Sending Money Overseas article discussion

colsten

jbrassy said:

hickie said:

Since Brexit overseas banks are charging any transactions from UK accounts for the pleasure. I have been paying 200 euros to a person in Spain for a villa rental and the last payment he was charged 21 euros by his bank. Is there a way round this?????

Have you tried using any of the following:
1 - Transferwise
2 - Revolut
3 - Starling Bank

They all offer cheap overseas transfers and offer bank accounts denominated in euros. Back in 2019 I sent money to Australia using Transferwise and the Australian bank did not get charged for receiving it.

Using regular high street banks to make overseas transfers is a bad idea. They all charge relatively high fees with poor exchange rates.

Of the above mentioned, only Transferwise will be a solution for escaping the Spanish charging (other countries don't appear to be charging - at least there have been no reports here). Transferwise gives you an EU IBAN, starting with BExx. Whilst Starling and Revolut give you a GBxx IBAN. It's the GBxx IBAN that triggers the Spaniards.

https://transferwise.com/gb/multi-currency-account/

Aside from that, the issue with Transferwise (and Revolut) is that neither of them have FSCS protection. You may or may not consider this an issue.

AmberWH

I send money to South Africa and found through CurrencyFair that it was ONLY South Africa whose banks all went through one bank there - Nedbank - which thumped the recipient with a charge. So it seems from Colsten it depends which country you are sending to, as well as the company doing the transactions.

colsten

AmberWH said:

I send money to South Africa and found through CurrencyFair that it was ONLY South Africa whose banks all went through one bank there - Nedbank - which thumped the recipient with a charge. So it seems from Colsten it depends which country you are sending to, as well as the company doing the transactions.

Yes, that's right, charges depend on where you send the money to. Spain and UK are both in SEPA, South Africa is not. That's why it is not surprising that you got lumbered with a charge from a South African Bank. Being in SEPA means there should be no charge when making payments across SEPA countries. However, Spanish Banks seem to have found a loophole in the SEPA rules and decided to profiteer from payments coming from the UK. Payments from the UK to other SEPA countries appear to be free of charge, based on my own experience and what I read on other forums.

As an aside, CurrencyFair is rarely ever offering the best deals. Check on Monito before you send next time.

AmberWH

Monito seems to give a good comparison between a whole range of companies but the strange thing is that - for South Africa - the small amounts I sometimes send seem to cost no fees and have a much better exchange rate compared to the large amount I want to send in one go - which seems to have a terrible exchange rate! Don't they like dealing with lotsa-money?

colsten

I don't know, I always found Monito good - but then I never used it to find the best ZAR rates.

There are other currency transfer comparison sites, for example Finder, which might give you better results. Beware of the ones, though, who won't show you the rates immediately and insist on emailing you the result, as the start of an endless spam stream.

NB. Topcashback and Quidco sometimes have got interesting cashback deals for currency transfers. You need to compare the bottom line though: I found Azimo and WorldRemit excellent value, and quick payers. Currencyfair and xe.com, OTOH, were not worth it, even with the cashback.

Armorica

colsten said:

jbrassy said:

hickie said:

Since Brexit overseas banks are charging any transactions from UK accounts for the pleasure. I have been paying 200 euros to a person in Spain for a villa rental and the last payment he was charged 21 euros by his bank. Is there a way round this?????

Have you tried using any of the following:
1 - Transferwise
2 - Revolut
3 - Starling Bank

They all offer cheap overseas transfers and offer bank accounts denominated in euros. Back in 2019 I sent money to Australia using Transferwise and the Australian bank did not get charged for receiving it.

Using regular high street banks to make overseas transfers is a bad idea. They all charge relatively high fees with poor exchange rates.

Of the above mentioned, only Transferwise will be a solution for escaping the Spanish charging (other countries don't appear to be charging - at least there have been no reports here). Transferwise gives you an EU IBAN, starting with BExx. Whilst Starling and Revolut give you a GBxx IBAN. It's the GBxx IBAN that triggers the Spaniards.

https://transferwise.com/gb/multi-currency-account/

Aside from that, the issue with Transferwise (and Revolut) is that neither of them have FSCS protection. You may or may not consider this an issue.

FSCS protection is important, but a little less so if you are only using the account for short periods of time, or for relatively low values, to make FX transfers (and your money 'at rest' is sitting elsewhere).

robatwork

Just a quick FYI. My favourite and most recommend site on this thread - Transferwise - are changing their name and website to Wise. 

https://transferwise.com/gb/blog/world-meet-wise

wieder3mal

Hello - I want to make a one-off, very low value transfer to a friend in the USA, however I've no idea what the equivalent of the 8-digit account number and 6-digit sort code might be? What information do I need to ask my friend to give me to identify her account?

colsten

wieder3mal said:

Hello - I want to make a one-off, very low value transfer to a friend in the USA, however I've no idea what the equivalent of the 8-digit account number and 6-digit sort code might be? What information do I need to ask my friend to give me to identify her account?

In Wise, you can just specify your friend's email address. Wise will send her an email to request her bank details once you've paid for your transfer. Make sure she responds to the Wise email or the money will be refunded to you after a few days.


Alternatively, she can give you her ACH routing number, Account Number and Account Type as well as her full address, or her SWIFT details. 

Obviously, the email address alternative is way simplest.

ewicc

I need to send about $7500~ to Tanzania to pay for upcoming holiday. What is the best way to pay/transfer the money to the Tanzanian travel company's bank account  please?