Sterling to Euro - Is Cheque or EFT better?

L

Lionheart

Registered User
Messages
10
I have a sterling life policy which is about to mature. I can either receive the money by cheque or by way of electronic transfer directly into my irish bank account. I will obviously be hit with a currency exchange fee and possibly a low exchange rate.

The figure involved is more than 10k sterling.

I have sent off a letter, telling the Life Company to transfer the money by electronic transfer.

However, I'm having second thoughts and wondering if it would it better for me to receive a cheque and shop around for the best exchange rate?
 
Last edited:
Lionheart said:
However, I'm having second thoughts and wondering if it would it better for me to receive a cheque and shop around for the best exchange rate?
Click to expand...

AFAIK no bank will cash the cheque for you directly ie you will need to lodge it in an account - so even if a bank other than your own offers a better rate it's of little use to you unless you open an account there.
 
Definitely shop around for currency conversion rates for such a large sum.

Depending on your goals for the money , one way to end up with Euro in the end (if you want to invest it after its converted into euro anyway) is you could buy an Irish/euro (paying dividends in euro) based company listed on the FTSE using a cheap UK stockbroker like sharewatch and sell it for euro at your leisure.
All at your own risk of course:D
 
Interesting idea Sign :)


Personally, if I wanted the funds fairly quickly, I'd take bank transfer - you don't have to wait 10 days plus, for the cheque to clear etc.

Does the Life Company charge for a bank transfer ? ... if so, it's probably about 20-25 quid which will dilute any benifit on a FX rate you might get if transferrring ... although you do get the benifit of being able to specify exactly where the Life Co sends it, so as to deal with whichever bank you like etc.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top