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Danish loan/sending money abroad/switching to UK
Hi there,
My OH has a loan in his home country of Denmark. It is for approx £14,000 at the current exchange rate and he is paying off around £350/month to complete the loan in about five years time. His interest rate is 10% and he has inquired today about lowering the rate, but been told that this is not possible. He sends a cheque to Denmark every two months for £700, which costs £10 to process (cheaper than any kind of bank transfer that we know of).
Last year he looked at getting a UK loan in order to pay off the DK loan, thinking he could get a cheaper rate here, as he owns a property, but the lowest rate he was quoted was 30%!! (He is self-employed) I doubt things will be any better now, so we are looking at other ways to cut the cost of the loan, which has risen with the drop in value of the UK£££. Also, by moving the loan here, he'd be effectively locking the money into the poor exchange rate, whereas leaving it there, if our Pound becomes worth more of his Krone, he will still benefit.
Are there any cunning ways to either get the money into his acount over there more cheaply, or get around the exchange rate? I've been looking for a calculator to see whether he is actually saving money sending his cheque bi-monthly, or whether the interest cancels it out - any suggestions? I have also found a Irish bank in the same group as his Danish bank with a branch in London, hoping he may be able to do free transfers between them, but his DK bank manager says not.
All help appreciated
- oceanpie
My OH has a loan in his home country of Denmark. It is for approx £14,000 at the current exchange rate and he is paying off around £350/month to complete the loan in about five years time. His interest rate is 10% and he has inquired today about lowering the rate, but been told that this is not possible. He sends a cheque to Denmark every two months for £700, which costs £10 to process (cheaper than any kind of bank transfer that we know of).
Last year he looked at getting a UK loan in order to pay off the DK loan, thinking he could get a cheaper rate here, as he owns a property, but the lowest rate he was quoted was 30%!! (He is self-employed) I doubt things will be any better now, so we are looking at other ways to cut the cost of the loan, which has risen with the drop in value of the UK£££. Also, by moving the loan here, he'd be effectively locking the money into the poor exchange rate, whereas leaving it there, if our Pound becomes worth more of his Krone, he will still benefit.
Are there any cunning ways to either get the money into his acount over there more cheaply, or get around the exchange rate? I've been looking for a calculator to see whether he is actually saving money sending his cheque bi-monthly, or whether the interest cancels it out - any suggestions? I have also found a Irish bank in the same group as his Danish bank with a branch in London, hoping he may be able to do free transfers between them, but his DK bank manager says not.
All help appreciated
- oceanpie 0
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