money transfer

[phil on a fazer]

If you had a large-ish amount of euros in a french bank account, how is the best way to transfer it to the UK without losing too much?
 
How dodgy does this sound!  (its all legal i promise)
 
Phil

[snapper]

what you do is sent it to me and I'll let you have some of it    every now and again !
 
 

[Robbie8666]

I suppose it depends on how much you talking bout but I would have thought a normal bank transfer should do it! you will get the current exchange rate for that lump sum plus the banks handling fee ..
 
there may be ex-pats out there that read this that have a better understanding of transferring money from a UK bank to a foriegn bank using Euro's!

[phil on a fazer]

I suppose it depends on how much you talking bout but I would have thought a normal bank transfer should do it! you will get the current exchange rate for that lump sum plus the banks handling fee ..
 

some one mentioned about using off shore handling firms. They transfer with low handling fee's and some how get better exchange rates??!? (i haven't got a clue  )
 
Phil

[Grahamm]

If you had a large-ish amount of euros in a french bank account, how is the best way to transfer it to the UK without losing too much?

I can do it for a small fee, just send me £500 to cover my initial costs and to ensure the method works fine and I'll sort it out...

[Chillum]

Before you do it though, let your bank know so it doesn't get held up for money laundering checks.

That's also a cheap way to transfer money if the French account has a cheque book associated with it, just write yourself a cheque and pay it into your UK account.

[rustyrider]

If talking hundreds rather than thousands, Paypal.  I've got a mate in France who often wants to buy stuff from companies that won't deal with overseas customers, so he sends me the money as a gift through Paypal and I buy them instead.

[phil on a fazer]

If talking hundreds rather than thousands, Paypal. 

We're defiantly talking thousands.
 
Could always draw it in cash and fly home with it. Doubt airport security would mind a briefcase of cash passing through   
 

[Robbie8666]

 
We're defiantly talking thousands.
 
Could always draw it in cash and fly home with it. Doubt airport security would mind a briefcase of cash passing through   
 

why not wait until you need a new car / bike then buy one abroad and bring it back ?? that way your money will be earning intrest !

[Tmation]

Ask how much it will cost and what exchange rate the French bank will charge you to transfer your money to your UK account, you will need your UK accounts IBAN number (normally on your bank statement).


Then check out how much it will cost you to use www.xe.com, they are sometimes a bit cheaper.


If the amount is more than 10K then you will be questioned (money laundering check), so have the proof of where the money came from (pre warn your bank as suggested earlier).


My wife sends her salary home from Saudi each month using then bank transfer method without problem, I work for a UK firm, so get paid in pounds, so no worries for me  [size=78%] [/size]

[goldfazer]

I used to use Currencies Direct when I had a house in Spain. Don't hang around though, the euro ain't looking good!

[Phil]

Open a Euro account with your bank in the UK then get your French bank to make a SEPA (Single European Payments Area) payment. SEPA is like BACS in the UK but only takes 1-2 days to transfer the money, BACS used to be 3.
Your French bank might have an online feature so you can do it yourself via internet banking.  If not just tell them you want to make a payment.

If you haven't got a Euro account in the UK get the your French bank to make an International Payment (SWIFT) to you UK GBP account. They will have their exchange rates which might be better or worse than others.

I think Barclays charge £15 for SEPA and £25 for SWIFT, but no idea what the French will charge. For SWIFT there may also be a Correspondent charge if your French Bank doesn't deal direct with your UK Bank and the payment has to go via a 3rd party. If your French and UK are major banks they probably will have a direct relationship.

All Cross Border payments are screened under AML laws. If you name is Bin Laden it may be held up, but Joe Bloggs should be ok. Most screening is done automatically by computer software.

As someone else said, give your French bank your UK brances IBAN and SWIFTBIC to make sure it gets paid promptly and incurs no further charges.
Telling your UK branch you are expecting is it probably a good idea too.

[Slaninar]

a) Buy a nice Peugeot.

b) Fill the trunk with good wine.

c) If there's any money left, spend it on women, or wife.

[richfzs]

A... nice... Peugeot...

Nope, you've lost me there 

[Bracechenko]

A... nice... Peugeot...

Nope, you've lost me there 

Ha, nice Rich!

[Major Rant]

Surprisingly, the good ol' Nationwide Building Society will do it  ... But you'd only want to set up the necessary accounts if you're going to be doing it regularly. It can all be done on t'internet.
 
You need to open a euro account with Nationwide International, in the Isle of Man - and a flex-account (regular bank account) with Nationwide on your high-street. You'll need to 'authenticate' yourself with a passport, which you can show at your local branch.
 
Swift transfer your Euros into your "offshore" account (will cost you £20 a time, as said).
 
When you feel like trading, phone them up and say - "convert 20,000 euros to pounds".
 
And they do ... it appears instantly as cleared funds in your online flex-account.
 
They do good rates too - I do it in Dollars but their rates are within 1/5th of a cent of the money-market rate.
 
 

[phil on a fazer]

nice one guys....some good info cheers (and no...im not buying a peugeot!  )