Transfer money from abroad

heytoki

Hello all,

i have 20K euros savings in Spain and i need to transfert that money for a deposit in a house in the UK.

I recently transferred 6000 Euros from my Santander bank account in Spain to my Santander bank account in the UK. Thats is the maximum amount permitted by the bank.

In a couple of weeks i will go to Spain and i can change the limit that i can transfer (needs to be done at the branch). So i will transfer the 14K remaining.

To transfer the 6K, Santander bank Spain has charged 20 Euros fee. The money in GBP i have received in my Santander UK account is 4,635 GBP (Todays date).

The exchange rate today is:

6,000 Euros = 4,758.60 GBP

That means that i have lost 123.60 GBP (plus 20 EUR fee).

As i need to transfer another 14K, that means i will lose another 250 pounds ish (exchange rate applied) plus the fees.

Is there any other way to transfer the money to save money? Or that is the way it is.

Thanks and regards.

grumbler

https://www.fxcompared.com/money-transfer/Spain-UK?amount=18000&ref=filter

http://www.mycurrencytransfer.com/money-transfer-to-UK/18000-EUR

mgdavid

https://www.currencyfair.com

heytoki

Thanks for the links.

i think i should have asked for this info before making the first transfer. I would have saved money. Live and learn i guess....

Voyager2002

heytoki wrote: »

Thanks for the links.

i think i should have asked for this info before making the first transfer. I would have saved money. Live and learn i guess....

An additional point: since the sums are large most banks are willing to negotiate more favourable terms than those offered as standard. I suggest that you look at the links and see what terms you could get using them, then talk to Santander (both UK and Spanish branches) and see if they offer anything better.

heytoki

Voyager2002 wrote: »

An additional point: since the sums are large most banks are willing to negotiate more favourable terms than those offered as standard. I suggest that you look at the links and see what terms you could get using them, then talk to Santander (both UK and Spanish branches) and see if they offer anything better.

As per your comments, then I think the main point is negotiate the exchange rate with the Santander bank in the UK as the hit is higher at this end. Because Santander Spain only gets the 20 Euros fee correct?

grumbler

IMO it's unrealistic to negotiate the exchange rate with the receiving bank because of the timing. You can ask the sending bank to make the conversion and make the transfer in £, and can negotiate the rate in this case, but it's extremely unlikely that they offer you a better deal than a company specialising in transfers and currency exchange.

Voyager2002

grumbler wrote: »

IMO it's unrealistic to negotiate the exchange rate with the receiving bank because of the timing. You can ask the sending bank to make the conversion and make the transfer in £, and can negotiate the rate in this case, but it's extremely unlikely that they offer you a better deal than a company specialising in transfers and currency exchange.

With Citibank I found that for sums above about ten thousand pounds their commercial rate was better than I could get from a currency broker. My expectation of Santander is that they will be unable to understand the issue, but I do still think it is worth asking to see what they offer. They are unlikely to promise a specific rate of exchange at some point in the future but could specify a margin in terms of basis points above the mid-market rate on the day of the transfer.

If Santander in Spain was sending a transfer in Euro within the EU (including the UK) then it is unlikely that charging a fee was legal.

mgdavid

kris1985 wrote: »

Try looking at some places online rather than using a bank-...............

as was already said in posts 2 & 3.

grumbler

He is a spammer, but good enough to fool MSE Towers.
I reported him in the morning, but all to no avail.

Fruit_and_Nut_Case

grumbler wrote: »

He is a spammer, but good enough to fool MSE Towers.
I reported him in the morning, but all to no avail.

His post in this thread is the only one remaining. It will just take a few more people to click the spam button and this will be gone too.