Transfer of house sale proceeds from Ireland to Uk

creditcard123

Hi
we have sold a property in Ireland and need to transfer the proceeds from the lawyer in Euros to UK bank. I have been in contact with Key Currency and they offer a better rate than just getting money transferred straight into UK bank.
Has anyone ever used them or does anyone have any advice they could offer about this transfer
Thank you in advance

flaneurs_lobster

Why Key Currency?

Just tried to look up their offered rates for EUR -> GBP, won't show me any numbers without my email address and mobile number. Why?

eg Wise are 0.8674 

creditcard123

I looked at Wise as well. I could speak with someone at Key Currency and it seemed quite an easy transaction. 

Have you used Wise before. 

The money is due to be released from lawyer in next week or two, so trying to get some advice before going with a company.

flaneurs_lobster

I only mention Wise because it's the only transfer service I've used in the last year or so. Few thousand GBP -> EUR, no problems.

Whichever transfer service you use, be prepared to have to answer some questions as to their source from your bank.

creditcard123

Thank you we are expecting to have the bank interrogate us, but will have all the paperwork from sale of house.

MyRealNameToo

creditcard123 said:

I looked at Wise as well. I could speak with someone at Key Currency and it seemed quite an easy transaction. 

Have you used Wise before. 

The money is due to be released from lawyer in next week or two, so trying to get some advice before going with a company.

Have used Wise many times and generally it was very straightforward. The only time I had issues was when trying to received funds in Canada because there are several different payment technologies there and the Wise account at the time didnt support the more modern tools and the sender was with a startup bank who didnt appear to offer the more legacy mechanisms 

That said, for much larger sums a broker can beat Wise. If you look at https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/banking/foreign-currency-exchange/ they recommend some firms if you are going to be moving more than £5k

creditcard123

Thank you I will have a look at that.
We will be transferring over €350k, which is why I am very wary about getting it wrong 

The_Groat_Counter

creditcard123 said:

Thank you I will have a look at that.
We will be transferring over €350k, which is why I am very wary about getting it wrong 

I'd say it seems worthwhile engaging with a firm who explicitly offer a service for large sums such as this, and can offer a personal service (e.g. a real person whom you can speak to on the phone).

Maegi

If you're unsure you can also keep the funds in EUR and convert at your leisure. 
Many UK Banks offer EUR denominated accounts; simply supply the Irish lawyer the IBAN.

creditcard123

Thanks for all your replies. I am looking at the brokers listed in the link Myrealnametoo posted and will definitely go with one of them.

robatwork

Have a search on this forum for money transfer abroad. You'll find many similar threads with recommendations. 
Go with one widely recommended, that people with lots of history/thanks here have endorsed. I already know that (Transfer)Wise will come out top. Very good rate, perhaps not always quite the best, but reliable and importantly super quick. 

And FWIW I endorse Wise too and use them monthly, and have transferred similar sums to you into a Euro account with them in the past. I wouldn't do it in one go however - if I really wanted that I would probably use my bank and eat the cost. Instead I would probably split it into 7 x €50k transfers.

Word of warning for using any third party site like wise as opposed to your bank. Be prepared to have to confirm each transaction with the bank's fraud department by phone. Every one. Bit of a PITA but for me still worthwhile as it saved hundreds of pounds.