Transfering money back to UK

We have just sold a property in Spain and had the proceeds paid into the Unicaja. To move this money

they want to charge us extorcionate fees, like 694e for a money transfer to a currency exchange network! I have a cheque book

for my spanish account... does anyone out there know if I can just write a cheque to the currency exchange without incurring such high fees? Would really appreciate some help here, I think they see us coming!!

you should be able to just chaps the funds without incurring such a fee.  if not, a cheque should be more than adequate, but depending on where your currency broker is it will take a while to clear as their bank will have to send the cheque back to the country of origin.

I think the issue with spanish cheques are that they will take 6-8 weeks to clear unless it is a spanish account. it really depends on how quickly you need the funds as to which way yuo go. That does seem really expensive, but the banks do seem to make up their own rules. The issue with cheques taking so long to clear is that from my experience the broker will either need to clear the cheque before you can confirm the rate or pay them a deposit to do it straight away

We have used HIFX for the last couple of transfers. Once you have registered with them they will quote a rate and also accept a Euro cheque.  No charges incurred from our Spanish bank, but I guess the quoted rate includes any charges.

They are worth a call.

Virginian.

There is only one way to not be charged any comission.  Open a Halifax account in Spain and the UK and then you can transfer the funds from both accounts to eachother for free.

Joan

Although you won't get charged commision, where do you think they will make their profit...giving you a lower rate.

I agree with benan, no commision can be misleading, I imagine Halifax will probably give you a poor rate

we did the same last year. We used HIFX. They fixed the rate in advance over the phone - we posted them a spanish cheque and the  cleared funds were in our uk account within a  week.

I have an account with HiFX and i think they have changed thir policy about accepting EUR cheques in the last few months, its worthwhile asking them, because if they can clear it in a week then thats a good way to go

You might try currencyuk, I have used them and they clear in 2 days.

HTH

Rationalfx are same day payments at no cost...

 Remember it is always good to check the rate at several companies will give you, then go for the one that suites you best, it may be a case of waiting 1 day or two more to get a company with a better rate.

It doesn't cost anything to get quotes although you may need to set accounts up with the companies... which doesn't cost anything.

I agree with Mike, there are a few ompanies recommended on this forum, your best bet is to speak to a few to get a feel for them, then register with a couple (the only way to get actual quotes) as mike said it is free to register with any of them, I use Cornhill, but seak to a couple ten make your own decisions!

Some companies recommended here are:

www.rationalfx.com

www.cornhillFX.com

www.hifx.co.uk

Try either HiFX or Moneycorp , they both give a better rate and less costs overall than banks.

that last statement by costas is not something I would agree with... I have tried them both before, and found that before registering they quoted me the "interbank" rate and then after registering they said that the rate had suddenly dropped and they offered me more than 1.5 cents less... I understand how they would obviously want to lure me in, but how daft do they think joe bloggs is?  I had a live feed forex chart up when I spoke to them the first time, then registered and as a matter of fact, the rate had moved up by the time they called me back...  I can admit, maybe I just got a greedy dealer on those occasions, but first impressions and all that...

I tink alot of brokers do that in terms of quoting the market then suddenly the market moves, my advice would be to ask them what spead they will quote you, as this is a much easier way of knowing the costs involved, if they refuse to do that then i wouldn't bother using them

i appreciate that Moneycorp sponsor this site, but just because them and HIFX are sone of the biggest doesnt mean that they are the best! i've heard more and more people finding that they have started to widen their spreads over recent months

Agree with you completely about asking the spread, but when I have called some companies before registering I have been quoted above market to lure me in...  this doesnt bother me as such, but the fact that companies just assume our ignorance when it comes to our hard earned money really grates on me.

for many years i have had a business account with moneycorp- ihave clients with factories in china and clients with mortgages in spain-feel free to call my broker there

matt williams

off: 0207 828 7000

email:matt.williams@moneycorp.com

ask him for a quote via Mill Hill Financial Services Limited which should get you a better deal than their standard offering

agree that the larger players, mc, hfx and cd all vary as to who is best on a day to day basis

have found Moneycorp give no better and no worse than most of the big boys such as CD, HIFX, Travelex etc - some of the smaller players will offer better service and last month I received 75 points better with one of the smaller ones on a quote to deal against them and one of the others above. Trade was executed well and funds received promptly to Spain. Significantly better price as well.

