Thetownend.com

Anyone tried any of these instead of the usual bank/bureau exchanges. Are their rates substantially better?

I’ve signed up to TorFX for a trial but have always been reticent about using financial companies for certain things.

Check out britishexapts.com, these places get discussed quite frequently.

Had a quick look. I know my query isn’t really country specific but that forum covers almost every country under the sun apart from the 1 I’m moving to!

The sites remain consistent though, so in each country site you probably get the same companies being discussed.  Guessing you are looking for Pound/Euro FX.

Yeah - pound/euro. How I long for the rate when I first moved to Ireland - almost £1.50 to the euro!

Yeah similarly when I moved to Luxembourg the rate was around that and everything seemed 'cheap' (especially booze in supermarkets which is brilliantly cheap over there compared to the UK).

Now, its anything but! £1.15 or something now is it?

The pound has ‘leapt’ to 1.13 and a bit on the back of Theresa May blowing Leo Varadkar

If going to one of the high street chains i can't recommend buy back enough if you think you will bring some euros back and want to exchange it back.

I brought home 120euros last week and for shits and giggles i asked how much i'd get at one of the kiosks at Heathrow, 83 quid they offered me. Back at asda, without buyback it wasn't much better but but got the same rate as i exchanged them for and was 22 quid better off.

1.45 in June 2015.  Then Cameron got elected without being able to claim the Lib Dems would block a referendum.  The rest is history.

Just get a halifax clarity card. Free withdrawals abroad. No need to worry about left over money.

I think, as he is moving out there, he needs it more than just for a few transactions, possibly for a few wedges?  The FX companies can offer very good rates to do that v.s the charges for Wire transfers between banks.  I get whacked for about 3 or 4 % to transfer from a USA Bank to HSBC in the UK.

That is another option though, HSBC have a global banking system which avoids charges when moving funds between linked accounts (they are crap over here so don't use them)

Greece or Kefalonia itself?

Greece. Must be a fair few out there.

I’ll be transferring a decent amount out there when I’m ready to buy a place and even a small increase in the rate will make a difference.

I've been using TorFX for a couple of years, whenever I've needed to top up my Euros from my UK account. They've been reliable and you can make transfers online. They would offer a better rate for a large amount, worth shopping around though when the time comes.

I've been using a Caxton FX card for overseas trips the last couple of years.  FX rates are reasonable, and no charges for withdrawing cash abroad.  You can also time your currency purchases for up coming trips when you think the rates are good.  I find it very convenient.

Good tip this.
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I use Revolut for overseas purchases, its pre-pay so you have to top it up but no fees and interbank rates (<£5K). Very limited on cash withdraws though. Useful for ifollow :) They have "free card" promotions every now and again.

Another vote here for Revolut. Had no troubles with it at all and you can exchange all of your money for free. I've used it in the States, Spain, Portugal, Germany and France.

Revolut uses the Prepay Solutions platform. Prepay are based in Swindon and sponsor STFC BTW.

Like with everything, it's a case of doing research. I'm a frequent visitor to Prague and I've found an exchange in the city centre that is best so far.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjjXTr9F77g

Ho hum.

I use metro bank for short trips, free and use the MasterCard daily rate

I’m about to move full time to spain, will be working and having Spanish bank account. However for the first six months I will need to transfer about £500 a month from a Spanish account to my English account. Any tips?

I also have a currency exchange question.

When I lived in Luxembourg I opened a long term investment vehicle which I transferred a specific amount of Euros in each month. Its one of those ones where the longer you pay into, the more the bonuses are. It will be 10 years in January so I am keen to keep it open for a bit yet (maybe another ten years).

Since I left Luxembourg I changed back to my UK bank but each month I am getting a relatively large charge from my bank for this payment.

Is there anything I can do to pay the monthly amount from my bank into my policy without suffering such large charges?

Fuck me, the TEF has become "Moneybox Live" :D

https://transferwise.com/

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That looks good Samdy.

So if I order a Transferwise Debit Card I can setup my Standing Order/DD to collect payments from here each month and it will only occur a small charge? Likewise I'll have to setup a Standing Order/DD from my Bank into this Transferwise Account?

Yeah, you probably want their borderless account.

yeah I was just reading about that. It looks perfect.

Problem I have is that Greece is still a financial basket case and it would be folly to transfer all me money into Euros held in a Greek account.

So I’ll have to drip feed regular transfers and maintain my UK account.

They’ve got some strange new taxes in Greece, too. A swimming pool tax and your property tax is collected through your electricity bill! Tax avoidance was/is a national pastime in Greece.

They don’t cover spain