exchanging money

[LarryandCally]

Hi all.
We have just joined this forum and hopefully by Xmas will have completed on our French property.
I would like to ask,, is there anyone who could advise us on the best way to get our money which we will be receiving on Monday by cheque across to France and converted into euros in the cheapest way.
We have opened a French bank account, so would it be best to literally take it and bank it in France or bank it in Uk and then transfer it? Any help would be appreciated.

Many thanks
Larry&callie

[ckenway]

I looked for companies on the internet then phoned and 'grilled' them. I am very sceptical about money changers, perhaps the bit about Jesus throwing them out the temple comes to mind though I am not of the religious type. Anyway, the best of the motley bunch seemed to be currency4less. I move hundreds of thousands of pounds through them, we agreed a spot rate, which I think is the best way and did the transaction. It took about one hour with them and about 3 days in total from the money going from my UK bank to my French bank. They did exactly what I wanted, when I wanted and quite efficiently. I am sure however that somebody somewhere has had a bad experience with them but I thought they were OK.

Chris

[Baz]

Just put "Money Exchange" into search, there are masses of replies and suggestions.

Good luck with your French home.

Baz

[Diana]

Larry and Callie
I have used currencis4less.com they offer a good rate of exchange. Basicly you send them a cheque in Sterling and they do a bank transfer to any bank of your choice in Euros. The only time delay is the lenght of time it takes for your sterling cheque to clear and about 24 hours for the euro bank to receive the payment. I have no vested interest in them, only they gave me a good and efficient service.

Diana

[LarryandCally]

Thanks Diana & ckenway. I have registered with them and given them my requirements,,,

Thanks JeanClaude. I have taken on board the interest thing, as I didnt know that. unfortunately callie is a bit worried that the pound might suddenly drop and we are trying to complete as soon as poss, so I think straight away might be the only way .


I also wandered round 3 banks today and got quoted by all at 1.563 when www.hifx.co.uk was quoting ASK price at 1.577. this sounded good to me but would welcome anyone telling me its crap.

Thanks for the help, if this forum is as good as it appears I will becoming a regular in the next ? years

[rpal]

Haven't been here for some time, but would like to post info about the solution I have found, even though the thread is a little old. Have a look at www.xe.com/fx/ --and check out their on-line demo at https://www.xe.com/fx/demo.htm

This is a Canadian company. They can exchange practically any currency and transfer it anywhere. They tell me they can even transfer from my Russian wife's Ruble account in St. Petersburg to our daughter's account in Strasbourg. I admit we didn't try that yet but from our US account to Credit Agricole it's just been duck soup. They have no minimum order, and the rates are the best I've found. You do pay a wire transfer fee if you opt to have onrward payments done by wire (you can opt for bank draft but it takes longer).

You can set up an account online at no charge. Within your XE account, you set up (via the Web + some faxed signature forms) direct debit authorization for the bank account(s) you want to use to when selling currency, and also the account(s) to receive the onward payment of converted currency. You can place orders, track the progress, and view your history via the Web. They have really solved a lot of problems for us!