Proceeds of sale and crashing pound

Cintrapark

I live abroad and am due to sell my London flat next week. Unfortunately I have to take the money abroad. I will need the money in the next 3 months or so. As far as I see, I have 3 options

1) Transfer the money now and take a hit;
2) Transfer the money using one of the brokerage services (HiFX.co.uk) and mitigate the damage;
3) Transfer the money into a GBP account where I live and try and delay the exchange until the pound eventually recovers;


Any advice?

AdrianC

Not really a house buy/rent/sell question, simply an FX one.

You're betting on what the exchange rates will do over the next three months. Well, what DO you think they'll do?

You've also not given perhaps the single most important piece of information to give any sensible advice - which bit of "abroad", so which destination currency...?

At the end of the day, though, this is a fundamental part of investing in a different currency to the one you live in. You really should have thought this through before now.

agrinnall

If by 1 you mean transfer through your bank it's almost always a no-brainer to do 2 instead.

davidmcn

If any of us could predict what was going to happen to currency rates, we'd be posting here from our own Caribbean islands. So I would just do it whenever you need to, using the method which is cheapest at the time, and hope for the best regarding the exchange rates.

andyrich666

I am in a similar situation, the problems I have my accounts are froze in the UK but I have a sterling account here, my sale is due to complete on 29.Jul but my solicitor will only transfer to an account in my name, god knows why because you do not need names for faster payments.

So I can try and open another UK account, I can have the funds deposited in my frozen account and hope they will transfer out to an account not in my name, or failing this I have a sterling account with a EU bank and have the funds transferred there, and then ship them back out.

If I was you I would transfer to a UK account if you can and just take funds when and if you need them.

If I completed the sale of my home on the day I advertised it, I would be 30,000 euro better off, that is equiv to three years living where I live now.

I think the Euro will recover after the summer, but this is just guessing if it stays stable now, long term I would have thought your money is better off in Sterling.

If anyone knows of a bank account I can open without having to return to the UK please advise, I am unable to leave where I am now due to restrictions on my movements,which I can remove once I have the money, but I am in a catch 22 situation.

AdrianC

andyrich666 wrote: »

I am in a similar situation, the problems I have my accounts are froze in the UK but I have a sterling account here, my sale is due to complete on 29.Jul but my solicitor will only transfer to an account in my name, god knows why because you do not need names for faster payments.

So I can try and open another UK account, I can have the funds deposited in my frozen account and hope they will transfer out to an account not in my name, or failing this I have a sterling account with a EU bank and have the funds transferred there, and then ship them back out.

If I was you I would transfer to a UK account if you can and just take funds when and if you need them.

If I completed the sale of my home on the day I advertised it, I would be 30,000 euro better off, that is equiv to three years living where I live now.

I think the Euro will recover after the summer, but this is just guessing if it stays stable now, long term I would have thought your money is better off in Sterling.

If anyone knows of a bank account I can open without having to return to the UK please advise, I am unable to leave where I am now due to restrictions on my movements,which I can remove once I have the money, but I am in a catch 22 situation.

Money laundering regulations will severely restrict what you can do from outside the UK. Even if you were to work around these "restrictions on your movements", you may find that whatever caused your accounts to be frozen would also apply to your new accounts.

Have you considered working with the authorities to remove these restrictions, since I'm perfectly sure that there couldn't possibly be a legally sound reason why they're in place...

Unless, of course, there is - and you know damn well that you're attempting to break the law in working around them.

andyrich666

AdrianC wrote: »

Money laundering regulations will severely restrict what you can do from outside the UK. Even if you were to work around these "restrictions on your movements", you may find that whatever caused your accounts to be frozen would also apply to your new accounts.

Have you considered working with the authorities to remove these restrictions, since I'm perfectly sure that there couldn't possibly be a legally sound reason why they're in place...

Unless, of course, there is - and you know damn well that you're attempting to break the law in working around them.

My account was frozen due to mortgage arrears, it was with Natwest and they will not let me have it back. I can deposit in but they have to deposit out and at the moment they say they can only deposit back to a account in my name.

They said they will open me another account but I have to go in branch to do this and I can not afford to get back to the Uk to do it, nor can I leave this country until the 18th August.

david1951

You need to decide what you think the pound is going to do in the next three months. If you think it will recover slightly then wait, if you think it will go down further then transfer now.

Unfortunately no one on here (or anywhere) has the definite answer. Maybe see what the consensus is on a FX forum or elsewhere.

Option 3) doesn't sound like an option based on what you have said. Can you delay further than 3 months?

jimpix12

Looks like the £ is dropping again since you posted that.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/business-36812583