Transferring a fairly large amount of Euros into £ Pounds

Dannylufc

Hi all


My partner is Italian and as we are getting married next month we have received quite a few very generous gifts of Euros from my fiances Italian relatives. They have paid this money into her Italian bank account. In total it comes to 3.5k in Euros.


If anybody is clued up on this area I would really appreciate some advice of the best way to transfer this money into Pounds Sterling and our joint UK bank account as we live in the UK.


With the uncertainty surrounding a possible Brexit the pound has fallen recently against the Euro. Being a total novice in this area I am not able to work out if that is advantageous or not to us when converting Euros into Pounds.


In summary, I would like some advice on whether it is better to hang on until the Pound improves against the Euro before doing the transfer or the other way round and strike while the Pound is weak against the Euro in order to maximise the amount of the Pounds sterling that these Euros can buy.


Secondly, any advice on what are the most economic methods of converting Euros into Pounds please. Our UK bank has a horrendous exchange rate so I am presuming a 3rd party currency exchange company would be our best option?


Many thanks for taking the time to read my question and thank you in advance for any help that you're able to offer.


Many thanks


Dan

jackieblack

Dannylufc wrote: »

With the uncertainty surrounding a possible Brexit the pound has fallen recently against the Euro. Being a total novice in this area I am not able to work out if that is advantageous or not to us when converting Euros into Pounds.

Yes it is

Dannylufc wrote: »

In summary, I would like some advice on whether it is better to hang on until the Pound improves against the Euro before doing the transfer

No

Dannylufc wrote: »

or the other way round and strike while the Pound is weak against the Euro in order to maximise the amount of the Pounds sterling that these Euros can buy.

This ^^^

jpsartre

I've used Transferwise a couple of times. Fees are reasonable and you get the actual exchange rate. You can "lock down" an exchange rate for 24 hours so you might consider doing this the day of the EU referendum and then make your decision about whether the complete the transfer once the result is known.

Dannylufc

Many thanks Jackieblack and Jsartre for your replies and very useful clarifications and advice.

My plan is to register with Transferwise and lock down on a Euro to Pounds exchange rate on the day of the referendum. At which point the pound may have weakened further still on the eve of a possible Brexit.


If Brexit becomes a reality I will hang fire as presumably the Pound will fall further still in the uncertainty following that outcome. If we vote to remain I’ll cash in on the previously locked down exchange rate and go ahead with the transfer.

Voyager2002

A low pound means that you get more pounds for that sum in Euro. That is about all that one can say with certainty...

One of my son's friends, who is an FX trader in Hong Kong, swears blind that BREXIT would be so good for the UK economy that within three months the pound would rise to a ten-year record level. So IF that is your view, and IF you expect a vote for BREXIT, you should snap up the best rate you could get and have everything in pounds.

However, my own view is that BREXIT would cause a great deal of damage to the UK economy, to such an extent that your jobs might be at risk and you would seriously consider moving abroad, perhaps to Italy. If that scenario is anywhere near the truth, you would be better off keeping the money in Euro.

Of course, standard advice in a situation of uncertainty would be to change half now, half later: or perhaps change a quarter of the money today; a quarter at the time of the referendum; and keep the other half in Euro.

Don't waste too much of your life trying to predict the unpredictable, and above all don't make yourself miserable if you get it wrong -- no-one could possibly get this one completely right!

J_B

With all the conflicting [STRIKE]lies[/STRIKE] information about Brexit, we can't really believe what the present holds let alone the future.

For currency transfers, we always use http://www.currencyfair.com/
They are (IIRC) similar to transferwise, but charge a flat €/£3 fee instead of a %