Transferring Euros to UK bank account, Bank Charges??

Rtype

I need to transfer some Euros from a spanish bank account to my UK account following the sale of a spanish home.

Does anybody know if my bank (Nationwide) charge to receive money into my UK bank account?

My solicitors charge to transfer the money, as to be expected, but will there be a charge from my bank to receive the money?

If they do, can somebody suggest the cheapest way to transfer please?

Thanks in advance

dave1345

Nationwide do not charge to receive payments from outside the UK.

grumbler

dave1345 said:

Nationwide do not charge to receive payments from outside the UK.

They don't charge, but like all banks use their own rate for conversion that can result in 2-3% loss compared to conversion at the interbank rate.

For big amounts it's better to use special companies (or some banks):

Sending Money Abroad

mgdavid

Who exactly is doing this transfer, you or your solicitors? If the Euros are in your own Spanish account and you are transferring them then use a moneybroker like CurrencyFair  (others are available). However if solicitors are handling the payment they probably will insist on sending it bank account to bank account and you won't have any choice in the matter.

Marchitiello

you need to clarify as others have said if you are transferring funds to yourself it the solicitor will pay you directly from their accounts. In any case, receiving foreign currency in your regular GBP bank account will incur in exchange fees (and/or absorbed within the bank rate) if not also an additional fee (for handling the payment, which nationwide do).

If you want to stick to a UK bank, and have some times to set it all up, best would be to open an HSBC bank account (currently they are offering £200 for switching into some of their accounts). Once you have that open and online banking set up, you need to open a Euro Currency Account (which will give you a way to receive EURO without handling fee) and the Global Money Account (which will give you a way to convert EUR to GBP at great rate and without fees)

stillEuropean

I'm afraid Natwest does charge to receive foreign currency. They charge me £7/month to receive about £400 USD.  I assume there would be a similar charge with Euros.

wmb194

stillEuropean said:

I'm afraid Natwest does charge to receive foreign currency. They charge me £7/month to receive about £400 USD.  I assume there would be a similar charge with Euros.

Natwest or Nationwide? The OP was asking about Nationwide. 

If you can, you should definitely look into HSBC's new Global Money account.

grumbler

stillEuropean said:

They charge me £7/month to receive about £400 USD.

I don't think it's "/month"

virgo17

Rtype said:

If they do, can somebody suggest the cheapest way to transfer please?

Thanks in advance

We sold our Spanish property in 2017 and transferred all the proceeds back to the UK.

Following a personal recommendation from a friend who had gone down the same route a year earlier we used a company called Excel Currencies:

https://www.excelcurrencies.com/

We found them easy to deal with and our allocated personal advisor extremely helpful. The cost of the whole operation was many thousands of pounds less than trying to use a UK bank to do the transfer. They were also (optionally) able to hold the currency in euros until a suitable exchange rate was reached before transferring to our UK bank.

Worth taking a look.

HTH.

wmb194

virgo17 said:

Rtype said:

If they do, can somebody suggest the cheapest way to transfer please?

Thanks in advance

We sold our Spanish property in 2017 and transferred all the proceeds back to the UK.

Following a personal recommendation from a friend who had gone down the same route a year earlier we used a company called Excel Currencies:

https://www.excelcurrencies.com/

We found them easy to deal with and our allocated personal advisor extremely helpful. The cost of the whole operation was many thousands of pounds less than trying to use a UK bank to do the transfer. They also were also (optionally) able to hold the currency in euros until a suitable exchange rate was reached before transferring to our UK bank.

Worth taking a look.

HTH.

In fx transfer terms 2017 was an age ago. 

If you want it to be converted immediately I'd open an HSBC Global Money* account and have the euros transferred to that. The conversion rates with this account are amongst the best - I know, surprising! No need to involve third party brokers you've never heard of.

*Recently introduced.

virgo17

wmb194 said:

In fx transfer terms 2017 was an age ago. I'd open an HSBC Global Money* account and have the euros transferred to that. The conversion rates with this account are amongst the best - I know, surprising! No need to involve third party brokers you've never heard of.

*Recently introduced.

Recently introduced ?  Maybe better to see how satisfied clients are in a year or two ?

The OP requested suggestions and that is what was given. The company mentioned is still trading and still being used by friends of mine still in Spain to send funds either way.

Better to let the OP check a number of options to see what suits him the best, rather than immediately diss a suggestion offered in good faith.