transferring money

Hi I have been contacted by cornhill and they say they can get me 2000  more pounds exchange rate   than a bank could, and they do not charge anything  no fees no exhange rate percentage , they make there money from the stock market. is this so or can any one recomend the best way to change your money when buying a property please

Hi HZ - you should always use an exchange company when moving money, as they will offer you a commercial rate as opposed to a tourist rate.  Also, if you are sending money to a Spanish bank then never send more than 50,000€ at a time as they often charge to receive any sums over this amount. 

It can be hard to compare different companies as the rates change around every 4 minutes.  I personally use Global Exchange, but there are lots of companies out there and all should be able to offer a better rate than the banks.

Good luck with your purchase!

thanks

Hz.

Which bank are you with? I deal with Cambank and the exchange rate is very good, better than most of the exchange companies with no fees..

Hi

As with most things in life there is no such thing as a free lunch. Whilst these companies might on the surface offer a better exchange rate than the big banks first offer there are other things to take into consideration. How safe is the comapny you are using. What guarantees are there that the company will not either go bust or just disappear with your money. How long does the company have YOUR money. If it is more than a few hours, be careful, be very careful. If they are saying that they will combine your "little" amount of money with the big movers and shakers what guarantees are there to protect you.

I have always used the major banks BUT never accept the first rate offered. I go to the companies and get their rate then ask my Bank if they will match it. They always have done and sometimes even beaten the rate. I also have the security of dealing with a major U.K. bank and have no worries about their ability to complete the deal and be there tomorrow.

The choice is yours but don't always accept what looks like gold as it might not be.

I've just made a transfer with HIFX and for the first time there was a £9 transfer fee. Still a better deal than the bank but I will be checking out other companies now.

Why not look at currencyfair? At this very moment they are offering 1.2400 euros to the GBP with a 3 euro commission charge.

 Steone - the problem with allowing your UK bank to transfer the funds directly to your Spanish bank, is that they will transfer it as pounds.  The Spanish bank on receiving pounds, will convert it to euros in order to credit your Spanish account.  That's where you tend to lose money - a poor exchange rate and a fee on top.

I agree with Claire T - definitely use a well-respected currency exchange company.  They make the conversion, so what thehy saend to your Spanish bank is already in euros so there should be no charge for receiving it.  As she says, they CAN charge if it's over 50k euros, but if you phone in advance and tell them it's for a house purchase, they should waive it.  That was the advice Moneycorp gave me, so I phoned my Spanish bank, and yes they confirmed there would be no charge.

The best way to avoid ANY charges from the money exchange companies, is to use Moneycorp (as advertised on this site), and make sure you use the click-through link from this site.  Then when your first enquiry form goes to them, it has Eye on Spain as the referrer, and Moneycorp removed all charges from my account - permanently!  Their charges are quite low anyway, I think it's £10 for a phone deal, and £5 for an online deal.  But you get a marginally better rate doing it by phone.  Plus I hugely enjoy getting the occasional phone message saying "Hello this is Adam, your dealer" !!!  he rang the other morning, knowing that I had to do the big final transfer for my purchase, saying it might be worth sending it a little early while the rate was so good.  He was right - I got 99k euros for my £80k (to the penny!) and no deductions anywhere.

Tamara

   "the problem with allowing your UK bank to transfer the funds directly to your Spanish bank, is that they will transfer it as pounds"

Sorry this is rubbish. We transfer Euros with first direct every month, and a very efficient service it is too.

Guy

OK Guy, I'm glad you have a good experience!  Calm down!  What i said is not "rubbish", it's merely different from your own experience!

It may be that your bank has its own transfer service - but do check the rate they give you.  Alternatively, it DOES arrive as pounds and is converted by your Spanish bank.  The easy way to tell is what appears on your Spanish statement.  If it shows any kind of conversion rate, then the funds clearly arrived as pounds.  if it simply shows a euro deposit, then the funds clearly arrived as euros and were converted by your UK bank.

