my reasons for changing from nationwide to natwest

fawinds

Olipro wrote: »

that's not strictly true, they apply a spread to the currency exchange rate which they make a profit on.

I meant account or debit card fees. An example of exchange rates used was posted above and compared with other providers.

fawinds

wheelz wrote: »

That would mean lots of accounts!

Thanks for that link, I had a look at the table and Santander is really poor £300 maximum. Nationwide should be taking longer only when transferring £1000 or over but the person on the phone forgot to tell me this. I wanted to transfer more so it wasn't instant.

Ring and ask them if you could transfer funds to a Natwest sterling account from their euro current account. I do not see that option on my internet banking, but perhaps if you only have an euro current account with them they may allow it.

Of course you can get money from a hole in the wall up to £500 daily.

Anyway I do not see a problem in having a current account with them. Mine is usually empty except when I deal with an exchange involving euros, which is rare.

Olipro

fawinds wrote: »

I meant account or debit card fees. An example of exchange rates used was posted above and compared with other providers.

that's not what I'd call an example.

a good example would be this:

get the rate to convert £1000 to € then take that figure and get the rate to convert that much back into £, there's your spread.

fawinds

Olipro wrote: »

that's not what I'd call an example.

a good example would be this:

get the rate to convert £1000 to € then take that figure and get the rate to convert that much back into £, there's your spread.

Ok, if I buy £1,000 worth of euros I get now €1,191.33

Then I buy €1,191.33 worth of pounds and I get £960.79

That means they have taken £39.21 in both transactions. That results in £19.61 each way or 1.96% exchange fee.

Am I right?

Doing it this way XE.com gets an exchange fee of 1.41% as they charge £28.17 for the currency round trip or £14.09 each way.

gwapenut

wheelz wrote: »

*sigh*

I am talking about the normal payments you do online on a sunday from your computer at home.

There was no faster payment option for transferring money electronically, believe me I would have pressed that button and known esp as I rang them up to double-check how long it would take.

*sigh*

As the person you quoted stated, Nationwide online transfers up to £1k automatically occur via faster payments. This is true even if you do it online on a sunday from your computer at home.

blueberrypie

fawinds wrote: »

Regarding getting cash abroad, it you mean in the eurozone, my advise is that you get the Citibank euro current account that I have. You pay euros into your account and can withdraw money fee free anywhere in the eurozone or pay for your purchases with your visa debit card

I've had a look at the Citibank website - am I correct in thinking there is no way to deposit euros in *cash* into one of these accounts?

System

blueberrypie wrote: »

I've had a look at the Citibank website - am I correct in thinking there is no way to deposit euros in *cash* into one of these accounts?

You can deposit Sterling or Euro in their handful of branches.
They also give access to Lloyds TSB for Sterling and cheque deposits.

blueberrypie

Heng_Leng wrote: »

You can deposit Sterling or Euro in their handful of branches.

No good to anyone outside London then. (Certainly no use to me!)