If you live in a foreign country or have assets abroad, it is likely that you will need to send money overseas, which often involves changing currency. Whether you need to send one or two large payments for purchasing a property, one lump sum after selling your property to move back home, or you want to move smaller amounts regularly to cover your living costs abroad, making money transfers from a bank in one country to another overseas isn’t easy. By not using a currency exchange company you could lose money. To avoid losing money due to currency fluctuations, Spanish Solutions recommends working with a currency specialist.
The international money transfer process in detail…
The standard procedure for sending money to or from the UK is to use a high street bank, generally by doing a direct bank transfer from one account to another. During this process, there are three main areas where clients are losing money. They include getting poor exchange rates, paying unnecessary fees and finally failing to order currency at a good rate now for purchase in the future. Let’s look at each one of these individually.
Poor Exchange Rates
Similar to buying produce in a tourist location overseas rather than a village shop, buying currency from a bank is more expensive than buying it from a currency specialist. You wouldn’t buy vegetables in one shop if you knew that you could save £5 by getting them elsewhere! The issue with currency is that you won’t simply save £5 – you could save thousands by shopping around.
Paying Unnecessary Fees
Everyone knows that the banks like to charge fees – with overseas banks you may get charged for withdrawing money or writing a cheque. Many banks even charge when you deposit money. Again, by using a specialist currency company, fees can be eliminated or reduced. Many expats move their pensions from the UK abroad every month or quarterly. Fees in the UK can amount to £25 for each transfer and that fee can certainly add up over the course of a year. Why pay that fee if you don’t have to?
Order Currency Now for Later
This particular service – called a forward contract – can greatly assist people who need to send money abroad. Imagine knowing that you want to eventually move the proceeds of your house sale overseas. Then imagine that while the sale is going through, the value of your currency versus the Euro, or vice versa, is not going in your favour. Situations like this happen often and people watch the value of their funds decrease day after day.
Transferring money internationally is not a difficult process. However, there are alternatives to the bank that could save you thousands on your transfers. Currency specialists are regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, registered as a legal company and are backed by a bank or banks. Currency specialists buy large quantities of currency, and so they are able to pass these savings on to clients which are something that the banks fail to do.
If you would like more information, simply let us know what your currency requirement is and we will suggest a trusted currency exchange company.