Buying a House Abroad - Should I exchange my money before the Budget ?

Leodogger

We have just sold our house and the money is sitting in our basic bank account in the UK at the moment, obviously losing interest every day.   We are about to buy a house in Spain but I am concerned that the Budget will seriously affect the value of sterling and anyway it might take a month or so to complete on a house purchase in Spain.   Is there some way I can exchange the money now to get the best exchange rates before the Budget where they can hold our money until we are ready to complete on a house purchase in Spain?   We don't have a Spanish bank account yet and I have been told NOT to transfer all that money anyway into a Spanish bank account.   Anyone know what is the best thing to do?

km1500

whilst you are deciding, open Loyds instant access savings account - you'd at least get something

housebuyer143

Why is it losing interest? Why don't you open an instant access savings account at 4.5% and get something on it?

Leodogger

housebuyer143 said:

Why is it losing interest? Why don't you open an instant access savings account at 4.5% and get something on it?

We have an N, S & I account earning 4% but if I transfer the money to that account apparently it is very difficult to get a large sum transferred for example to a solicitor in Spain to purchase a house.   You are very limited on how much you can transfer in one go.   That's why I need to know where I can transfer it to to get the best rate before the Budget.   If Sterling falls after the budget, we could lose a large amount of money!

Schwarzwald

Nobody knows where FX rates will go after the budget.
so to some degree you are speculating.

neobanks like Revolut offer multi currency accounts, you could open one there with a EUR subaccount.

however getting the “best” FX rate is difficult, banks still male a lot of money on this service as most ppl either dont understand it or dont care, it can quickly become v costly to go from one currency to another (and back in case you dont end up buying such property).

Leodogger

Schwarzwald said:

Nobody knows where FX rates will go after the budget.
so to some degree you are speculating.

neobanks like Revolut offer multi currency accounts, you could open one there with a EUR subaccount.

however getting the “best” FX rate is difficult, banks still male a lot of money on this service as most ppl either dont understand it or dont care, it can quickly become v costly to go from one currency to another (and back in case you dont end up buying such property).

We have already decided on a property but we have not yet put down the deposit which we intend to do over the next week.   I am thinking now perhaps a "forward contract" is best to purchase the currency in advance with a guaranteed rate, then we can draw it down in about a month or so.    Deciding on a foreign exchange currency house though is the difficult part !

Voyager2002

Leodogger said:

 I have been told NOT to transfer all that money anyway into a Spanish bank account.   Anyone know what is the best thing to do?

Told by whom? And for what reason?

If you have so little trust in the Spanish system that you won't put a large sum into a bank there, why are you buying a property there?

And I have to ask, have you considered visas and so forth? If you only have British passports you are only allowed to stay in Spain for up to 90 days: you can't simply move there just by buying a house.

There are plenty of services that allow you to exchange money now and hold the balance in Euro: Western Union; Wise; Revolut; XE... Most of these do not offer FSCS protection for your money, and in any case you would not earn interest on the Euro balance.

theartfullodger

Who knows ?  It's a guess - ouija board as likely to be correct.

PaulCooper

Ask your bank if they offer a Euro account, if they do, great, ask them what rate they'll exchange £s to Euros.
I used to have a $ account with Barclays, it was extremely simple to set up. When I came to exchange $s to £s I'd do it via one of the online exchange companies as they'd always be more competitive than Barclays
Paul

BonaDea

Have a look at Caxton: https://caxton.io/transfer-money/multi-currency-account

Since there's no way of knowing what'll happen fx-wise, I'd go 50:50 - then you can never be wholly wrong.

Leodogger

Voyager2002 said:

Leodogger said:

 I have been told NOT to transfer all that money anyway into a Spanish bank account.   Anyone know what is the best thing to do?

Told by whom? And for what reason?

If you have so little trust in the Spanish system that you won't put a large sum into a bank there, why are you buying a property there?

And I have to ask, have you considered visas and so forth? If you only have British passports you are only allowed to stay in Spain for up to 90 days: you can't simply move there just by buying a house.

There are plenty of services that allow you to exchange money now and hold the balance in Euro: Western Union; Wise; Revolut; XE... Most of these do not offer FSCS protection for your money, and in any case you would not earn interest on the Euro balance.

Sorry, didn't explain.   We are already living in Spain on a Non-Lucrative Visa and my daugher who has lived in Spain for 11 yrs suggested not putting such a large sum in a Spanish bank account as alarm bells ring with the Spanish tax authorities apparently.   This was confirmed by another friend who has quite a lot of money and lived in Spain for about 12 yrs and he said the same.