tom.daniel

There will be 2 costs involved when sending money abroad monthly: 1)the charge ie £10 fomr the bank or 'free' from some brokers 2) The exchaneg rate. This is the hidden cost and how all brokers and bank make their money on foreign exchange. You should find that a broker is still cheaper as the chances are you bank will give you a worse rate than you broker but still charge you a fee as well

Baypond spot on. I think alot of people confuse a forward price for a futures price.

[quote user="Rob G"]Tom, thanks for your comment about your brokers. I have sent you a PM. Rob [/quote] R=ob sorry for the late response, just PMd you

Timescale wise your notaire should be able to send funds straight to your broker, when it hits ther account you will be able to release the Sterling same day. I know when my broker sends sterling to my UK it is cleared and ready to use same day. This should allow you to complete on you UK house in time Rate wise the pound should have further to fall given that we have broken through 0.90. As the previous poster said there shouldnt be too much difference oin spot and forward rates

Its all to do with Lloyds I belive, i got a similiar report fomr my FX Broker this morning

I think it could be a long road back to 1.18, some 'experts' are mentioning the 0.90 level again (EURGBP) which is 1.1111

see below, explains alot http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKLQ20293120090826

[quote user="Sprogster"]What is under pinning the euro to a large extent is the carry trade, whereby currency traders borrow in sterling which has a lower base rate of 0.5%, convert the funds to euros and place them on overnight at a higher interest rate, as the ECB base rate is 1%. Not a great return for the man on the street, but when you are trading muilti millions a nice little earner. Historically, the UK has had a higher base rate than the the eurozone and at some point in the future, that position is likely to resume, as the BofE is likely to have to raise interest faster to choke off inflation. However, this is not likely to happen anytime soon.[/quote] The carry trade doesn't really effect GBPEUR, it is mostly YEn to AUD/NZD. The move yesterday was due to stronger figures from the eurozone and more worries about the UK economy compared to thse of France and Germany

agreed

[quote user="Chris C"]I have around 75k in Euros that I need to convert to sterling - anybody wanna do a deal? Apologies if this is the wrong place to post[/quote] Im not sure how much joy you'll have posting that on a forum! you are best using a Currency broker, they will give you a rate pretty close to the market, feel free to PM for a recommendation

another issue is the fact that the UK isnt really an export based economy, . It might have the reverse effect of causing inflation as prices are being driven up by higher costs of production, as we have alot more importers than exporters

well said. The only advice i would ever give is that it depends on your budget. If you can't afford for it to go down, pre fix your rate in advance, don't jeapodise your purchase waiting for it to go up!

This has shocked me, esecially with much better fugures coming trough recently about the economy! Now worried i was greedy and missed the boat at 1.18

i wouldnt hold you breath for 1.30, im pretty hopeful of 1.20 in a few months, but i need to send some money, so maybe wishful thinking!!

I agree, spot has'nt been above 1.1580 all day!! MPC minutesbetter than expected

[quote user="Benjamin"]Sterling crisis? Interest rates may ultimately have to rise? http://www.citywire.co.uk/personal/-/news/markets-companies-and-funds/content.aspx?ID=350387&re=6256&ea=161021 [/quote] That sounds like a bit of scaremongering to me really! we have know for a long time that UK public sector finances are in a bit of a mess, this isnt new news!

thanks grecian, they seem pretty good compared to alot of others, i might take a look, but at the moment Cornhill make it so easy as they have my french details templated so one phonecall and it is all done, no need to fill out forms, also as i have used them for a while my dealer knows me by name they give me a pretty standard 50 tics on about £10k which i struggle to find elsewhere. However, as an online option 4x Currency Corp do sound very competitive

most companies should be able to open an account even if you are abroad and in my experience i have never had to send a certified copy, just a normal copy do 4X Currency Corporation allow you to do same day settlement as well, or is it standard 2 day and what sort of spread do they charge?

[quote user="P2"][quote user="tom.daniel"]I think the pre load cards are quite useful, as you can load up when the rate is good, rather than getting a diffrent rate everytime that you withdraw. More and more exchange companies are starting to launch the same thing[/quote] Good business for them - they have any unspent money sitting there on which they can earn interest. Still prefer Nationwides FlexAccount Paul [/quote] That fairly cynical Paul, i dont think the volumes that most tourists put on their cards are invested by exchange companies, we arent talking millions of pounds here! If you have funds in your Flex account what do you think Nationwide do with your funds, interest rates are hardly huge on current account! I still think cards such as Fair FX are pretty useful

In that case it sounds like Institut Francais is the way to go to tick all the boxes!!!

Tony, i have only sent funds out to France, but i have know a couple of people that have sold and the process is just the same, any broker should be able to do it at a much better rate than you bank, the people i know got the notaire to pay it stright into their brokers account, but that is up to you, you might want it to your account first, then you transfer it to your broker yourself. Have you spoken to any brokers yet, i can recommend speaking to Cornhill FX, I switched to them recently and they always let me know what is happenign in the market, funds always get to me same day and the rate is always strong. As I and a few others have mentioned before it is worth speaking to a couple of brokers to make sure you are getting the best deal!!! GOOD LUCK

Its all from the UK GDP surprising the market, the thing to remember is that the market moves quickly when it is surprised, which we saw yesterday, it is below 1.17 this morning, but the important thing is that it is still in the same trading range, holding above 1.1650

thankyou daft doctor for some sense There is ne real t'true value' for the pound against the Euro, and if there is it isnt above 1.50 or below parity. As you said the pound was being sold stupidly around xmas and still didnt make it. I had a report form my broker this morning saying the same thinga about the current range of 1.1650/1.1850, heading towards 1.20. I think it is safe to say thta we have seen a bottom in place, but the days of 1.30+ are still a VERY long way away im afraid

I think the pre load cards are quite useful, as you can load up when the rate is good, rather than getting a diffrent rate everytime that you withdraw. More and more exchange companies are starting to launch the same thing

not surprising that they have made a U turn, so many people hold nationwide accounts because of the lack or exchange fees, they would be losing their competetive advantage