Best way to transfer money from French bank account to UK one?

UMD

Hi everyone,

I'm a student at university in the UK at the moment, just about to start my second year. I applied for an internship over the summer and have been working in France for the last three months but I leave on Thursday to come back home. While I've been working over here I've opened a French bank account for my salary to be paid into but I want to close this soon. What's the best way of transferring my money in my French account into my English one?

I'll be getting a couple of deposits back (house, bike rental etc) but they'll be in cash so I was just going to deposit these directly into my account in the UK and pay the exchange rate the bank uses. Would it be better to exchange them at the Post Office first and then deposit them into my account in pounds? Or would it not make much of a difference? That part should be around €350-€400.

Then I have my final month's salary and my accommodation allowance that I've been receiving. The final salary is paid by a cheque made out to my French account, and the accommodation allowance should go into the same account by direct debit but could possibly be a cheque as well, I'm not sure. Then I also have reimbursement of travel expenses which will be direct debit too. This should come to around €700. Should I take the cheques back to the UK and pay them into my UK account? Or pay them into my account here in France before I leave and transfer it all in one go? Would it be better to use something like Western Union? I realise that it's not an enormous amount of money but I am a student so reeeeeaaally don't want to pay more than I have to in transaction fees etc!

Any help you guys could give me would be great. If it helps my French account is with Banque Rhone-Alpes and my UK one is with Natwest.

Thank you!

Takecareofthepennies

Check out www.transferwise.com. I have been using them regularly for quite some time now.

They offer near mid-market exchange rates and next to no fees by changing your money direct with other users. There is a more comprehensive explanation on their website.

Voyager2002

Don't even think of paying French cheques into your UK bank account: the charges would probably be more than the value of the cheques! Even for cash, you would need to exchange it for pounds that could then go into your account, and there is a cost for exchanging money.

Your best option is likely to be to put all your Euro in the bank and then use a currency broker, such as the firm suggested in the previous post.

Obviously_the_best

https://www.currencyfair.com

Voyager2002

FWIW I use xe,com. There is no fee (they make their money on the exchange rate) so usually the best option for small amounts. The annoying thing is that you have to register in order to see the exchange rate that they will offer you, and the rate changes every few seconds.

I have been very happy with their service.

UMD

Thanks everyone! I think I will use one of the transfer sites, I have looked at transferwise and will check out the others too. Very helpful posts, thank you

johnnyreggae

As post 3 says put all your Euros together & make one transaction - it'll be worth asking your French bank to quote for the transfer costs too

martindow

Does the French bank charge monthly fees for keeping the account open? If not could you keep it going and use its debit card to pay for things when you are back in the Eurozone.