European Secondment: Paid in GBPs cost effective regular convert to EUR

neil_rambo

I'm looking to move to Germany for up to 24 months with the company I work for. I will return to the UK after that time. Whilst there I will be paid in GBP's so my pension payments can continue and various other outgoings, but it will be necessary to set up a local bank account for things like rent to be paid from and car payments.

What is the most cost effective way to get money from my UK HSBC account across to a German based bank account?

For spending purposes I am aware of the travelex card, but also aware its acceptance is restricted.

Any thoughts.

Thanks in advance
Neil

mcfisco

I think that IBAN payments between EU banks should be free now
so you should simply be able to give HSBC the relevant IBAN number along with the account details

Avoid anything like Swift as they take a fee

isplumm

neil_rambo wrote: »

I'm looking to move to Germany for up to 24 months with the company I work for. I will return to the UK after that time. Whilst there I will be paid in GBP's so my pension payments can continue and various other outgoings, but it will be necessary to set up a local bank account for things like rent to be paid from and car payments.

What is the most cost effective way to get money from my UK HSBC account across to a German based bank account?

For spending purposes I am aware of the travelex card, but also aware its acceptance is restricted.

Any thoughts.

Thanks in advance
Neil

Hi,

Would it be a good idea to look @ something like https://www.moneycorp.com or https://www.currenciesdirect.com - they should be cheaper than your UK bank?

Mark

benjus

I would open an account with Metro Bank (will require a trip to the London area if you're not local) or Norwich & Peterborough BS. Both of these are standard UK current accounts, but with a debit card that is completely free to use overseas. So you would only need your local account for things like Direct Debits.

To transfer money into your German account you could either withdraw cash using one of the debit cards mentioned above and pay it in, or you could use an FX broker to get cheaper transfers. Here are a few to check out (the only ones from this list I've had personal experience with are The FX Firm and VoiceCash, both of which have been fine; the best rates seem to be at http://transferwise.com/ ):


http://www.fxcompared.com/Content/money-transfer-from-UK-Germany-below-3000-amount-1000


http://www.money.co.uk/money-transfers/all-money-transfers.htm