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Following the sale of my parents house in France - i need to get the cash back to the UK to get my mum a house here.Â
Its a substantial amount and I've seen alot of news story's about wise and money disappearing recently during transfer - that used to be how I transferred my wages when I worked international.Â
Is that a rational fear or is it scaremongering by big banking ?Â
Obviously there's a big difference between me risking my own (considerably smaller amounts of) money and risking mum's future house.....but the banks exchange rates are horrific - are you any more protected over the FCA regulation amount anyway ? Â
How are we moving money these days?Â
Check out Currencies Direct for larger ammounts.. they are very well established and you can actually talk to an account manager type person to discuss what they can do.
https://www.currenciesdirect.com/en-gb/large-transfers
I generaly use wise for smaller ammounts, holiday money transfers, etc, but currencies direct might be able to offer a better deal on large sums... worth a call.
Will take a look.Â
I'll likely end up seeking professional advice for the avoidance of conflict but I'd at least like a little idea of what options there are before I/we get taken for a ride.Â
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I use Wise (ex Transferwise) all the time for moving money from EU to UK and have never had an issue. For a very large transfer to a new account I would make a test transfer of 50 or so to ensure the details were correct. The first time you transfer a large amount (over 9000 I think) it might get held until they call you to check where the money came from as it's an anti laundering thing but overall I've never had any problems. Â
Can you not just use something like an HSBC global money account (possibly only available to HSBC customers) to do this? I've found their exchange rates fairly competitive when I've used it for holiday spending around Europe and it's been almost entirely hassle free.Â
Another Wise user who hasn't had any issues with money going astray. On one occasion A/c details were minimally incorrect from one payee, and funds were returned within 24 hours.
Could you not move the money from the French account across to Wise and then UK account in a number of lumps over the course of a week to avoid it all moving at once?
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Another Wise user who hasn't had any issues with money going astray. On one occasion A/c details were minimally incorrect from one payee, and funds were returned within 24 hours.
Could you not move the money from the French account across to Wise and then UK account in a number of lumps over the course of a week to avoid it all moving at once?
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No because you'll pay each time for the transfer.
Companies that do free transfers make thier fees form baking thier costs into the rate they offer you so you still have to do some comparisons. Nothings free and the conversion/rates you get can be a difference of thousands of pounds on large transactions.
Do one lump sump with a specialist such as currencies direct. They will talk through the options with you depending on what the transfer is for etc.
I've not used them for a few years but when I did I had one account manager (if that's the correct term) who dealt with me every time, rather than a call center type scenario.
Don't get me wrong.. I use wise to transfer smaller sums between my UK and Spanish accounts.. But for larger more critical transactions that sort of scenario isn't nessesarily good value.
Former Alpine F1 boss Oliver Oakes brother William could have been worth a phonecall but he's remanded somewhere just now
My wife is using Revolut for similar purposes (to/from USA), only a chunk at a time (some $10ks per go), she got some membership deal which reduces the (already reasonably low) rates. She didn't shop around for the absolute best deal, it was more a case of - I already have this, I've got plenty of other things to handle at the moment, it's good enough.
What level of risk are you prepared to take vs the cost of doing it...
I'll decide that once I see what's available. Like I said. Wise was acceptable to me personally as a risk but unlikely at the volume we have to move.Â
But on the face of it the bank is asking alot for not much more protection.....
We used revolut to transfer a very large amount of euros resulting from a property sale, it was fine. They held the transaction for a few days while they checked where the money was coming from, they wanted to see the contract of sale of the property before they would release the funds. If you use revolut make sure you have a paid account ( about 80 quid per year) otherwise the fees will be significant.
They offered the best overall rate when I compared with wise and my own high street bank (very poor value).
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You also need to decide what you're trying to protect yourself from when you do the transfer.Â
Is it the receiving bank/institution going bust while they hold your money?Â
Someone fraudulently accessing the account and taking the money while it sits there?Â
A poor exchange rate?Â
Etc
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What level of risk are you prepared to take vs the cost of doing it...
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There is Zero risk if you do it correctly. You get a quote for the transfer from a reputable company, and that's that.
Risk has nothing to do with it really, the main question is how much you'll get knobbled on the exchange rate, especially with large sums of money such as cash from a house sale/purchase.
And of course the quote you will get will vary day-to-day depending on the GBP/EUR base exchange rate.
If you are only exchanging 500 Euros, then the difference between a good deal and an average deal, might only be the price of a pint of beer and a packet of crisps...
If you are exchanging 500,000 Euros, you should probably pay a bit more attention to the rates and fees from various providers!
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A timely thread.... we're in the middle as something similar. We're in the process of selling our French house and are near to completion. We're looking at some of the companies on that comparison site.
Can't believe that krugerrands stuffed into your underpants hasn't been suggested already.
HSBC Global Money AccountÂ
As far as I know - you can't deposit euros. Only convert to and from GBP.
HSBC Global Money AccountÂ
As far as I know - you can't deposit euros. Only convert to and from GBP.
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That sounds rubbish.. Why do you recommend that?
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From a recommendation on here I have used Tor fx to do exactly this. Sale of 2 Edinburgh properties. GBP to Euros. Tor is backed by Barclays.
transfer to Tor, it sits there until you see the rate is favourable then on your instruction they will transfer the sum in one go. Even small changes in the rate over a large sum can be a very significant difference. Dm if you want the email of a broker to talk to in the uk.
We used currenciesdirect to make four large payments over 18 months and they were very helpful. Were happy to bake in rates when the pound was strong and advised us accordingly. Would use them again.