Selling up here and moving to Germany and its going to involve changing a considerable amount of sterling to euro’s prior to a house purchase…

Looking at the exchange rate changes, a small difference can equal a big change in the value we can move…

Is there a standard best way of dealing with this, any help from the Bank experts / Nigerian business entrepreneurs would be appreciated.

Its a move from a NatWest account to a German Sparkasse…

I’d recommend TorFX.com – they were able to help us move a (smallish) amount of cash to the US with low fees and a good rate.

Thanks, will check that out.

If you let me handle it I have a way to get the best exchange rates, far better than you’ll get from any commercial bank. Just start off by paying it into 40-47-38 43987231 and I’ll take it from there. I promise it won’t go anywhere near any Cypriot banks.

BTW just how much exactly is “a lot”? Just want to prepare myself for what to do with it.

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Very simple, just have it melted down and made into body panels for your rolls royce then drive it across.

{Amusingly named henchmen and large industrial laser optional}

How much .. well the complete value of a 4 bed Edinburgh house ! going on for half a mil ?

Did think about putting it in the Audi van and driving…. then exchanging at the other end…

but then got sensible again… the sound of the snap of the rubber glove at the Dover ferry terminal wasn’t appealing

You’ve got two chances and at some point you are going to have to make the call and do the deed. Now doesn’t look too bad?

Alternatively split your loses by transferring it in 2, 3 or 4 tranches and then you are spreading your bets as it were.

Try a foreign exchange company, they tend to take smaller margins than the banks due to lower overheads. And if you don’t need to do the exchange right away then they can monitor the market for you over a period and alert you when the rate is favourable.

I can recommend SGM-FX as being thoroughly reputable, but then I work for them (albeit not on the sales side) so not unbiased. There are quite a few others around too, but I can’t vouch for them.

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Plus one

That sort of money you are dealing wholesale* and it is an attractive trade, shop around the banks, including the German one, and some of the fx guys. But make sure you know whoever you are dealing with as you are taking risk on them for the day. Factor in the cost of transferring as well as some will do this inclusive.

*By this I mean direct to the traders or more likely trading system.

I have used MoneyCorp a couple of times. You will need a destination bank account to start the process but they have seemed good. As per offthebrakes they do some monitoring and for big numbers the commision is much lower than a high street bank.

http://www.foreigncurrencysolutions.co.uk
This chap is a mate and I’ve used him for small amounts but I know folk who’ve used him for big amounts and hell beat any bank/institution.. Good guy! Does a lot of offshore workers

Try these.

We used them when we sold our house in the UK and moved to Canada.
You can do all sorts of tricks to minimize risk such as automatically triggering exchanges when the rate hits a particular point. There was actually a six month gap between us selling and buying so Hifx were sending me regular e-mails detailing what was happening on the currency markets. You can also split the proceeds into smaller chunks to spread the risk over a number of days/weeks/months etc

By timing to change carefully, I was able to get around 2.11 CAD:GBP…shortly after the rate dropped to around $1.70ish CAD:GBP meaning I was approx $40000 CAD better off! So it pays to do your research…

You really need to speak to one of the experts at Hifx though I’m pretty sure there are other outfits offering similar services.

Thats great, thanks folks. As you mention Mark, the rate on the day of exchange makes a big difference and I hate giving money away through not being informed…

Some very good leads there.

Paypal gift for a house on German ebay… what could possibly go wrong …..

Wouldn’t recommend PayPal, They have been know to freeze accounts and lock them down for 90days.

NO idea of company name but my Mum used a company when went out to Oz that sat with the money for a short while and only exchanged when rate peaked above certain level (I think over several tranches). Rates so variable even hour by hour on such big transactions can make a difference. Can depend on how quickly you need money at other end?

Isn’t the euro may be heading one way over concerns Cyprus style savings tax may spread? So holding off may be worth it*

*i’m not a financial advisor! I can try and find out company if you want.

Ask NatWest first for their price, they may have a Germany Bank who they ‘partner’ with.

And read up on the risk of large deposit in German local banks too…, as in you’d not want more than £85k in each UK bank.

Have a look at HiFx we use them all the time to pay suppliers in dollars and to get paid in dollars. Rates are far better than the banks.

BitCoin? 🙂

I’d be wary of using a bank, the spread from spot will likely be horrific. As mentioned above SGM-FX are a decent outfit and will be quite tight on spread. Alternatively a decent stockbrokers (Killik, Charles Stanley etc) will be able to help you out but it will involve setting up an account with them. Charge wise you’d be looking at probably 0.35% from spot. Presumably you are looking to pay the proceeds into a german account in your name otherwise you’ll likely come across some money laundering hurdles.

MoneyCorp (recommended to me many times but never used) or HiFX (used them for years) are the sort of deal you want. Much better rates than banks or high street.

With a large sum of money you should be able to get your UK bank to transfer it at the commercial rate rather than the tourist one. I would have a word with them, at least for a comparison.

For smaller ammounts my dad used to use the commercial division of the company that has booths at airports (cant remember the name) he reckoned the rates and charges were pretty fair.

Xe.com/Mansion House or similar.

Check britishexpats.com for zillions of threads on this.

the easiest way to compare quotes is to get them to commit to a spread vs mid market and then add any ancillary charges. Do check your German bank as different banking markets have different charging structures depending on where the competition is so they can be quite marked differences in prices for services such as these.

The fx market is very transparent. I see little benefit in using a broker in such a transparent market as you are just adding another mouth to feed.

your muny will be very tired,I can allow it to rest in my account for a while…..

Currencyfair.com

They act as the middleman for online peer to peer exchanges; you don’t deal directly with the people exchanging the other way. Very small commission (0.3%) and no spread. You can either accept the rates others are offering, or post your own offer for people to accept. Works well, easy to do, massive savings. I’ve used it twice for renting holiday property, my BIL uses it to transfer his pension to where he now lives.

Thanks folks. A lot of good leads in there. Appreciate this as it could save, literally, thousands.