Moving money from the UK

In a few weeks I am going to inherit some cash from my father's estate. My dad lived in NI, and I live in Cork. So the estate will be in GBP, and I need to find the best way to get it into my ROI bank account. I have Ulster Bank accounts in both countries, but when I asked them about it they quoted me a really bad exchange rate. Can anyone recommend a better way? It has to be safe, as its a lot of money ( to me anyway!). All help gratefully received.

Are you going to move it all in one go? Do you need access to all of it in Euro? Are you gambling that Stg wont strengthen against Euro?

No, I want to move it all asap, as I have some debts to clear - I'm going to be debt free (with a fair bit left over) hooray!). I know the exchange rate is poor in general, but I compared the Ulster Bank rate with the rate on xe.com and it was terrible! And they wanted to charge a fee too.

It's the "fair bit left over" that i'm refeering to. Have you thought about leaving some stg on deposit in your Uk Ulster bank a/c.

I hadn't really thought about it, but I might leave the remainder of the cash in the UK. I assume you think that GBP is going to strengthen? Any thoughts on how to move the money?

No I have no reason to believe that stg will strengthen against euro, wiser people on here will agree and disagree. I guess you have to do what you feel is right for you at any given time. Move all the money at once and stg gets strong, you feel like a fool. Leave it and stg weakens, you want to kick yourself. You sort of get into the too many eggs in one basket area, maybe move some and leave some? I was always fairly good at sitting on the fence. Timing is a lot to do with luck, when i moved home from the uk i got £1.33punt for £1.00stg. A few years later i got €1.21(?) for £1.00 punt. Now you would just get €1.10 for £1.00stg, Go figure

I know exactly what you mean. I moved from the UK six years ago, and took out a Euro loan to cover some UK debt I had. Of course I got completely stiffed on the rate compared to now. If I had a lesser developed conscience I would have walked away from the whole debt, like an acquanitance of mine who walked away from a 20k debt in the UK and got away with it. Anyway, I have been paying down the debt since, and now just want to get rid of it, so I need to find a way to pay it off with this inheritance, but I will loose a good chunk of change by using Ulster Bank! But I am wary of using a forex dealer - are they safe? I've googled a bit and have found recommendations, but also some scarey tales. I will also be selling dad's aprtment (god help me) so there will be a fair amount of money to move (in the tens of thousands) so I need to find a safe and financially advantageous way of doing this. Any advice or recommendations really appreciated.

Contact all the banks in ireland and also contact transfermate/currency.ie . You'll find out who offers the best rates

See sterling euro Graph from their site
http://www.transfermate.com/en/exchange_rates_table.asp?currency=GBP&curr_lim=EUR

I know the bureau in buttercrane shopping centre always give a better rate than the banks and give a preferential rate for large amounts. Might be worth giving them a ring to see if they are willing to deal with the amount you have.

I used interchangefx a couple of times. Best rate I could find and trouble free. You'll have to set up an account with them is all.

currency.ie/transfermate are in dublin, banks are no good generally. maybe they can do orders for you, that way you tell them what rate you want.

always check with the banks anyway

I have used a few different companies to move currency, they are all pretty much the same, but a lot better than a bank.

There are loads of currency exchange advice sites out there that break the process down for you

Whatever you do, get comparisons with a couple of companies as they will try and beat each other to get your business, just like insurance

just looked there a loads of previous threads that cover this

i am not allowed to post link so here are the id numbers:

132750

129674

you'll need to book your rate in advance, try transfermate, they handle that but maybe wait as gbp seems to be strengthening