Sterling savings? Should i convert them to Euros now?

G

garythegreat

Registered User
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I currently habe £8k sitting in a lloyds TSB account, I was happy enough to leave it there as I was getting around 5.5% intrest.

But I had a quick look at the exchange rates and seen how the pound is falling agianst the euro, ive lost 600euro over the last couple of months.

Would now be a good time to take the money out and convert to euros, or am i better of waiting? ie will the sterling value rise again/euro decrease?

What do you think would be the best option?
 
Re: Sterling savings? SShould i convert them to Euros now?

I am in a similar situation. I have some stg with Anglo at 5.92% for 1 year. I think I will wait the year out as stg is taking a beating at he moment.

Slim
 
Re: Sterling savings? SShould i convert them to Euros now?

I have 10k USD sitting in current account with almost 0 interest

I am not sure when should I convert to Euros!!!
 
Re: Sterling savings? SShould i convert them to Euros now?

I{U}Ireland said:
I have 10k USD sitting in current account with almost 0 interest

I am not sure when should I convert to Euros!!!
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If you are going to keep it in USD for a while (i.e. if you believe that the US dollar weakness is cyclical, not structural as some economists do) then why not put that 10k USD to work for you in a high-yield deposit account in the US? See the weekly summary at bankdeals to get an idea of rates you can achieve - http://bankdeals.blogspot.com/search/label/weekly summary?max-results=1.
Check the savings/money market accounts - rates of 5% are easily achievable, despite the fall in US interest rates in recent months. Almost all of these accounts can be opened online, without any direct interaction with a physical branch or submission of handwritten paperwork (unlike Ireland ).
 
Re: Sterling savings? SShould i convert them to Euros now?

[FONT=&quot]If you intend to spend this money in or retire to the UK leave it there (i.e. if the GBP is your ‘functional currency’). If you intend to spend this money in or retire to IE or some other eurozone country (i.e. if the EUR is your ‘functional currency’) it probably makes sense to repatriate it. If the GBP is not your functional currency, the only reason to hold GBP cash deposits is if the return on the deposit gives you a return greater than the return on GBP-denominated gilts (including a risk premium for holding the riskier cash deposit). (Otherwise, why would you hold GBP cash deposits?) If this is not the case, you could consider investing the money in GBP gilts or corporate bonds; or repatriate it; or spend it.
[/FONT]
 
Re: Sterling savings? SShould i convert them to Euros now?


I am not a resident in USA, Can I still open an account there??
 
Re: Sterling savings? SShould i convert them to Euros now?

I plan on spending about 5k of the sterling on a car over the next few months. The other 3k should i leave it as sterling or move it into euros? Euros are my main currnecy, i have no plans to live in the UK again.
 
Re: Sterling savings? SShould i convert them to Euros now?

I{U}Ireland said:
I am not a resident in USA, Can I still open an account there??
Click to expand...

Yes, non-residents of the US can indeed open a US-based bank account, with online access to the accounts, credit cards, and so on. However, for opening a US account with a financial institution, the rules actually vary depending on the institution. All of the major banks (Citibank, Bank of America, Chase et al) WILL support non-resident accounts (it is a big market for them, and they have departments and business processes dedicated to them). Note that there are no restrictions on inflow or outflow of capital in the United States, and no local taxes to pay for non-residents.

In all cases, you will need to fill out a W-8 declaration (typically the banks send this to you after opening of the account - the major purpose of this form is to specify that the signing party is a non-resident.
Sadly for non-residents, institutions are required to perform more thorough verification and background check for new account holders. Exact details vary by institution.

With all that said - given you have dollar-denominated funds in a bank account - is this already being held by an institution in the US? That institution may be able to offer a higher-interest account option for your funds.
 
Re: Sterling savings? SShould i convert them to Euros now?

garythegreat said:
The other 3k should i leave it as sterling or move it into euros? Euros are my main currnecy, i have no plans to live in the UK again.
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You should repatriate it. You can’t ‘win’ on this due to purchasing power parity. Your 3 grand sterling will buy about the same amount of goods and services in IE as it will in the UK, once you take the exchange rate into account, due to purchasing power parity (any differences are explained by differences in taxes, etc.). Price differentials between countries are not sustainable in the long run as market forces equalise prices at the exchange rate, or change the exchange rate to do so.
 
Re: Sterling savings? SShould i convert them to Euros now?

So do yis reckon i should go repatriate it straight away ( like tomorrow) or does anyone know if the sterling is going to strengthen again/euro weaken over the next few weeks?

i was happy to leave it in the sterling accoutn as i was getting 6.5% intrest on it which i wouldnt get here.

Also, whats is the cheapest way to convert it?
 
Re: Sterling savings? SShould i convert them to Euros now?

Have just had a look at that. Seems a bit dodgy wiring that much money to a company and then waiting for them to wire it back to you in another account.

Would it be a worthwhile saving from just doing it with the banks?
 
Re: Sterling savings? SShould i convert them to Euros now?

Plus the value of the sterling is still getting worse everyday.

Dont know if its worth holding out or getting rid now.
 
Re: Sterling savings? SShould i convert them to Euros now?

garythegreat said:
Have just had a look at that. Seems a bit dodgy wiring that much money to a company and then waiting for them to wire it back to you in another account.
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There is nothing dodgy about XE/XETrade as far as I know. Google for reviews/testimonials if you are concerned.
 
Re: Sterling savings? SShould i convert them to Euros now?

[FONT=&quot]In your original post you said: [/FONT]
garythegreat said:
I plan on spending about 5k of the sterling on a car over the next few months.
Click to expand...

[FONT=&quot]This is the one area you can ‘win’, as there is no single market in cars and there is also market distortion due to VRT. So you should seriously consider buying a used car in the UK and importing it into IE. You will almost certainly make more savings by doing this than by trying to second-guess exchange rate movements. Also, note that you will need to comply with the new EU Third Money Laundering Directive if you repatriate EUR 15,000 or more.[/FONT]
 
Re: Sterling savings? SShould i convert them to Euros now?

Im going to use currency.ie or moneybooker.com (which is better?) to transfer all my sterling into Euro straight away. The wait a couple more months and hope the sterling keeps to devalue, then go over and buy a car in the UK. The sterling is dropping in value fairly rapid and i dont want to wait.

Would currency.ie (transfermate) or moneybooker.ie be better or much the same?
 
What rate are they offering? ie. how many euros will you get for your sterling?
I would be tempted to ask around a few fx companies to see which offers the best rate. You may have to register with them - but it usually costs nothing.
 
As of todays rates:

Xetrade: £8012 gets me 10645euros
Currency.ie: They will call me tomorrow to tell me what they can do.

Any other sites that do this? moneybooker have limits of £1k which is useless to me
 
Im using currency.ie but my Lloyds TSB account wont recognise their sort code?

keep getting the message:

Sorry we are unable to progress with your request

131220 - We cannot find the sort code you've entered in our list of Bank sort codes.

Please click the 'Back' button on your browser and check that you've entered the correct sort code.

If you are sure that the sort code is correct then please ask the person you are paying to check the sort code with their Bank.

Its the correct sort code as ive asked them again and im entering it correctly?
maybe this is a sign!
 
Rationalfx are maybe worth investigating. Give them a call and they will usually try and beat the quote you have got. Also, no commission or wire transfer fees,as far as I know, above £5000. Moneycorp may be worth trying aswell.
Ps Don't volunteer the fact that you have already had a quote, unless their rate comes in below 1.3286
 
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