Large £ to Euro transaction

[jonjo]

Reality strikes.

After 11 months of searching for a yacht I am now facing the prospect of parting with my money. Can anyone offer advice on the most cost effective method of transferring and converting £s to Euros during a boat purchase?

I foresee two problems:

1 - The initial deposit is below what my bank considers to be a significant international EFT instruction. I would be happy to carry the cash but do not want to be hit by tourist exchange rates.

2 - I cannot see how the detailed timing will work, i.e. effecting the transfer while signing documents in the broker's office. (The broker is a large international chain with a UK office).

 

[colvic]

If buying the boat abroad, won't you be using it there and if so why not open a bank account in the country. Very easily done and then you can transfer money from UK. or Jersey or Isle of Man etc. for a fee of £25 but this does increase once you go above a certain amount but I don't know how much this is.

Use your cash card for smallish amounts as it is normally better value than getting huge amounts of Euro's here before you go.

Have a word with your bank and see what daily limit is on your card and get them to put it as high as they can. The £ has dropped like a stone against the Euro in the last few weeks/months with the present rate about 1.46 against 1.67 when we transferred a few grand last summer. Noticed this morning that the £ rose yesterday so it may pay to watch the markets and have everything ready for an instant transfer if you decide to use that method.


Phil

 

[Gunfleet]

Don't take cash because at the French and Spanish borders (to my knowledge, there may be others) you will fall foul of the law which only allows up to abt £6,000 in cash and they will feel entitled to confiscate it.

 

[bedouin]

My initial reaction is - find a better bank. They should be prepared to use EFT for a few hundred pounds.

These days transfering money is getting harder because of money laundering regulations, so it is very difficult to do it except through a bank that has gone through the process of confirming your identity.

Some banks are much better at handling foreign currency transactions than others - if you are going to be doing it on a regular basis then you should consider opening an account with one of them

 

[Chris_Stannard]

I recently transferred £1800 to Canada using the services of First Direct. I got a rate of 2.49$C to £1 against a tourist rate of 2.42:1 at the time. the transfer cost me £17 and 14$C at the other end. I transferred the money to a relative to pay for a ski holiday and did it that way to get the best rate.

Last year I used the same process to buy a boat in Holland, the deposit was 10%. In Holland the money is lodged with a notary, so you are protected if anything goes wrong with the transaction. If you need any documents translated there is a very good firm in Romsey, who got the business done very quickly for me, I can not remember the name but they are on the web.

I would agree with the comment that if you bank can't or won't do the business for you you need a better bank. First Direct do the transfer for me over the phone without problems and it takes about 3 days.

Chris Stannard

 

[jonjo]

> If buying the boat abroad, won't you be using it there

I hope to get it back to the UK by late March, we are talking about a "project" boat.

> The £ has dropped like a stone against the Euro

Indeed about 3% since I started serious negotiations but the decline seems to have levelled off now. Don't know what is driving the change, but I have 1 month to watch the rate and pick the right moment.

 

[cynthia]

Watch the exchange rates and at a favourable time forward buy the euros through your bank. You do not pay for the euros until you collect them (can be by banker's draft if you wish) but they will be at same rate of exchange as the day you forward bought. All you have to do is buy the currency before a mutually agreed date - we did this six months in advance and it was very much in our favour. Mind you if the exchange rate gets better you lose out!

 

[DavidofMersea]

I often transfer money to Ukraine - I use Western Union (telephone 0800 833833). It could not be easier, one telephone call, and ten minutes later it is at every Western Union office in the district of the reciepent.

I do not send large amounts, so I have never had a good check of the rates, but exchange rates have always seemed reasonable to me, compared with what I get at the bank.

Why not give then a ring and ask - it is an 0800 number, so it will not cost you anything

David of West Mersea

 

[polarity]

WAIT!!!!

Do not use a bank!

This is how you do it quickly and cheaply:

Go to https://www.xe.com/fx/index.htm , run the "Live demonstration" - its very easy!

When you have signed up and make the trade you send the sterling to their UK bank (Barclays I think, this should not cost you anything). XE Trade give you an guaranteed best rate through the huge (60 Billion) Custom House Currency exchange in Canada and you can have them send you a Euro Bank draft or wire the Euros (from their account at Commerz bank in Germany) to whoever you choose. No comission, no fees. -(With respect Western U will charge you an arm and a leg!)

I just did this last week for a large USA purchase, probably saved a couple of thousand Euros.

The sign up is a bit of a process as you would expect. But it just needs acouple of faxes.

Good luck with it, and if anyone knows a cheaper way let me know!

Cheers

Paul.

PS I just realised I had better point out they are nothing to do with me! I'm just a customer!

PPS you can also buy a forward on the site too

PPPS This also solves point 2. You have XE trade mail you the draft. then when you want to you just hand it over.

 

[vyv_cox]

We transfer money monthly, euros in Holland to pounds in UK. Done from ABN Amro to our UK bank account it costs 15 Euros with, as far as I remember, no upper limit. We have also transferred sums up to 5000 pounds equivalent in euros to UK companies for purchases, need only the account number and sort code, fee 15 euros.

 

[doris]

Here is a Foreign Exchange specialist site

http://www.sgm-fx.com/ This may help