# transfer money from Euro to Sterling



## coineach (13 Jul 2009)

Hi,
I am looking for some advice on transferring a large sum of money (about €50k) from Euro account in Ireland to UK Sterling Bank account. I have a Bank of Ireland account in Ireland and I can transfer up to €5k per day electronically to my Bank of Scotland account for free but when it arrives at the BOS account the exchange rate doesnt seem great - about 0.8386 last week when exchange rate was at about 0.86. 

Is there another way that I can get a better exchange or is this about as good a deal as I am going to get. Appreciate the help as this is going to be the deposit for my house!

Thanks!


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## MelF (13 Jul 2009)

Register with ww.xe.com, and transfer it through them, their rates are generally at least two points better than the bank's prevailing rate.
No affiliation just a happy customer!


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## TarfHead (13 Jul 2009)

coineach said:


> .. the exchange rate doesnt seem great - about 0.8386 last week when exchange rate was at about 0.86.


 
Unless the service quoting 0.86 is also providing a service for transferring funds, that rate isn't relevant to you. The relevant rate is the one offered by the bank doing the transfer.

By all means shop around, but with the amount involved, you're probably limited to your own bank. By the time you open an account with another bank to 'save' 0.05 on the rate, the 'saving' could have been wiped out by the overhead and/or delay in opening the new account.


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## coineach (13 Jul 2009)

Thanks for the answers folks. 

I took a quick look at XE.com and have started the registration process at least to see what they are offering - have to admit I am a little bit nervous though about handing that much money over to a firm on the internet!


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## irash (13 Jul 2009)

look up www.currency.ie and all discussions about money transfer on this forum


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## MelF (13 Jul 2009)

coineach said:


> Thanks for the answers folks.
> 
> I took a quick look at XE.com and have started the registration process at least to see what they are offering - have to admit I am a little bit nervous though about handing that much money over to a firm on the internet!


 
I was the same but now I do it all the time and have never had any probs. 
Best of luck!


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## irishlinks (13 Jul 2009)

TarfHead said:


> By all means shop around, but with the amount involved, you're probably limited to your own bank..



They are not limited to their own bank at all - they have 2 separate accounts already . On 50k - if they could save as little as 1c in the euro - they would be 500 euro up - not bad for a half days work?

I have used Currency Solutions in the past with no problems.


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## peelaaa (14 Jul 2009)

coineach said:


> Hi,
> I am looking for some advice on transferring a large sum of money (about €50k) from Euro account in Ireland to UK Sterling Bank account. I have a Bank of Ireland account in Ireland and I can transfer up to €5k per day electronically to my Bank of Scotland account for free but when it arrives at the BOS account the exchange rate doesnt seem great - about 0.8386 last week when exchange rate was at about 0.86.
> 
> Is there another way that I can get a better exchange or is this about as good a deal as I am going to get. Appreciate the help as this is going to be the deposit for my house!
> ...


 
I've had good dealings with 'ukforex' in the past.


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## Lyndan (14 Jul 2009)

I used ukforex and hifx, both good


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## TarfHead (14 Jul 2009)

irishlinks said:


> They are not limited to their own bank at all - they have 2 separate accounts already . On 50k - if they could save as little as 1c in the euro - they would be 500 euro up - not bad for a half days work?
> 
> I have used Currency Solutions in the past with no problems.


 
There is no way I would trust an online service with 50K, regardless of the potential FX saving.


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## sammya (14 Jul 2009)

Most banks give you the business rate when you get a draft/transfer over 25k. The business rate will be the web rate at the time of your enquiry/confirmation.


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## mooney76 (14 Jul 2009)

currency.ie are widely used on the forum. i used them for paying for a car import. They're also in dublin


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## coineach (15 Jul 2009)

I registered with XE trade (www.XE.com) as suggested earlier and I think I have it all set up. Does anyone who has done this before know the best way to transfer the funds from my bank to XE? - the XE site doesnt give a lot of details about this part. I am with Bank of Ireland but I am not in the country so I would only be able to do this through Banking 365, anyone know if BOI will entertain this for €50k, I know that the online transfer limit is set at €5k.


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## irishlinks (15 Jul 2009)

TarfHead said:


> There is no way I would trust an online service with 50K, regardless of the potential FX saving.



Currency Solutions have a website - but are not an "online operation" . They have offices in London and all transactions are done using faxed forms which have to be signed . They are just as safe as any bank.


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## ccraig (15 Jul 2009)

the currency.ie site has the same online system but has offices in ireland so youre protected by ifsra. also use aib, bank of ireland and other irish bank accounts and they can tell you they have funds seconds later which is handy when sending large amounts

xe takes around 5 days


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## 603304529 (17 Jul 2009)

You could try Fexco - an Irish company.

No affiliation.


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## agentino (20 Jul 2009)

This is a bugbear of mine. Who decided that Banks could talk a 5-7 point edge/margin in dealing with 2 currencies that are in daily use in adjacent Countries. It amazes me that people have not kicked up on this before now.
The only problem with dealing with the likes of XE or Fexco is that it delays the process by weeks. 
If you have a sterling Credit Card to pay you are going to want your Draft ASAP.
I recently got raped by over €200 in AIB going through this process


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## MelF (20 Jul 2009)

The process through XE.com only takes a couple of days at most. You can transfer the money to them via AIB or BOI or you can send them a draft (which obviously takes longer). When they have received your cleared payment for the currency you are buying it is lodged directly into your account, no problem
Hope this helps


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## mooney76 (20 Jul 2009)

currency.ie guarantee same day payment to the UK and are regulated. They dont have transfer fees, xe have wire fees but told myself and the wife they dont


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## MelF (21 Jul 2009)

mooney76 said:


> currency.ie guarantee same day payment to the UK and are regulated. They dont have transfer fees, xe have wire fees but told myself and the wife they dont


 
How do they do this? Do you mean that when they have your payment they will pay currency into your account? If so XE do the same.


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## ccraig (21 Jul 2009)

spoke to xe, they cant guarantee when it will arrive as you need to send money to germany, then from there they send to uk, best case 4 days, currency.ie guaranteed same day


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## dobsdave (2 Aug 2009)

On the currency.ie website it quotes a fee of 15 euro for each transfer but for xe.com there doesnt seem to be any fee.
I am going to using one of these to send regular amounts from stg to euro.
Can anyone confirm fees or lack of for either.
There seems to be conflicting reprts,

Thanks.


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## mooney76 (4 Aug 2009)

transfers are same day with currency.ie, xe's rates on their system were also miles off what is on their site, just checked xe, they are 1.65% off so the fact they dont charge a transfer fee is because they build it into the rate


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## dobsdave (6 Aug 2009)

mooney76 said:


> transfers are same day with currency.ie, xe's rates on their system were also miles off what is on their site, just checked xe, they are 1.65% off so the fact they dont charge a transfer fee is because they build it into the rate


 
Thanks


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