Best Account to use to Convert Lump Sum of Sterling into Euros

Leodogger

We have just sold our house and will need to pay the proceeds into a bank account which will subsequently be used to purchase a house in Spain.   We have a Santander Basic Account and we have a Wise account.   Would it be better to get the proceeds straight into the Wise Account by the solicitor or into our Santander Account for us to transfer ourselves to the Wise Account for onward transmission when the Euro exchange is favourable?   Or should we use a different currency exchange company altogether?

eskbanker

I think I'd lean towards paying the sterling into Santander and then separately using Wise (or one of their competitors) for transferring, but more for deposit safety than currency speculation purposes.

Check market rates at https://www.monito.com/

poolboy

I used currencyfair and spread the transactions over a few days, some you win some you lose.  I cancelled santander as I fulfilled all their free banking conditions but they took 10 euros comission, I complained, staff were useless. I moved to cajamar, never paid a penny in fees and service is good.  Rate of 1.2e to 1 gbp is pretty good but who knows where its going.

WastedWords

I believe a currency broker would beat Wise for larger sums. You would be able to lock in rates for a period of time to give certainty. 
I have used Currencies direct a few years ago and found them good.
I have also attended a couple of webinars by Spartan FX but have not used them.
Maybe pick a few from this list https://moneytransfercomparison.com/full-list/ to contact and to discuss your needs.

Leodogger

eskbanker said:

I think I'd lean towards paying the sterling into Santander and then separately using Wise (or one of their competitors) for transferring, but more for deposit safety than currency speculation purposes.

Check market rates at https://www.monito.com/

Went onto that site and it recommends sending to a bank like Wise which offers as much as the big currency houses apparently but obviously you have a commission to pay so it just depends I suppose how much commission each of the euro exchange places charge!🤔

slinger2

Leodogger said:

eskbanker said:

I think I'd lean towards paying the sterling into Santander and then separately using Wise (or one of their competitors) for transferring, but more for deposit safety than currency speculation purposes.

Check market rates at https://www.monito.com/

Went onto that site and it recommends sending to a bank like Wise which offers as much as the big currency houses apparently but obviously you have a commission to pay so it just depends I suppose how much commission each of the euro exchange places charge!🤔

I doesn't just depend on the commission, it also depends on the exchange rate. The reason I like Wise is that they are quite clear about what they do. You get the mid market rate and pay a clearly defined commission. Others might have lower commissions but the exchange rate they use seems to pulled out of a hat. The important thing is how many euros you get for your pounds and that's combination of the commission and the exchange rate.