifx.xom. the rate is a penny or two above the bank rate..much better than what the banks offer plus there are no other charges. Opening account is easy and can be done over the email once u get the account opening forms. Another advantage is that the transfers take less than two days and generally for me for transfers between USA and UK less than 6 hours most times. the min is £5000.

By the way I have nothing to do with HIFX

m13

thanks for all the suggestions. i will consider which is cheapest when i'll move

another question concerning moving abroad - apart from my current account i have quite a few savings, regular saver accounts and fixed bond rates which won't mature for another (few) year(s). can i keep all my accounts and do i have to notify banks that i have moved? i would like to keep some money here as the interest rates are far better than in germany. because i won't have an address here anymore (family lives abroad) i can't give them another address to send statements to. i want to cancel most of those ones anyway, but they always want to have a current address.
what should i tell the banks - the truth, i.e. that i haved moved, or not the truth , i.e. that i'm travelling for a couple of years?
can you keep an account once you've moved within the eu? or what is the time limit?

canny_yorkshireman_2

m13 wrote:

thanks for all the suggestions. i will consider which is cheapest when i'll move

another question concerning moving abroad - apart from my current account i have quite a few savings, regular saver accounts and fixed bond rates which won't mature for another (few) year(s). can i keep all my accounts and do i have to notify banks that i have moved? i would like to keep some money here as the interest rates are far better than in germany. because i won't have an address here anymore (family lives abroad) i can't give them another address to send statements to. i want to cancel most of those ones anyway, but they always want to have a current address.
what should i tell the banks - the truth, i.e. that i haved moved, or not the truth , i.e. that i'm travelling for a couple of years?
can you keep an account once you've moved within the eu? or what is the time limit?

Well a good question as far as I am aware you can have a bank account in any E.U. country and forward a postal address for statements etc.As far as the tax implications then this can be tricky if they are not taken at source then you need to take financial advice on how to make them work for you.
hope this helps

iceburn

r2mahara wrote:

If you trust the person you are sending the money to (a family member) - you can use a Nationwide flexaccount to transfer the cash - with no rate penalties or transaction costs.

You are joking right???

Just on the off-case you not

he want to send 50,000 aboard. Using Nationwide you can only take out £250 per day from the ATM. 50,000 divide 250 = 200 days to take all that money out. I think a) he needs it quicker than that b) rates change every day and over that period can vary for that size amount quite a bit, enough to make loss of money quite bad. For example if on day one the rate is 1.5. By end of the day 1.3 Just to make it simple one days was at 1.5 the other 100 days was 1.3 therefore average rate 1.4 = 70000
If use bank the rate you get is say on day 1 1.48. = 74000.... then charges total at say 200 euros. So they gain an extra 3800 euros!!