FX Brokers Feedback

missile

Whereabout in Spain, I hope you enjoy it.

hodman-29

I had heard that I could get a much better rate by using a peer-to-peer service where people swap rates. This sounds like a great idea but obviously they are unregulated. I have looked at one - they are hard to find - and their rates look great and, despite the complexity (well it's not like just going into a bank), I can't see any negatives in using them. On a standard Spanish mortgage I'd save about £1,000 a year over the banks - so not to be sniffed at.

missile

Open an account with Barclays.es and you get fee free £ transfers into your € account.

bou

Facts: I Made a Euro to GBP tranfer with XEtrade mid 2008, the spread from market midpoint was around 0.6%.

phillp

About once a year I send around £1500 to an Orphanage in Benin (it's in West Africa if you were wondering)

It always seems to be a bit of a dark art with the bank, but it did always get there.

I tried xe.com last year, and once set up it was even easier, and it seems to have saved the details of the bank account so this year it should be super easy.

I never worked out the total fee's as it was getting quite complex, and I never found out if the far end bank robbed any additional fee's!

Quite a complex transfer as CFA franc's are not the most used of currencies

Phill

tosendmoneyabroad

It's interesting that many people seem to be concerned about whether their money will be safe or not when using a broker.

Well firstly, use a broker you know or can speak to personally helps to relieve that fear. Secondly, your money should only be in an independent (client) holding bank account with that broker for around an hour before it gets forwarded on so unless that broker goes under within that hour your money should be safe.

Pretty much all currency brokers with a media profile will offer the same service.. the bigger guys such as HiFX, Currencies Direct, MoneyCorp all have a good service but won't offer the best rates on smaller deals and you may not get a personal service.

Mikhail

tosendmoneyabroad wrote: »

It's interesting that many people seem to be concerned about whether their money will be safe or not when using a broker.

Well firstly, use a broker you know or can speak to personally helps to relieve that fear. Secondly, your money should only be in an independent (client) holding bank account with that broker for around an hour before it gets forwarded on so unless that broker goes under within that hour your money should be safe.

Pretty much all currency brokers with a media profile will offer the same service.. the bigger guys such as HiFX, Currencies Direct, MoneyCorp all have a good service but won't offer the best rates on smaller deals and you may not get a personal service.

Are you a broker?
HiFX is a ripoff and fraudsters!

catokelly

Mikhail wrote: »

Are you a broker?
HiFX is a ripoff and fraudsters!

Im intrigued! What happened with HIFX?

lucethejuice

I have always found 1st contact to be good, they charge £10 per transaction and every 5th one is free, rates are normally better than the banks

rogerbm

Have used currencyfair.com a number of times & am very happy with their service. I'm regularly transferring £1,000 into my French Euro bank account. Almost a perfect exchange rate and a £3 charge. The money arrives very quickly too. But don't get too greedy on the exchange rate you want, otherwise your money will just sit waiting for a match. It shows the best available rate.