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You are here: Home Finance & Business Tax Undercutting the banks: How to move cash abroad for less

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26/10/2006Undercutting the banks: How to move cash abroad for less

Undercutting the banks: How to move cash abroad for less Harriet Meyer explains how to move your money to Spain for less

Moving money abroad can be a costly business, with transfer charges and exchange rates eating into your hard-earned cash.

Some banks in Spain even charge to receive electronic transfers, adding to the cost, while others don't. Those that do usually apply a EUR 10- 15 charge.

Fortunately, there are options available from companies which don’t apply 'transfer' charges, and they invariably offer better exchange rates to expats.

It pays to do your research, as Laura Loosmore, 30, an English teacher in Barcelona, is discovering.

She was frustrated to find she faced a GBP 21 charge from HSBC to move any sum up to GDP 2,000 to her Spanish bank account, and that it takes five days to access the money.

"I don’t understand why it costs this much, and like many expats I would like to make regular transfers, so I have to find a cheaper alternative", she says.

Some of the big banks and building societies charge as much as GBP 30 to transfer money abroad, she discovered.

There are various methods of making the transfer, including producing an international cheque which the customer simply sends to the foreign bank, to electronic transfers.

Ms Loosmore chose to take advantage of a specialist currency exchange, Travelex, to avoid transfer fees and exorbitant exchange rates.

To use the service, customers have to set up an account and prove who they are - this can be done by post or email - and once it is set up the transfer is done on the phone.

When you want to move some money, you ring the call centre and agree the "deal" rate.

Once it has your money it moves it directly into the foreign account nominated at the start.

One of the big plusses is that Travelex says there will be no charges to pay from the receiving bank.

It also allows those wanting to send a large sum - for example buying a house - to pre-buy their currency for sending, and paying for it, at a later date.

HIFX, another currency exchange, allows you to fix an exchange rate for up to 24 months to guard against currency fluctuations.

A spokesman for HIFX explained: "High street banks charge a commission on each transfer in addition to the large profit they take on the exchange rate.

"As this spread is so large currency specialists can provide highly competitive rates of exchange, absorb the commission fees, transfer costs and bank receiving fees and still make a small profit."

Caxton FX is another company promising to undercut the high street banks.

It will only exchange sums greater than GBP 6,000 but also offers attractive exchange rates, with no fees for transfers.

If you need speed, Worldwide Currencies says it can have the money in a foreign bank account the following afternoon in 99 percent of cases.

Those worried by handing over their hard-earned savings to a little known firm for transfer may want to stick to the big-name providers.

[Copyright Expatica]

[October 2006]

Subject: Spain; moving money from abroad

 

 

 

 


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