currency brokers

galastur

Not sure if this is the right place to post this question. Sorry!

Anyway, I would like to transfer some money from Spain, and i have just found out about a currency broker, in particular this one: currencies.co.uk (as a new user i cannot post links! i have just found out!)

I have never heard of them before. I have been back and for changing my holiday money at the bank but this time it is a larger sum and I am wondering whether these companies reliable??? I have spoken with a person at their office and I'm still not clear of how it works. He said that i should open an account with them, and that they will tell me to which account i should forward my Euros to, then they will let me know when they received it and that, after that, it will be up to me when I want to do the exchange.

I know this might sound stupid, but how do u prove they have the money?or more important, that they have my money!!

I have done a couple of checks in the firm that I read somewhere where really important:
1) It is registered with FSA (but so are banks! that won't make me sleep any better ;P)
2) The client payments are lodged in separate client transaction accounts. For what i read this is important, as if the company goes boom! I will get my money (btw, is there a maximum that it is cover?)

We are thinking about buying a house, oh well this is for another thread!!! things are so different here and we feel a bit scare of making a bad move). Anyway, could some put some light into this? Is it safe? Is it guaranteed that i will get a better rate than with my bank?. Thus anyone have a link to view the real €/£ exchange rate...thus to calculate how much the bank or any other intermediary is pocketing...

If you are still reading....Many thanks, you made it! :T

tosendmoneyabroad

see my website tosendmoneyabroad.com to explain how currency brokers work.

All brokers work the same way as currencies.co.uk. Your money should only be with any broker's holding bank for a couple of hours before it gets wired on so there is really very little risk that they will go under as long as they have a reliable history.

If you are uncomfortable with sending one large amount then you should be able to split the deal down into smaller deals over a fixed time period which may releive some of your uncertainty. Currency brokers will definitely offer better rates than your bank, but you need to compare at least 2 to get the best rate.