# Transferring money from UK to Spain



## sueandjohn (Jun 1, 2016)

My husband and I are planning to sell our house in the UK and relocate to Coin in Spain using the proceeds. Could anyone advise us on how best and most economical way to manage the money – to get it from UK to Spain for the purchase. I believe if we left it in our UK bank we would pay a lot of commission?. Thank you, Sue and John


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## dmret (Mar 12, 2013)

HlFX money transfer.Offices in UK and Spain.There are others.


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## snikpoh (Nov 19, 2007)

sueandjohn said:


> My husband and I are planning to sell our house in the UK and relocate to Coin in Spain using the proceeds. Could anyone advise us on how best and most economical way to manage the money – to get it from UK to Spain for the purchase. I believe if we left it in our UK bank we would pay a lot of commission?. Thank you, Sue and John


:welcome:

If you need the money in Spain, to buy a property for example, then use a company like TransferWise or CurrencyFair.

If it's just for everyday expenses, then I would leave the bulk in UK and just bring over (like above) what you need 3 or 4 times a year.


Why do you think leaving money in UK will attract a lot of commission? You will possibly gain interest on it (which you won't in Spain) and certainly shouldn't have to pay commission or charges at all.


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## smitty5668 (Feb 25, 2015)

totally agree with the above. there are many transfer companies around , check which is the best one for you.


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## pepephil (Jun 2, 2016)

Hi have just transferred money across to spain to buy a house and used Currencies direct. They even set up a La Caixa bank account for me. Good rate too .5 below spot rate
head office in London 02078479414 currenciesdirect.com also they had a agreement with the bank to only charge 60 euros for the bankers draft to pay for the property at the notary
Hope this helps


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## 90199 (Mar 21, 2010)

I have just transferred a shed load of dosh, I use Smart Currency, no commission over 3000 GPB.


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## sueandjohn (Jun 1, 2016)

dmret said:


> HlFX money transfer.Offices in UK and Spain.There are others.


Thank you I will look into this company


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## sueandjohn (Jun 1, 2016)

snikpoh said:


> :welcome:
> 
> If you need the money in Spain, to buy a property for example, then use a company like TransferWise or CurrencyFair.
> 
> ...


Thank you for the advice I will look into TransferWise and CurrencyFair. This will be used to purchase the property in Spain. I note you advice on transferring little by little any savings we have till we want to use them. Do you know if we will be able to keep our UK bank accounts ponce we have relocated to Spain as we will not live in the UK? Thanks again for the advice


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## snikpoh (Nov 19, 2007)

sueandjohn said:


> Thank you for the advice I will look into TransferWise and CurrencyFair. This will be used to purchase the property in Spain. I note you advice on transferring little by little any savings we have till we want to use them. Do you know if we will be able to keep our UK bank accounts ponce we have relocated to Spain as we will not live in the UK? Thanks again for the advice


There are many banks that allow you to have a Spanish address whilst still keeping a UK account. I use Santander and Nationwide for example.

What you can't do (yet!) is to open a new account once you are here so make sure you keep any you already have.


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## sueandjohn (Jun 1, 2016)

Thanks for the information


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## Overandout (Nov 10, 2012)

snikpoh said:


> There are many banks that allow you to have a Spanish address whilst still keeping a UK account. I use Santander and Nationwide for example.
> 
> What you can't do (yet!) is to open a new account once you are here so make sure you keep any you already have.


Not entirely true.

I am currently opening a Barclays International account in the UK from here in Thailand (it can be doen from almost any country in the world). All above board and legit and I can even get the (paltry) interest paid tax free as a non-resident.

Whats more, there are no fees if you keep a minimum balance in the account and the bank charges for things like international transfers are no more expensive than any "normal" current account.

This is actually better than retaining a "normal" current account as very few of those will allow you to take tax free interest as non-residents.


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## sueandjohn (Jun 1, 2016)

Thanks. All interesting stuff and lots to think about


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## Dedaneen (Jul 6, 2013)

snikpoh said:


> What you can't do (yet!) is to open a new account once you are here so make sure you keep any you already have.


As on face value this dosnt make any sense to me so am I assuming correctly that you mean you cant open a BA back in UK once you move to Spain? :confused2:


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## snikpoh (Nov 19, 2007)

Dedaneen said:


> As on face value this dosnt make any sense to me so am I assuming correctly that you mean you cant open a BA back in UK once you move to Spain? :confused2:


Correct you can not open a UK account. Obviously, (@overandout) one can open offshore/international accounts but not a UK one.


What my statement meant was that, in theory, in September 2016 new legislation comes in whereby anyone can open a basic current account anywhere in Europe (with the obvious caveat about Brexit). So, someone living in Spain can open a basic account in UK. (take a look at the moneyadviceservice).


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