Paying in Euros €5k in cash with a decent conversion rate to £

Smudgemonster_88

Hi,
My parents gave me a lovely gift, but I'm not sure what to do with it!
I have £5k in Euros, cash. I would like to pay this into a savings account, but when I went to pay it into Natwest (who I bank with) the exchange rate was awful. I'd only get £3.7k for my €5k. Even the person I was paying it in to said 'don't do it'. 
Someone suggested a post office account to me. Natwest actually mentioned Starling! I'd welcome any thoughts because I really can't afford to lost stacks on the exchange rate. 
Very grateful for any guidance to help me make the most of this!
Cheers,
Jo

AHC96

You could try an Euros HSBC Currency Account. Pay in the €5k in cash into that account (can be done in the branch), then you can either exchange it to GBP with the HSBC Global Money Account (currently says €5k is £4.2k) or used the HSBC Global Money Account's debit card to top up and convert with Revolut, Wise, Zing, etc...

They all seem to be offering £4.2k for €5k, with a few tenners up and down. Maybe for simplicity HSBC Currency Account + Global Money Account is the best option? 

username

The HSBC currency account is certainly an option, even in the short term, if you want somewhere to store your € in the meantime as opposed to having it as cash. The account is not interest-bearing.
The paying in is only available at branches with a counter, so ones they term as full service or cash service branches.

It'll also take a little while longer to pay in at the counter (5 mins or so), as they have to complete some paperwork in order to pay in the cash to your account - the system they have is manual and it seems they have to "internally" convert it to sterling (without any loss) to pay it as € into your currency account, your € account gets exactly as you have paid in, so if you have deposited 50€, then that is what appears in your € account. I did this recently to keep my account alive, otherwise it goes dormant without any activity for 18 months.

PRAISETHESUN

You probably want to break down the problem into 2 separate phases to get the best rate - depositing the EUR cash, and then the actual currency conversion.

As above, you should be able to deposit the cash into a HSBC EUR account. From there you can use any of the myriad of currency conversion services to do the conversion to GBP. I use Wise myself but there are plenty. Basically the process in my mind is:

Cash --> deposit into HSBC EUR account ---> Transfer EUR to currency conversion service -- > Transfer GBP to your UK account

friolento

Make sure you have evidence of the source of the cash with you when you come to deposit it. “It’s a present from my parents” may not be sufficient.

BlueonBlue

Can you deposit Euro coins into a HSBC Euro currency account ?

I imagine HSBC wont accept any Euro coins and will only take Euro notes otherwise it would probably be common knowledge. 

BlueonBlue

Does anyone know the above ?

HobgoblinBT

HSBC as far as I know together with other U.K. banks don’t accept foreign coins to pay into an account, whatever the currency.  Years ago HSBC/Midland did accept coins and I recall that the exchange rate was half that for notes due to handling costs, so if you do find a way of exchanging them expect a hefty fee and/or poor exchange rate.

Marchitiello

PRAISETHESUN said:

You probably want to break down the problem into 2 separate phases to get the best rate - depositing the EUR cash, and then the actual currency conversion.

As above, you should be able to deposit the cash into a HSBC EUR account. From there you can use any of the myriad of currency conversion services to do the conversion to GBP. I use Wise myself but there are plenty. Basically the process in my mind is:

Cash --> deposit into HSBC EUR account ---> Transfer EUR to currency conversion service -- > Transfer GBP to your UK account

This is a good suggestion , to which I would add the comment that now is not particularly favourable to do a EUR to GBP transaction, so you could hold the money for a bit until the conversion rates become more favourable.

@Smudgemonster_88 If you bank with NatWest group, you should have the option of adding a Euro wallet to your main account, but I cannot remember if then you could only use it to spend via debit card or could also do SEPA bank transfers to other EUR account (I open it when it was offered to me but never fund it nor used it yet).

Alternatively, as others have said, opening an HSBC EURO currency account should be the most straight forward option to be able to deposit Euro cash in the UK. Please note that you first need to open a UK bank account with HSBC and then you can apply for the EUR currency account, which is different than the Global Money Account they mainly Advertsie. You may want to open both in any case, even if the exchange rate looks to be good only for amounts up to £1000. Above that, Wise may offer better rates.

as an example, this would be what HSBC Global money would offer you for €5000

Whilst this is what Wise would offers you:

winkowinko

Have you considered just using a better euro buyback provider to change the money over?

For example these guys, in branch, or by post.

Best High Street Currency Buy Back Rates - Sell Currency | Sterling FX

5000euro = £4137

Marchitiello

winkowinko said:

Have you considered just using a better euro buyback provider to change the money over?

For example these guys, in branch, or by post.

Best High Street Currency Buy Back Rates - Sell Currency | Sterling FX

5000euro = £4137

There is a bit of risk with this as they state that the rate is for indication only, whilst both HSBC and Wise apply the frate you can see there and then.