Transfering funds out of France

[ausibattler]

There are many posts offering advice on transfering funds into France for house purchase etc.

 Having sold our French property we are facing the task of tranfering funds out of France to our overseas account.

What has been the experience of others before us and what advice is offered?

In particular how do French Banks respond to an international transfer of a large amount?

Are there currence exchange agencys that will handle such transfers? 

How do you establish a fair exchange rate?

What Bank charges are to be expected?

We are struggling to find sound advice on how to proceed..

Thank you. 

[cooperlola]

I'm possibly wrong but I would have thought that any company which transfers £s to €s should be happy enough to do the same in reverse.  Why not ask HIFX/Currencies4Less etc if they do it backwards?  Then your bank here (which would probably charge some innordinate amount if they did this themselves) will only see a large withdrawal, which probably won't incur the massive charges French banks are prone to.  Just a thought.

[ausibattler]

Thanks for the info Cooperlola,

I guess currency transfer agencies will have a Euro account into which we can deposit a normal Euro cheque rather than a Bank cheque,which no doubt will cost and raise eyebrows?-

we will contact an agency.

regards

 

[Mayennaise]

We transferred a largish amount from our french bank to a currency exchange company in the UK only this week. The company have a euro holding account to receive the funds and they then convert it to sterling (at the agreed rate) and forwarded it on to our UK bank account. Our french bank only charged us 2 euros 20 to send the money electronically. Feel free to PM me if you would like the name of the company.  Have used them several times in the past as well.

[ausibattler]

Thank you, have sent you a PM.

Regards

[ausibattler]

Hi,

We have just transfered a large sum of Euro through a currency trader.

The French Bank charged us 1% of the sum for the electronic transfer and upon querying the amount indidcated this was quite cheap!!!!

Which bank charged only 2.20 Euro?

[andyh4]

For small(?) sums up to 50k bank transfer may well be the best way and it will just cost a few euro depending on which bank you are with (1,5-3,5).  Over that and the money laundering rules come into play and it is a whole new poele des poissons. 

[parsnips]

Following extract from Crédit Agricole Charente-Maritime - Deux Sevres:

Outgoing:

 

Virement SEPA or" Europe" in € less than 50000€---------3.70€

Virement SEPA                    in € more than 50000€--------17.00€

Virement "Europe"                 in € more than 50000€--------0.12% (min 17)      

A "SEPA" virement (transfer) can be made in € to all 27 EU countries including the UK.   It follows from the figures that it is cheaper to use a "Europe" transfer for up to 50000€ and a "SEPA" transfer for amounts over 50000€. For ,say, 150000€, you could of course make three  "Europe" transfers of 50000€ each over a period.                                

[Chancer]

I bet that even when you are paying 0.12% or 1% as one poster did you still get royally rogered on the exchange rate.

[ausibattler]

Not quite JR as the transfer rate had been fixed(agreed) with the Currency Transfer company.

My 'beef' is the cost charged by CA for the electronic transfer to the Currency Transfer's Euro bank account (1% of the amount). Since when is the cost to transfer a percentage of the amount?

This was not the case when the amount was electronically transfered into France.

[mint]

That's French banks for you.

It's cost me €9 to set up a dd with CA.

All robbers!

1% is disgraceful; could you not go and protest (not that I think it'll do your cause much good)?

[allanb]

[quote user="ausibattler"]Since when is the cost to transfer a percentage of the amount?[/quote]

It's not unusual, but 1% seems high.

For comparison, the Banque Postale's current charges are:

- for a transfer in euros within the SEPA, either zero or €3,15 depending on how it's done;

- for a transfer outside the SEPA, or in a foreign currency within it, 0.1% of the amount but with a minimum of €12,70 and a maximum of €70.

[andyh4]

I am surprised by 1%.  I too bank with CA - Alsace Vosges - and as it happens they have just reissued their charges and I checked last night their charge is 1 (followed by a percentage sign plus and extra 0) - sorry do not have it on my computer.  This is 1 per 1000 or 0.1% for virements over 50k.

So one tenth of what you are quoting