Moving money from Éire to the UK – which is best method?

Lorne

Hi there,

I also have an AIB account in Ireland, I get charged 5 euro for taking money out of a cashline and 15 euro for doing a transfer into my RBS account.

Hope that helps, Lorna

purch

I get charged 5 euro for taking money out of a cashline and 15 euro for doing a transfer

That suitcase idea is starting to look better and better to me......;)

nogginthenog

I am glad to see some people from my homeland still use Fada's as in your OP.

Lugh_Chronain

Just incase you're wondering what a Fada is, it's the (acute) accent above the E in Éire.

Thank you all for your help. I'll try and relay this info to my parents and maybe leave it to them to decide what they want to do.

Lorne, can you explain what a cashline is? Other than HiFX & Foreign Currencies Direct etc this seems a lot cheaper than what banks normally charge for transfers as €5 equals about £3.97 at the moment.

I think the next thing I should consider doing is phoning the companies mentioned and seeing if they will transfer €3000 to the UK from Ireland and at what cost if any.

Go raibh maith agaibh!

runciblespoon

Lugh_Chronain wrote: »

Lorne, can you explain what a cashline is? Other than HiFX & Foreign Currencies Direct etc this seems a lot cheaper than what banks normally charge for transfers as €5 equals about £3.97 at the moment.

I assume a cashline is their name for a cash machine (why does every bank have a different name - Cashpoint, Servicetill, Hole In The Wall, etc etc?).

I'd guess that €5 is just the fixed fee. But don't forget you'll probably get a poor exchange rate too. A difference of 0.01 in the exchange rate would mean €30 on €3000. So it's probably worth looking for a good exchange rate first, and only then seeing if you can minimise the charges.

If the brokers can't do it, you could set up a Barclays Euro account (you need a pound current account too) and get Allied Irish to transfer it there in Euro. Then withdraw it in Euro and wander down the high street looking for the best rate.
See http://www.personal.barclays.co.uk/BRC1/jsp/brccontrol?site=pfs&task=homefreegroup&value=12869 for details

To be honest, though, the suitcase option (or rather the wallet option unless you were planning to take it in €5 notes ) is probably the least faff.

Lugh_Chronain

I just hope this isn't too complicated for my parents all this moving of money. However, I'm sure they will choose what's best for them once I explain all the options. I've just got to make sure they don't loose too much when transferring or whatever.

It looks like the Post Office has the best exchange rate on the high street for this amount of money. Otherwise it's OnlineFX which has free delivery.

This would have to be done in cash as the Barclays account has no card. So they will probably have to go to the Post Office anyway. Or would it be advisable to do this with a cheque.

Either way the Post Office is still the best option I guess.

Lorne

Yep, cashline is an ATM, hole in the wall, etc.

I move money from my AIB bank to RBS regularly and it isn't any hassle once set up, I do it through AIB digital banking and it only takes a few days.

Lugh_Chronain

runciblespoon wrote: »

If the brokers can't do it, you could set up a Barclays Euro account (you need a pound current account too) and get Allied Irish to transfer it there in Euro. Then withdraw it in Euro and wander down the high street looking for the best rate.
See http://www.personal.barclays.co.uk/BRC1/jsp/brccontrol?site=pfs&task=homefreegroup&value=12869 for details

runciblespoon, I'm wondering, do you not have to pay a transfer fee for moving the money using the Euro account way?

And can someone tell me, will my parents be able to exchange the €3000 using a cheque or would they have to do this using cash?