Having left the UK, I need to convert a portion of my savings from GBP to EUR. I came across a few online services like TransferWise, which are significantly cheaper than banks, but I don’t know whether to trust them. Any recommendations?

TransferWise are a proper grown up company – I’d have no issue using them for a large sum. But there might be better options.

Transferwise was ok when I used them to buy a new main canopy from a man in Lithuania (in USD, to a US bank account… Long story). It worked, I got a new main.

When I did the bulk of the money changing from leaving the UK to arriving here in Sweden I just took the hit of using my bank. They had a fixed fee and, whilst the exchange rate was not brilliant, it was less hassle, quicker and cheaper than some other services. Less hassle and faster were two big factors though.

I’m in the same situation. I use the Revolut banking APP. Can transfer to and from loads of currencies and pretty much the daily rate. You’ll get a GB IBAN and a Euro IBAN, so you can load up with pounds and convert to EUR.

I also use it when the grandparents want to give cash presents to our children etc.

Seems a shame to need to do this at the moment, but then again, who knows what will happen with the exchange rate over the next few months.

I’ve used OFX (formerly UKForex) for years for both business and personal stuff.

+1 for Revolut for absolute value – gives you the day’s interbank rate so is in theory the best rate you can get and no transaction fees.

-1 for Revolut for shady treatment of staff and prospective employees.

Revolut seems to work well for my OH

I use transferwise pretty regularly for AUD-GBP….good service, would recommend

Another TransferWise user here. Likes

Interesting question, since I’m in the opposite position at the moment due to recent death in the family. I have been experimenting using Transferwise against exchange rates offered by my Dutch bank (ING) and British bank (First Direct). UK banking is nowhere near the market, but actually the rate I get from using ING to make a GBP transfer is actually slightly better (tested 3x now) than from Transferwise. Add into this the reduction in number of steps and I’m happy. All this said, any effects of the above are dwarfed by the exchange rate risk at the moment and so this is probably where your focus might lie.

+1 for Transferwise, used them to dad’s legacy to siblings in France & Australia.

Been using Transferfair for years without a problem. Just saved £250 using it to pay for upcoming holiday

+1 for Revolut, but not in thailand!!!

I use CurrencyFair it claims to work as a peer to peer business, worth comparing rates

Leftfield suggestion, buy something (gold? Bitcoins?) in UK. Sell thing in France or wherever. Subject to market fluctuations in the thing though as well as exchange rate movements whilst you own the thing. Could be cheaper, but riskier.

I used smartcurrencyexchange when we bought our place in France. Had a good chat with them on the phone before going ahead with placing a forward option (not sure if that’s the correct term). Basically, set a target exchange rate I wanted and waited. Once the spot rate hit the target rate, the trade was automatically triggered and I got my euros. Guess it depends how much of a rush you’re in to change it and whether you think the rate will improve or decline.

Have used Transferwise and Revolut without any issues for such a task

Yep, sorry, home now and it is Currencyfair I use and not Transferwise or transferfear as I stated above.

Aim to pay no more than 25 pips. Not everyone will go as low as that but the minute you tell them that’s your target, then they take you seriously. I have been using Foreign Currency Direct for years and they play ball. When you do the deal make sure you’re watching live rates online though!

+1 for Revolut, but not in thailand!!!

Did you try Everex in Thailand. I was impressed with how easy it worked.

another vote for transferwise.

Ive used it to buy property and use it every month to move funds between my UK account and EUR account.

cheeky, but if you use this link (my recommend a friend link) you can transfer £500 for free.
https://transferwise.com/u/markj3

even so, the fees are really, really low.
But you do get the mid market rate i.e. no margin eating away at the real rate)

Another +1 for transferwise. I use it frequently.

And another vote for CurrencyFair. Reputable organisation and low fees. It’s facilitated peer-to-peer, you could be exchanging with 20 different people but you don’t deal direct, they do all the co-ordination, you just say either “I want to exchange X from this currency to that, and this is the rate I’m prepared to pay, then wait and see if anyone goes for it (you can leave it a week I think, and if the market rate meets your offer you could get a bargain), or the other way about, just ask what rate is being offered and accept it if you like. They charge something like 0.3% and the exchange rate, being peer to peer is mid-market.

Speak to your bank.

We opened a NZ$ account with ours before moving to NZ. WE were able to transfer across the money for a fixed fee at an exchange rate that was better than anything else we found. As we were long time customers for the bank we were given a better exchange rate that normally went with higher value transfers.

We then did a NZ$ to NZ$ bank transfer once we were in NZ and had our new account set up.

I would be gob smacked if any bank could get anywhere near the 25 pip above interbank rate that I mentionned. My assumption is they would be 10 times more expensive but happy to be proven wrong.