Cheapest way to send money to Europe bank.

hubb

I am trying to send an amount of money to a bank in Belgium from my Santander 123 account. They want paying in UK pounds but when I key in their correct IBAN number I am informed it's an invalid number. Checked with the person who assures me it's correct.

That aside, I am told by Santander there will be a charge of £25 for each transfer I make (which I can't at the moment) as I will have to pay the remaining amount when I go to Belgium. Just want to know the cheapest, easiest way to do this. Santander don't have any live help.

Archi_Bald

You could use a currency transfer firm like https://transferwise.com/

youngretired

Do you bank with any other banks except Santander? Other banks charge a lot less for international payments via SEPA from £4 HSBC to £9.50 Halifax/BOS. Others only offer SWIFT which seems to be how Santander send theirs which range from £15-£25.

hubb

youngretired wrote: »

Do you bank with any other banks except Santander? Other banks charge a lot less for international payments via SEPA from £4 HSBC to £9.50 Halifax/BOS. Others only offer SWIFT which seems to be how Santander send theirs which range from £15-£25.

I am with the Natwest and Halifax.

hubb

Archi_Bald wrote: »

You could use a currency transfer firm like https://transferwise.com/

They will charge £26.47, more expensive than Santander for the amount I need to send.

Archi_Bald

hubb wrote: »

They will charge £26.47, more expensive than Santander for the amount I need to send.

You need to look at the bottom line. Just about any of the currency transfer providers is cheaper than using a bank. Banks get you twice - on the exchange rate, and on the charge for using their service.

If you don't like Transferwise, google for "compare currency transfer" to find some better rates.

hubb

Archi_Bald wrote: »

You need to look at the bottom line. Just about any of the currency transfer providers is cheaper than using a bank. Banks get you twice - on the exchange rate, and on the charge for using their service.

If you don't like Transferwise, google for "compare currency transfer" to find some better rates.

How can it be cheaper if the Halifax only charge £9,50 ? I just checked for that amount and that is what they are quoting as opposed to £26. Halifax do not charge a currency rate.

Archi_Bald

hubb wrote: »

How can it be cheaper if the Halifax only charge £9,50 ?

Simple. The banks use a worse exchange rate than the currency transfer firms do. As I said, you need to look at the bottom line - how many Euros will you receive for your Pounds.

hubb

Archi_Bald wrote: »

Simple. The banks use a worse exchange rate than the currency transfer firms do. As I said, you need to look at the bottom line - how many Euros will you receive for your Pounds.

I am sending money to the recipient so I am not bothered how many Euros they get. They just asked for an amount in UK pounds.

Archi_Bald

hubb wrote: »

I am sending money to the recipient so I am not bothered how many Euros they get. They just asked for an amount in UK pounds.

Apologies, I had overlooked that you want to send the money in Sterling. This looks like an unusual transaction as there isn't much you can buy with Sterling outside Britain, and even more unusual with Sterling having lost so much value recently. The currency transfer firms aren't much use for these sorts of transactions.

ccristian227

I have recently sent some CHF to Switzerland and used CurrencyFair. I got the best FX rate and the money was in the next day.

How it works:
1. You create an account.
2. You "Pay In" the amount (transfer money from your account to your CurrencyFair account)
3. Once the amount in GBP is on your currencyfair account, you exchange it to the currency of the receiving account.
4. Now that you have the money converted, fill in the IBAN of the receiving account and the amount you want to send.
There is a small fixed fee (for me it was 4 CHF) maybe for you it will be £3-4, but that is better than what the bank would charge for a SWIFT and also it's compensated by the advantageous FX rate. Hope this helps.

If you decide to use this, I can send you my referral link, so you get £30 credited to your account + 1 free transfer (I get €30 + a free transfer as well) if you transfer more than £400.