I think this is becoming a bit of a theme at the moment fro what i am hearing. The issue is the big players have much higher costs then the medium sized companies, because business has slowed they need to take more margin. Since i moved to a slightly smaller broker i have found that they consistantly offer a better rate and service than the larger ones

Has anyone given a thought to the fact that IF the cheque or transfer does not reach the exchange service company, then the period at which the quote lasts will expire. Then you have to pay them the difference between what they bought the money in for and what they can sell it for at expiry time.

Or have I got this wrong and there is a service available for the single transfer requirement (sold property and just want the cash in the UK) that does not have the risk of foreign exchange "gambling"?

if you have sold the property and have the money sitting in your bank account can you not transfer the cash from your Spanish account to the currency dealers account in Spain - I am fairly certain the one I use has an account over here

once you have cleared funds your trade is booked via a telephone call, this is a legally binding contract thus within reason a delay will not mean that you either lose or gain anything

Ah, I must check what BBVA need to transfer money!!! As a matter of fact a couple of weeks ago my UK bank quoted 0.842 conversion when the exchange services e.g. HiFX were 0.89!!! The published rate was about 1.2 at the time. This is a nightmare - who's doing the money laudering?!

well if youre transferring Euros back to sterling the lower the rate the better - surely? Might be worth trying one of the smaller brokers - less overhead in these times of strife so prices can be keener - if its a small amount it wont make any difference but on a significant sum (if you have sold a property) then it can make a big difference - let me know if you want an intro - shop around and see where you get it best

Hi All ,

I used  www.worldwidecurrencies.com 

A guy called Mr John Redford e-mail john.redford@worldwidecurrencies.com

They were very helpfull and they will  set up the account basicaly for you

The Foreign Exchange Transaction was for Euro 200k and we " saved" so to speak 1.850.00 from the Banks quete

Maybe worth a call on 0044 203 326 444

Best regards

Smiley, thanks for your reply. I work it out that if I send back 20,000E  my bank would take £2800 and HiFX £2200 saving me 6 hundred quid. The lower rate euros to the pound, yes. It is now around 1.06 the lowest for ages. Only hope I can get it back soon.

Thanks, jored I will look at worldwidecurrencies.

My bank BBVA seem to be saying they charge about 30E for a 20,000E transfer, not the 600E someone else was charged!

Hi Rodger - I think what Smiley was trying to point out was that based on the rates you quoted, if you are changing euros back to gbp then the 0.842\£ rate the bank quoted you would be better than the 0.89\£ HiFX quoted you, as you'd obviously get more gbp back per euro.

I'm guessing this isn't what you meant in your earlier comment?

Guys (and gals) - All things being well hopefully soon I will need to transfer approx €70k of a refund from Bancaja in Spain back to England (to either Barclays or Halifax) in £ sterling.  I would welcome any suggestions on the best (i.e. to get the most £ sterling back to the UK) way of doing this.

Obviously with this sum of money, I appreciate any miniscule differences in the exchange rate will result in a sizeable difference in actual GBP returned to me and from my initially reading my presumption that bank -> bank transfer is not the way to go seems to be confirmed.

So I guess I'm looking at the likes of HiFX, Moneycorp etc for this (I already have a HiFX account from a previous transaction the opposite way)?

I've seen worldwidecurrencies also mentioned in this thread, which I will also look at.  A heads-up on any other companies to facilitate this or indeed any other advice on this that may save money\time would be much appreciated :o)

Currently my bank is quoting 0.8922 which for 20K gives me 17844GBP. Less charges either end. I did check with HiFX and they were quoting me some 0.25 better rate but I am in the UK so to get my bank (BBVA) to transfer (by FAX them my details) is all a bit manyana so I might be late delivering the funds to the exchange company. At the moment the rate looks good for Euros to pounds so I am staying with a normal bank transfer.