Sending money abroad

thecrazy1_2

Hi All

I have to send a small amount in euros to Tresor Public in France. However, if i send it transfer through my bank they will charge me £10 fee this is silly because i only need to send 3 euros. So what are my options. I have looked at opening a euro currency account in the uk but the bank staff can't give me any information. The company i need to send to will only accept cheque or transfer in euros.
Any help appreciated

benjus

GlobalWebPay ( www.globalwebpay.com ) charges £4.75 and offers a reasonable exchange rate - it would cost £7.35 today to send €3.

thecrazy1_2

thanks

I was hoping to send it either as a cheque by opening a Euro account or transfer but that seems so expensive.

Plxply

thecrazy1 wrote: »

thanks

I was hoping to send it either as a cheque by opening a Euro account or transfer but that seems so expensive.

You could ask if they take British cheques although I doubt it and your bank will probably charge the same fee. Do you know anyone in France who will be able to pay it for you? With such a small amount I think it will literally be cheaper to send the money by post

Plxply

ashleyingle wrote: »

How small is the transfer? anything more than £500, consider FX brokers - some wont charge you a transfer fee and save 3-4% on fx (conversion) rate.

He needs to send 3€

jonesMUFCforever

Forget a Euro account it will cost you set it up and you will still need to pay for a transfer.
If you really are that tight pop a 5 euro note in an envelope and see if it gets there.

spamthecan

I'm in the same situation, I need to send 10 euros to someone in Germany. They are ADAMANT that it is free to transfer money within the EU, but my bank (Lloyds) want to charge me £10.

However, the link europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/shopping/banking/faq/index_en.htm says:

How much will I be charged if I transfer money from my account to an account in another EU country?
You cannot be charged more for transferring money to an account in another EU country than you would be for a transfer between two accounts in your own country.

Charges for different payments do vary between institutions. The only legal requirement is that the charge for a transfer to another EU country must not be more than the domestic charge for the same type of transfer (provided the amount transferred is less than 50 000 euros).

I'm confused...

System

Under article 3 of regulation EC 924/2009
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2009:266:0011:0018:EN:PDF

Charges levied by a payment service provider on a
payment service user in respect of cross-border payments of
up to EUR 50 000 shall be the same as the charges levied by
that payment service provider on payment service users for
corresponding national payments of the same value and in
the same currency.

Therefore UK banks have to charge the same for sending 100€ from Manchester to Hamburg or Dijon as they do for sending 100€ from Manchester to Liverpool. BACS used to offer transfers in €, and they were (normally) free. However, BACS euro transfers no longer exist. Therefore, there is no domestic benchmark for transfers in euro, and UK banks charge whatever they think the market will bear. At present, Citibank does not charge for a transfer in euro.

The UK government could have informed the EC that it will apply the regulation to transfers denominated in GBP. But it won't, because that would annoy the banks. The Swedish government does apply it to transfers denominated in SEK.

spamthecan

Ahhh, that makes sense... annoying, but I understand it now! Thanks, YoungNick!

baby_frogmella

folks, use XE Trade Money Transfers to send money FREE OF CHARGE with excellent exchange rates. In a nutshull you open an account with XE (free), get a quote for a transaction and if you're happy, send the funds in GBP to their barclays account in London by Faster Payments and they send the EFT (Electronic funds transfer) free of charge the same day...EFT payments to Europe take 2 working days. Here is proof that its free (at least in Europe):

Plxply

I fear though that if they do enforce the regulation then banks will instead start giving terrible exchange rates, as we all know they always get their fees one way or another. As far as I know there is no restrictions on what exchange rate they can offer?