Key Post The best way to transfer large amounts in euro to and from other currencies

Brendan Burgess

Brendan Burgess

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53,718
Updated July 2014

The best way to do this is to use one of the money exchange services as they give rates better than the banks. (However, Chillaxed is getting better rates from Bank of Ireland on large regular transactions, around $500,000 a year)

You can ring around a few of them and open an account with the one which offers you the best price.

Don't get scammed
There is a risk in transferring money to a company you have never heard of, no matter how official looking the website. It's probably best to use one mentioned in this thread or one based on a personal recommendation.


Are they safe?
Probably.

  • They are regulated by either the Central Bank or its equivalent in another country.
  • They keep your money for only a few hours before sending it on
  • Your money should be kept in a separate client account just in case the company folded in the few hours while they had your money
Do you know someone in the other country who wants euro?

For example, if you have to make regular payments to your daughter who is at college in the UK, can you find someone in the UK with a child studying in Ireland? Cut out the bank completely.
 
Updated by Brendan June 2018

Recommendation : www.currencyfair.com
Having initially used Transfermate, they became ridiculously bureaucratic, making it almost impossible to transfer money. User Palerider had the same experience saying: "I found Transfermate only stopped short of a blood test with several additional supporting docs required before they would initiate the transfer."

We both switched to https://www.currencyfair.com/

and found them excellent - efficient and good rates. All done online, efficiently and cheaply.

Users Ravima, millieforbes and Daddy have also used them.


List of companies mentioned in this thread


Transfermate
InterPay Ltd t/a TransferMate - Authorised by the Central Bank of Ireland to provide Payment Services within the 27 member states of the European Union pursuant to Regulation 18 of the European Communities (Payment Services) Regulations 2009.

Used by: Brendan Burgess; Ccraig; gnf Ireland; mccaul


As mentioned above, I have stopped using them due to their ridiculous interpretation of Anti Money Laundering requirements making it very difficult and slow and time consuming to do business.

- Used by Gervan; Don08



www.worldfirst.com Used by billb

[broken link removed] Used by billb
TTT Moneycorp Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority for the provision of payment services.
The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) Special Opportunities Fund is the sole institutional investor in the Group, with a total shareholding of 99.9%.

Xetrade Used by Sylvester3

If you are buying and selling foreign shares, you should probably choose a stockbroker who gives you a good rate
Marathonic recommends https://www.interactivebrokers.com/mobile/index.php
 
Last edited:
I've used Transferwise twice now. They match people transferring from euro to sterling with reverse transfers, and get much the same rate as xe.com. (You) have to transfer from a bank in (your) name to their holding bank, so it can take a couple of days, in which time the rate can change, of course, but (you) can set a lowest acceptable exchange rate.
They charge €1 per transfer, limit being €10,000 per day. My first transfer kept on being rejected by the receiving bank, but Transferwise kept at it, and liaised with me till we got the money into the bank eventually, so it wasn't their fault.
I think NIB seem to have particularly poor exchange rates.
I'd say monthly transfers would be preferable, as if a large amount went through, then the rate changed favourably, there'd be some regrets.
No connection to Transferwise.
 
I regularly swap sterling for euro using Transfermate and have had no issues at all. Because of the frequency I use the service, they do not charge any commission or charges per se, just the small margin on the exchange rate. I normally get around 1 cent below official rates.

For example, this morning the exchange rate (in real time based on the FT) is around 1.152 cents to the pound and I got 1.1406. They also allow me to book a rate up to 2 weeks in advance, should I choose to do so.

PM me if you would like contact details for my contact
 
Hi brendan - I use transfermate for all foreign payments. They are quick, 0.40% off market rate (rate updated every few seconds) and once my money is received it is transferred on a same day basis into the supplier account.

AFAIK they are regulated by Irish central bank and they are based on college green
 
I have been using a company called WorldFirst for a long time to transfer sterling from my UK bank account to PTSB. There are no transfer fees and many ways to do transfers. Initially when I moved to Ireland and still had salary paid in UK then I just set up a regular transfer for a fixed amount and got the prevailing rate (which was very competitive compared to other companies).
More lately they have an online system where you can query the rate and make a transfer yourself when the rate is good. When I make a transfer I transfer money from my UK account to a Barclays holding account and then it is transferred on an agreed date to my Irish account
Is it safe ?? Well it has always worked seamlessly for me
 
Brendan Burgess said:
Hi Bill

Interesting information generally, but the last sentence is worrying. Something isn't safe because it has worked well for the last few years.

What we need to know is what happens if the company gets into financial difficulty. Is your money in a separate account? Is there a guarantee system in place?
Click to expand...

Hi Brendan

If you check the website www.worldfirst.com then there is a whole section on security explaining how customers are protected, a part of it is copied below.... I have also used another company called MoneyCorp who were also excellent but I found the WorldFirst rates and regular payment facilities to be better in my personal opinion. I understand that both companies are regulated by the UK Financial Services Authority but I don't know whether that actually means much as I assume that Northern Rock and RBS were also regulated by the FSA. The most important thing is that both companies keep your money in separate accounts so I believe that if they go bust then your money is ring fenced.

