Getting the most in euro to pound sterling conversion

shiny-penny_2

Dear all,
My first post and I am hoping some of you can advise me.
My mother died leaving a small amount (around 10,000 pounds sterling) in Ireland. Having got clearance and been through probate I am at the point where they are going to send me a cheque - in EUROS. What is the best way of handling this? I don't just want to give it to my bank if I am going to suffer with the conversion rate... I am not bothered about spending the money, happy to keep it invested... does anyone know the state of play with the Euro at the moment...
any advice would be much appreciated.
Caroline

shiny-penny_2

Help! I am posting here again in case anyone out there can have another look at my post and advise me. Basically I am about to inherit some money from an account in Ireland. They are going to be sending me a cheque in EUROS. What is the best course of action - if I give it to my bank am I likely to suffer a difference in conversion rates; can I open an account in Euros (I am in no hurry to spend the money). Some thoughts from you wise souls please. Many thanks

tom188

If you could open a euro account here then got the irish bank to do a bank transfer then that would mean you would not be dealing with exchange rates. The rates on these are generally lousy so depending on your predictions for what the exchange rates are going to do you may want to transfer into sterling sooner rather than later.

There are many currency brokers out there and banks generally will do better deals on large amounts so you can shop around.

It is possible to pay Euro cheques into sterling current accounts but usually there are high fees attached to this.

Onshore banks include HSBC, Citibank, Cater Allen.
Otherwise most offshore subsidiaries of the main banks/building societies offer Euro accounts. (You have to declare income from this on your tax return).