MOST UK banks transfer as pounds.  For example, Nationwide, NatWest, Santander, Halifax, Barclays etc.  That's great news that you've found one that transfers in euros - and great that you've shared that for other people to benefit.  Shame you had to "rubbish" my post, which was intended to be helpful to other readers.

Tamara

 Tamara, please don't lecture me. I worked in financial services for 35 years. I am well aware of rates. I have currency and stock market feeds live on my smartphone. Please stop scaring people into stop using trusted service suppliers - i.e. banks. Everybody should shop around.

GUy

 PS funny it is your first post!

We shopped around, spoke to several money exchange companies including Moneycorp....but  Barclays Bank provided by far the best rate on the day.  To be honest we were surprised as we hadn't expected our Bank to provide the best rate! And the money was transferred to our Spanish bank account in euros...there was no exchange from pounds to euros shown on our Spanish account. The euro amount entered into it was the exact sum given from Barclays.  Since Barclays offer a Euro account in the UK, this makes sense, but I guess it all depends on your bank in the UK and what rate you are quoted on the day.  Our experience showed us, however, that you shouldn't dismiss your UK bank thinking that a money exchange company wilul provide a better rate. Shop around first.

I have just done a transfer and got precisely 1.2499. Can anyone beat that?

 Who with Jarvi?

We used TorFX, no problems at all and very good rate. checked with FSA in UK, all legal and insured

I have had dealings with numerous FX Companies, many are very good if you are sending over large amounts, say for you deposit or interim payments, you should get no fees. It then comes down to your running costs when you finally buy your property, you may need to send money over every month for the mortgage, water and electricity, then some of the FX Companies will make a charge for sending over small amounts, normally anything below £500.

We offer a number of FX Companies but ourselves, we use excel currencies and they do the free automated monthly transfer, but if you want a larger transfer then we would be looking at RationalFX or even FairFX. If you want contact details, then do please PM me and will send them over.

What is of ultimate importance is the end result, many UK banks will state "we do not charge commission" and that is true they do not HOWEVER the exchange rate they offer is particularly poor!

Many foreign exchange companies do charge a commission or fixed fee which whilst as it is a competitive arena may seen small it has a larger impact on smalerl transactions than larger ones.

Worldwide I suppose my clients transfer in excess of £5m in one of large payments and small monthly payments, Moneycorp, HIFIX and Curencies Direct tend at any time to be market leaders so we have stayed wit Moneycorp as they provide excellent service and I only deal with one person, they also have an excellent new product called "travel money" and if you are nipping of for a last minute weeked etc they can deliver directly to your home at a decent rate.

What is of ultimate importance is the end result, many UK banks will state "we do not charge commission" and that is true they do not HOWEVER the exchange rate they offer is particularly poor!

Many foreign exchange companies do charge a commission or fixed fee which whilst as it is a competitive arena may seen small it has a larger impact on smalerl transactions than larger ones.

Worldwide I suppose my clients transfer in excess of £5m in one of large payments and small monthly payments, Moneycorp, HIFIX and Curencies Direct tend at any time to be market leaders so we have stayed wit Moneycorp as they provide excellent service and I only deal with one person, they also have an excellent new product called "travel money" and if you are nipping of for a last minute weeked etc they can deliver directly to your home at a decent rate.

What is of ultimate importance is the end result, many UK banks will state "we do not charge commission" and that is true they do not HOWEVER the exchange rate they offer is particularly poor!

Many foreign exchange companies do charge a commission or fixed fee which whilst as it is a competitive arena may seen small it has a larger impact on smalerl transactions than larger ones.

Worldwide I suppose my clients transfer in excess of £5m in one of large payments and small monthly payments, Moneycorp, HIFIX and Curencies Direct tend at any time to be market leaders so we have stayed wit Moneycorp as they provide excellent service and I only deal with one person, they also have an excellent new product called "travel money" and if you are nipping of for a last minute weeked etc they can deliver directly to your home at a decent rate.