RE: Least expensive way to transfer money from Irish to UK bank?

ralphaverbuch

Unfortunately I need anyone's insights into the this question (see below) before end of business today, as I've got the solicitor chasing me for my bank details and I'm not sure the best course to take?

Cheers

Ralph

"Hi

My wife just sold her old home in Ireland and we want to repatriate the balance, after settling her mortgage, into the UK.

She has an AIB account in Ireland and I have a Bank of Ireland one which we each use a little but likely much less so now her place is sold.

In the UK our main joint account is a Clydesdale Bank account, though I also have a less used LloydsTSB account in my name.

The concern is trying to minimise the fees we get hit with in transferring the money from Euros into Sterling and getting, as near as is possible, to the actual exchange rate.

We could transfer the money directly from the buyer to one of our UK bank accounts... but is that the right thing to do?

Any advice would be very very welcome.

Thanks

Ralph "

NFH

Use CurrencyFair.

ralphaverbuch

HI

Thanks for that tip. I'll look into it.

Just off the phone from two UK banks and asked their rates today + charges. The difference between the two was huge. Choosing one over the other, if I transferred EUR100k today I'd get £4,000 LESS!! in my UK account if I picked the wrong bank.

That's a serious chunk of change for blindy taking one bank over another.

So I guess the moral is to shop around, but I'm now going to see what CurrencyFair can do too.

Cheers

Ralph

ralphaverbuch

OK

Currencyfair is better still.

Obviously rates change constantly but a ballpark based on EUR100k via CurrencyFair suggests I'd save another £1,500 over the better UK bank's rates.

Compared to the worse bank that's at least £5.5k sterling!!!

Jesus... now I know why we like to hate bankers in the UK and how they can earn those MASSIVE salaries and bonuses.

Ralph

ralphaverbuch

Hi

Transfermate.com appears to be slightly better still. On straight comparison of 100k in euros to sterling, it gives me about 300 to 400 sterling more than currencyfair does.

Ralph

ralphaverbuch

OK

There's really not a lot in it, but based on the rates quoted for 100k euro to sterling the two best seem to be World First and Transfermate. But World First has a more professional looking website and, after having spoken to someone from World First on a UK freephone number (and asking a lot of questions) I'm going to give them a go.

I'll report back on how the whole experience with World First goes, should anyone else find themselves in this situation in the future.

But it does get me thinking about how much has been sucked out by the banks in the past whenever I've transferred between currencies. It's a lot!!

Cheers

Ralph

NFH

The advantage of CurrencyFair is that you can often be hit on an off-market price. You'll be selling EUR/GBP; let's say the market is 0.8363 and you put in an offer at 0.8400. You'll see a few people come in and hit your 0.8400 offer in small amounts, allowing you to sell at a higher price than the market, giving you a better rate than an investment bank would get trading millions.

ralphaverbuch

Thanks for that NFH...

Really appreciate it.

Cheers

Ralph

mr_smith_4

ralphaverbuch wrote: »

Hi

Transfermate.com appears to be slightly better still. On straight comparison of 100k in euros to sterling, it gives me about 300 to 400 sterling more than currencyfair does.

Ralph

Just watch out for the online quotes that transfermate gives and read the small print, they generally quote the mid market rate and then slap on the percentage when you go to exchange :

From the transfermate site "the following rates are interbank rates. This is the rate at which banks buy and sell money from each other. These rates are not available to private individuals or small to medium companies. They are therefore provided for indicative purposes only. For a quote please phone our team"