"World First UK Limited is a UK registered company - our company number is 05022388. You can look this up on the Companies House website.World First UK Limited is authorised by the Financial Services Authority ("FSA") as a Payment Institution under the Payment Services Regulations 2009. Our Firm Reference number is 502759. You can look this up on the [broken link removed].
The Payment Services Regulations 2009 stipulate that all funds held in such accounts cannot be claimed be creditors. All funds sent to us are held in segregated accounts that are only used for client transactions and are independent of World First‘s business accounts. No lien is held over funds in these accounts.
We are also regulated by HM Revenue & Customs as a Money Services Business in relation to the execution of spot and forward foreign exchange transactions. Our Registration Number is 12164508. You can look this up on the HMRC website (you will need to enter our postcode - it's SW11 3RB). As a Money Services Business we follow a strict code which incorporates all the requirements of the 2007 Money Laundering Regulations and other legislation. We maintain best-in-class compliance procedures including strict security, documentation and audit processes."
 
transfermate don't charge transfer fees if the transfer is big enough, rates are better than the banks but call the banks anyway to make sure
 
If you are doing regular large transactions then your bank might be best bet. Bank of Ireland charge me something like 0.3%, which is better than anybody else could offer, but its large regular transactions.
 
sahd said:
But- they are also making money on the bad exchange rate they give you. You will nearly always get better rates elsewhere. Don't just look at the % fees - look at the total amount you end up with after the exchange.
Click to expand...

Incorrect, if the rate quoted on Bloomberg is say, $1.381, bank of Ireland give $1.377 for your euro, better than transfermate etc.
 
chillaxed said:
Incorrect, if the rate quoted on Bloomberg is say, $1.381, bank of Ireland give $1.377 for your euro, better than transfermate etc.
Click to expand...


That looks reasonably good. It is still nowhere near as good as what Interactive Brokers offer though.

If the quote is $1.3812, the worst I have ever seen is $1.3811. There's a $2 commission in addition to the spread.

Also, bear in mind that there's a $10 minimum monthly commission - but the company is primarily a stockbroker so you can make a combination of forex and stock trades while keeping below this minimum - US stock trades normally cost $1 whilst European ones are €4.
 
sahd said:
When you say large transactions - what size? Thousands, tens of thousands or hundreds of thouisands?
Click to expand...


I suppose ballpark $500000 over 12 months, varying from 6 to 60k, you ring the dealer desk for a quote and they have an agreed margin with you on your account.
 
marathonic said:
That looks reasonably good. It is still nowhere near as good as what Interactive Brokers offer though.

If the quote is $1.3812, the worst I have ever seen is $1.3811. There's a $2 commission in addition to the spread.

Also, bear in mind that there's a $10 minimum monthly commission - but the company is primarily a stockbroker so you can make a combination of forex and stock trades while keeping below this minimum - US stock trades normally cost $1 whilst European ones are €4.
Click to expand...

That sounds exceptionally good, do you have a link to ther website please?
 
https://www.interactivebrokers.com/mobile/index.php

The link is above. You maintain balances in the various currencies within the account and transfer between them as desired. You can withdraw in all the major currencies as well. For transferring the money to the account, they have a Euro account you can transfer to via SEPA, a Sydney account for AUD, a London account for GBP and so on.

I use it mainly to transfer between Euros and sterling but family members occasionally lodge dollars to the Sydney account to send money home. When the AUD appear in my account, I transfer it to Euro and withdraw it to their Irish bank accounts.
 
They don't publish their margin, but here are today's rates:

Transfermate's rates today for selling £10,000 : 1.2274
Rate for buying sterling .7942

So for £10,000 I will get €12,274 (€12,262.47 after charges)
If I buy €12,274, I will get £9,748

That's about 2.5% for the round trip.

I rang AIB for comparison purposes
After going through quite a few options, I got a call centre operator who took some time to understand what I wanted to do.
Their rate for converting sterling today is .8179 with a €6.35 fee, so I would get €12,220.88 today. So I have got €40 more through Transfermate.

You can ring around and get quotes
It was a waste of time ringing AIB. I waited too long. They didn't know what they were at. And anyway, I wouldn't have got that day's rate.
But I could ring a couple of the others and if their rates are better than transfermate , I could open an account with them.

Anyone want to do a bit of mystery shopping and report the rates for a few of them?
 
Brendan Burgess said:
None of the sites could tell me how much a transfer would cost
Click to expand...
Brendan Burgess said:
They don't publish their margin
Click to expand...

I was trying to help someone out recently with a UK car purchase. Had read good feedback on transfermate here and elsewhere in the past so I encouraged them to consider this option.

They subsequently went with this option but in terms of comparison, it was quite difficult. They could only confirm the rate on the day.

With that, it's difficult to work out how this would have faired against similar services to transfermate, then with bringing GB£ over having accessed fx in an irish bank, and with using a credit card. The final two options would have been to use a bank draft or carry out an fx from euro to GBP at a UK bank.


Is there a straightforward way of making this comparison in real time......somewhere online?
 
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