Transferring money from the UK to Germany

zurpher

I am expecting a windfall in British pound. I am living in Germany for the foreseeable future. I am now wondering how to transfer the money from the UK to Germany with minimal fees attached. Revolut and Wise seem the best options. Probably Revolut for up to 1,000 EUR per month (on weekdays) and Wise for everything above. Does it matter for the transfer out to my German bank account that Revolut uses a GB-IBAN and Wise a BE-IBAN? 

I also wonder whether it makes sense to transfer the money in large chunks or whether it might be more sensible to transfer on a need basis. If I decide not to transfer the majority quickly then I would probably have to split the money above 85k across different banks to benefit from financial protection, right?

eskbanker

zurpher said:

I also wonder whether it makes sense to transfer the money in large chunks or whether it might be more sensible to transfer on a need basis. If I decide not to transfer the majority quickly then I would probably have to split the money above 85k across different banks to benefit from financial protection, right?

If you're not a UK resident then opening accounts here is unlikely to be straightforward, so it'll probably be better to get it shifted asap....

colsten

As I have commented elsewhere, I would not touch Revolution with a barge pole as if something goes wrong, which is always a possibility, their CS is nigh on impossible to have a meaningful conversation with.

Wise, on the other hand, I found consistently excellent to deal with, as is Starling Bank but you can only get an account with Starling if you are a UK resident / can be considered as such. Starling offers FSCS protection, Wise (and Revolution, and other currency transfer services) do not. If FSCS or similar protection is important to you, another alternative might be Fineco Bank as they offer the Italian equivalent of FSCS.

If you opt for Wise, I would recommend that you fully verify your account before you attempt any transfers. The country code your IBANs start with don’t matter - a SEPA transfer is a SEPA transfer, anywhere within the SEPA Zone (which all EU countries, and also the UK, are part of).

Watch out for charges (negative interest rate) by some German banks if your deposit is above 50K Euros. Same for the Starling Euro account.

mgdavid

CurrencyFair.com are another very good transfer service - personal use recommendation from me, use it a few times every year.

colsten

Currencyfair seem to offer an unusually good transfer rate atm, nearly as good as Wise. They also have a £17 sign-up offer via TopCashback atm, so might be worth doing €1,000 Euros via them https://www.topcashback.co.uk/currencyfair/

colsten

For comparing deals of the currency transfer firms, I would recommend https://www.monito.com

wegptrem

zurpher said:

If I decide not to transfer the majority quickly then I would probably have to split the money above 85k across different banks to benefit from financial protection, right?

Yes, that's correct, be sure the banks are not from the same group.

I believe I am correct in saying that when you have a British HSBC account, and transfer your money in Euros to another HSBC account outside the UK, that there are no fees involved.

Have a look here:

https://www.hsbc.co.uk/international/money-transfer/

eDicky

wegptrem said:

zurpher said:

If I decide not to transfer the majority quickly then I would probably have to split the money above 85k across different banks to benefit from financial protection, right?

I believe I am correct in saying that when you have a British HSBC account, and transfer your money in Euros to another HSBC account outside the UK, that there are no fees involved.

Have a look here:

https://www.hsbc.co.uk/international/money-transfer/

No actual fees for sending the euros, but the OP will have GBP to convert. HSBC will impose their margin on the interbank rate of ~3%, and despite their "exchange rate certainty" hype there's no transparency of what that percentage will be in advance.

Also if the receiving bank is not HSBC, that bank can charge a fee for receiving the euros.

The best advice has already been given.

colsten

Don't even consider HSBC unless you want to pay HSBC a substantial amount of money. Not in charges, but in an abysmal exchange rate.



https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6269184/quick-review-of-hsbc-euro-account

GeordieGeorge

I use Revolut to go the other way as I’m paid in EUR but need GBP.

I’ve the account with them that lets you transfer larger amounts without fees, and transfer €5,000 per day for the few days after pay day. I’ve never had any problem with it.

colsten

GeordieGeorge said:

I use Revolut to go the other way as I’m paid in EUR but need GBP.

I’ve the account with them that lets you transfer larger amounts without fees, and transfer €5,000 per day for the few days after pay day. I’ve never had any problem with it.

Revolut is ok if your transactions, or your account, don't get stopped for some reason. Reasons could be all sorts, and include that their AML algorithms randomly decide that a manual check is needed. As and if something requires the intervention of their CS, you will be snookered, as they are quite frankly terrible. That is, if you can even get hold of them - their chat bot usually tries its hardest to prevent you from speaking to a human being.

But each to their own.