Moving Large Amounts of Money from GBP to EURO

paperclap

Hi all,

We're nearing completion on selling our property.

After the money comes into my UK bank account, we'll then need to move it over to Euros.

We're moving to the Netherlands.

We're needing to move around £290,000.

Has anyone had any experience moving large sums of money with Wise?

Or, has anyone any experience with moving large sums of money at all (to a different currency)?

Thanks in advance.

Ayr_Rage

As the Wise limit is 20 million EUR per transfer I cannot see it being a problem.

https://wise.com/help/articles/2932149/guide-to-eur-transfers?origin=search-euro

I have sent around £170,000 to Thailand in one day but had to split it into 4 transfers due to Thai restrictions on incoming transfers, all went fine.

The Wise fees may seem large but as they usually offer a mid-market rate so the bottom line is better than other institutions.

paperclap

Ayr_Rage said:

As the Wise limit is 20 million EUR per transfer I cannot see it being a problem.

https://wise.com/help/articles/2932149/guide-to-eur-transfers?origin=search-euro

I have sent around £170,000 to Thailand in one day but had to split it into 4 transfers due to Thai restrictions on incoming transfers, all went fine.

The Wise fees may seem large but as they usually offer a mid-market rate so the bottom line is better than other institutions.

For £290,000 to Euros, Wise were only charging £685. I say "only", but I don't really know the charges from other companies / banks.

But, I'd assume banks won't be the cheapest!

But thank you for the reassurance. Perhaps I'll need to look into money restrictions for the Netherlands on incoming transfers.

mebu60

Yes (in the other direction). A few years ago. 

Did it in batches over several days as there was a daily withdrawal limit on my Spanish bank account.

Wise now accept bank transfers (at a marginally better rate than debit card) so you may be able to do a CHAPS transfer if you want to do it all in one go (though I would highly recommend transferring a small test amount first if you've not transferred between these accounts before) otherwise you will be restricted by your UK bank's daily limits as well as FPS (£100k in 24 hours from memory).

Ik wens je veel succes.

DullGreyGuy

Worth checking Wise against brokers like the ones recommended on https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/banking/foreign-currency-exchange/

Ayr_Rage

@paperclap banks may look cheaper but they rarely offer anywhere near the mid-market rates so you end up with less at the other end.

Specialist money transfer firms may get close to Wise for Euro transfers but don't work for me sending to Thailand.

As above, funding the Wise account was more of an issue due to the Faster Payments restrictions at Nationwide, I called to ask if they could change the limit but was met with "computer says no" so I raised a complaint as that limit was well below the daily allowance.

A couple of hours later I had a call from my local branch even though I have an online account and they asked me to come in and discuss the issue, the end result was they processed it as one CHAPS transfer and waived the fee, great service from their local team.

Bigphil1474

I transferred £20k and £30k to my brother in New Zealand via Wise, no fees but he wanted it in £'s not NZD. It's pretty reliable.

paperclap

Ayr_Rage said:

@paperclap banks may look cheaper but they rarely offer anywhere near the mid-market rates so you end up with less at the other end.

Specialist money transfer firms may get close to Wise for Euro transfers but don't work for me sending to Thailand.

As above, funding the Wise account was more of an issue due to the Faster Payments restrictions at Nationwide, I called to ask if they could change the limit but was met with "computer says no" so I raised a complaint as that limit was well below the daily allowance.

A couple of hours later I had a call from my local branch even though I have an online account and they asked me to come in and discuss the issue, the end result was they processed it as one CHAPS transfer and waived the fee, great service from their local team.

I'm in agreement. I've seen that banks never use the mid-market rate. Quite a chunk lower, actually. Whereas Wise seems to always use the mid-market rate.

I've have a look around at other companies that offer money transfers.

Are there any go-to companies?

DullGreyGuy

paperclap said:

Ayr_Rage said:

@paperclap banks may look cheaper but they rarely offer anywhere near the mid-market rates so you end up with less at the other end.

Specialist money transfer firms may get close to Wise for Euro transfers but don't work for me sending to Thailand.

As above, funding the Wise account was more of an issue due to the Faster Payments restrictions at Nationwide, I called to ask if they could change the limit but was met with "computer says no" so I raised a complaint as that limit was well below the daily allowance.

A couple of hours later I had a call from my local branch even though I have an online account and they asked me to come in and discuss the issue, the end result was they processed it as one CHAPS transfer and waived the fee, great service from their local team.

I'm in agreement. I've seen that banks never use the mid-market rate. Quite a chunk lower, actually. Whereas Wise seems to always use the mid-market rate.

I've have a look around at other companies that offer money transfers.

Are there any go-to companies?

There were 4 in the linked MSE article for those transferring over £5,000 (which MSE doesnt recommend Wise for, though they head the table for under £5,000)

knightstyle

We have used Currencies Direct several times to move large amounts to and from the UK. Never had any problems but always do a single exchange of £1000 first to make sure nothing had been hacked, the exchange rate varies day to day and the system is easy to use.
Remember you have no protection if they go bust like a large company did many years ago when friends lost a large sum.