# Banking advice - moving UK to Germany



## Cuttlefish (Nov 19, 2016)

We're looking for advice on how to bring money across when moving to another country (in our case Germany but I guess this is the same across Europe) permanently. We can't open an account in the country we are moving to until we are fully registered - a lot of advice sites are quite out of date due to Brexit inconsistencies.

My assumption is that we need to keep our UK accounts open, wait until we're fully registered and then use something (wise.com ?) to transfer the funds across, perhaps use a preloaded EUR currency card until that point. Have I missed something obvious? I am worried that there is some kind of "in person" requirement for banks when the amount involved is quite large.


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## Bevdeforges (Nov 16, 2007)

It depends a bit on how much is a "large amount" for your purposes. But if Wise can't or won't handle the sums for you, you can look into one of the FX companies that claim to be able to make transfers at lower rates than the banks. 

Take a look at this site: Best International Payment - Send Payments Internationally
It's a commercial site, but they do seem to have reviews and comparison detail on most (if not all) of the main money exchange and transfer companies and they do seem to keep the information reasonably up to date. (No small trick these days when conditions are changing so quickly.)


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## *Sunshine* (Mar 13, 2016)

Cuttlefish said:


> We're looking for advice on how to bring money across when moving to another country (in our case Germany but I guess this is the same across Europe) permanently. We can't open an account in the country we are moving to until we are fully registered - a lot of advice sites are quite out of date due to Brexit inconsistencies.
> 
> My assumption is that we need to keep our UK accounts open


Every time you convert funds you'll lose something on the exchange and as long as you are not planning on currency speculation, you might want to hold off on making huge transfers until you're sure that you actually like living here. 

You might want to also consider keeping at least one bank account open in the UK.


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## Cuttlefish (Nov 19, 2016)

Thanks both - sorry it's been a while since I checked in but we've finally got a move date (start of March) so now I'm back and focused on things. Will keep a UK account open for sure and maybe hold back on the funds to consolidate at one point for a larger transaction.


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## BraveHorse (Jan 22, 2018)

If your UK bank allows it, you may get a dual currency account (£ and €), convert some £ into € at your bank, and then you should be able to use your UK account in the EU with no fees.


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## Bevdeforges (Nov 16, 2007)

BraveHorse said:


> then you should be able to use your UK account in the EU with no fees.


That used to be the case for making SEPA transfers, however since Brexit finalized it may not be possible to use a UK account in France for standing order type payments or for things like rent or tax and other administrative payments unless the IBAN has a French prefix.


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