Large amount of Euros to £'s

Limbrick

Hi All,

Can anyone advise the best way to transfer a large amount of euros to £? (Approx. 200000 euros)
My parents have just sold their property in Spain and are looking into the best way to transfer the money over. They have a bank account in euros in Spain and a UK account, however they seem to be getting ripped off with both the exchange rate and the fees they are charging at both banks.
I know there are a few broker companies out there, but are they safe to use?
I think if they used these places they would save quite a lot instead of using the banks.
Any help would be appreciated.
Many thanks
Mark

pinkdalek

Just out of interest who is the Spanish account with?

I know that Halifax has a banking organisation in Spain and they do not charge for telegraphic transfers from Halifax to Halifax Espana.

I would have thought though that if you sent the monies from Spain and asked them to send it in Sterling then you should not receive any charges from the UK side of things as the funds are coming in Sterling?

I don't know much about how they work but some banks do offer Euro based accounts/offshore banking. Would there be a hefty charge for this as the account would be Euro - Euro?

Limbrick

Hi Pinkdalek
It's with the CAM bank in Spain, they are with the Halifax in the UK and they have asked in branch in UK, this maybe worth their while to open Spanish Halifax account.
Halifax UK do not have facility to open a Euro account, they have asked this, however they are seeing a person at Halifax UK this week, so worth asking if they were to open account in Spain, would this be woth doing.

The issue they have with moving from the CAM account to the UK account is they will charge exchange rate of 1.29 euros to the pound, when it is at 1.15 commercial rate. You don't mind if it's small amount, however it equates to a lots when moving a lot of dosh!

They fully understand they are going to have to pay something, but the banks seem to be taking with both the high exchange rate to the Euro and fees!

Thanks again for responding

Mark

pinkdalek

No worries, I just thought it might be worth opening a Halifax Spanish account and transferring from CAM to Halifax Spainish Account (or whatever it is these days) as this may be free or cost a nominal amount as it would over here eg CHAPS fee equivalent of around £25-£30.

Just a suggestion. Yes I see Halifax no longer do the Euro account as it used to be done via Bank Of Scotland International however it is now Lloyds International Banking that offer that service, now I am not sure if transferring to them would be cheaper or free as it is a seperate part of the group? Worth checking out though.

NFH

Try Halo Financial. I've used them several times, and working in wholesale FX myself, I'm fussier than most about getting a good retail FX rate.

Limbrick

Thanks ever so much for the advice. Think it's well worth shopping around and not to go through the banks, although will look into that side too.

ajd_2

NFH wrote: »

Try halo. I've used them several times, and working in wholesale FX myself, I'm fussier than most about getting a good retail FX rate.

Hi,

I've emailed them with a request.

I recently transferred EUR6000 to the UK - and my French bank account charged about £100 (or 2%) for the service. In other words, the amount recieved was £100 lower than a simple calculation using the commercial spot rate of the day - which was 1.175 at the time of transfer.

Given your experience - is this alot, or normal? I feel like they should do it for under £50, or 1%. Is this unrealistic?

Thanks

J

missile

///ajd wrote: »

....... Given your experience - is this alot, or normal? I feel like they should do it for under £50, or 1%. Is this unrealistic?..

I recently transfered £1000 @ 1.17€ commercial rate and was charged £10 Internationalfx.com. It would have been same £10 fee for £100,000

ajd_2

missile wrote: »

I recently transfered £1000 @ 1.17€ commercial rate and was charged £10 Internationalfx.com. It would have been same £10 fee for £100,000

Thanks for the info - what was the spot rate at the time? You can check on xe dot net for the date of the transaction - impressed if this was 1.17.

For me the spot rate was 1.175, the bank charged me 1.195

Thanks again

missile

The spot rate was indeed 1.17