# Currency Exchange



## Issi (Nov 20, 2011)

There are so many companies offering services for currency exchange, it is difficult to know who to choose. Can any of you offer advise? Who is reputable etc?? Or your positive experiences with a specific company.
Thank you.


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## xicoalc (Apr 20, 2010)

I think rates are almost the same with most of them but I have always used World First and found their customer service outstanding and their rates great. They have always dealt with transfers fast and sometimes even the same day. Very professional people. The guy I have used is called James but I am sure they are all equally as good there.


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## carlnotts (Sep 13, 2012)

Issi said:


> There are so many companies offering services for currency exchange, it is difficult to know who to choose. Can any of you offer advise? Who is reputable etc?? Or your positive experiences with a specific company.
> Thank you.


We recently used smart currency to exchange over £130,000 GBP to purchase a property, with the speed at which things moved we didn't get our Spanish bank account set up in time so they held the money in their client account for a few days until we got things sorted, found them to be very helpful and polite when dealing with them they also explained all options available to ensure getting the best rate, which isn't that hot at the minute, we got something like 1.23 euro to the £ this was in November 2012. Have also used FairFX who were good, there are others of course, put "currency exchange company reviews" into google and see what it brings back.

Sent from my iPad using ExpatForum


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## Issi (Nov 20, 2011)

steve_in_spain said:


> I think rates are almost the same with most of them but I have always used World First and found their customer service outstanding and their rates great. They have always dealt with transfers fast and sometimes even the same day. Very professional people. The guy I have used is called James but I am sure they are all equally as good there.


Thank you Steve, I will look at them.


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## Issi (Nov 20, 2011)

carlnotts said:


> We recently used smart currency to exchange over £130,000 GBP to purchase a property, with the speed at which things moved we didn't get our Spanish bank account set up in time so they held the money in their client account for a few days until we got things sorted, found them to be very helpful and polite when dealing with them they also explained all options available to ensure getting the best rate, which isn't that hot at the minute, we got something like 1.23 euro to the £ this was in November 2012. Have also used FairFX who were good, there are others of course, put "currency exchange company reviews" into google and see what it brings back.
> 
> Sent from my iPad using ExpatForum


Thank you for your advise, I will look at Google.


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## baldilocks (Mar 7, 2010)

Much depends on whether you want to move money as a one-off or a regular transfer. Often the high-street banks can be quite good, especially if you have banked with them for some time and you can bargain with them. For regular transfers, it is hit and miss whether to get a guaranteed rate for a year then find that the rate has improved beyond what you are getting or take a chance. I used to transfer a amall amount monthly but then decided to leave it in an account in UK to make purchases from the likes of Amazon of things I couldn't get easily in Spain and with the option of free delivery by courier within a couple of days, I find that this gives me as good a return as I might get anywhere.


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## Issi (Nov 20, 2011)

baldilocks said:


> Much depends on whether you want to move money as a one-off or a regular transfer. Often the high-street banks can be quite good, especially if you have banked with them for some time and you can bargain with them. For regular transfers, it is hit and miss whether to get a guaranteed rate for a year then find that the rate has improved beyond what you are getting or take a chance. I used to transfer a amall amount monthly but then decided to leave it in an account in UK to make purchases from the likes of Amazon of things I couldn't get easily in Spain and with the option of free delivery by courier within a couple of days, I find that this gives me as good a return as I might get anywhere.


Thank you for the information. I will be sending money to the UK from Australia, to what ever currency company I select, and then to Spain to my Spanish account. Unfortunately I dont have the advantage of dealing with "high-street" banks in the UK, and in Australia they are not so good!
I am still in Australia and planning to move to my house in Martos in a couple of months.


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

Issi said:


> Thank you for the information. I will be sending money to the UK from Australia, to what ever currency company I select, and then to Spain to my Spanish account. Unfortunately I dont have the advantage of dealing with "high-street" banks in the UK, and in Australia they are not so good!
> I am still in Australia and planning to move to my house in Martos in a couple of months.


why not directly to Spain :confused2:


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## Issi (Nov 20, 2011)

xabiachica said:


> why not directly to Spain :confused2:


I can send the money to London in AUD and have it convereted to Euros at a much higher exchange rate, without the associated costs charged by Australian banks, and without the much lower exchange rates. eg. Yesterday the AUD was .7988 in London and .7458 here????
The funds once convered are then sent to Spain.


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## Turtles (Jan 9, 2011)

I can recommend CurrencyFair as a good way to cut out the middlemen and save lots. It works best if you are patient, but you can deal straight away if in a hurry.


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## 90199 (Mar 21, 2010)

I also use Smart Currency Exchange, I cannot fault them.


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## casa99 (Oct 19, 2010)

I use World First and have been with them for just over a year now, I have a regular monthly sum sent from the u.k. to my spanish bank , I usually get 3 euros above tourist rate and there are no charges for sending or receiving the money and the money is in my account the same day .


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## jp1 (Jun 11, 2011)

I have to also recommend CurrencyFair - Peer to Peer Foreign Exchange | CurrencyFair

In my opinion this is the future for currency tx. If you don't know the concept have a read of the website, it's peer to peer exchange which means that you are exchanging with someone who wants your currency not the bank. This means you get effectively the bank rate of the day. You really can't get a higher FX rate.

Carl says he made a FX trade in November and he got 1.23. This would have been the bank rate minus the commission of the banks involved, because it was a large amount. I also made a trade the first day of November and I got a rate of 1.233 with currencyfair. BUT I only exchanged £1500, you would have got nowhere near this rate with a FX trader. Also the FX rate rose after I transferred for the next 2 weeks of November before dropping towards the value at the start of the month. So if Carl traded sometime in those first 2 weeks I beat his rate even more as he was trading when the bank rate was higher.

I have made 8 transfers with currency fair and the funds were in my Spanish account the next working day and on one occasion the same day.


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## jp1 (Jun 11, 2011)

Edited to add..

My exchange rate was 1.2346 not 1.233


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## Issi (Nov 20, 2011)

Thank you, I will check them out


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