Transferring money to UK account... Best deal?

JohnCleary

Hi guys,
Sorry if this is in the wrong forum, but it's the closest I could find

I'm buying something new (I know the company etc. so no worry of fraud) from the UK and since im travelling over to the UK a bank transfer is going to be the only option

Where can I get the best deal to transfer Euro to Sterling?
Someone told me about XE's service: http://www.xe.com/fx/?AdTracking=http://www.xe.com/&menu

Has anyone used this? Or can anyone recommend me something similar where i'll get a good/better deal?

Many thanks

MayoForSam

If you're doing a bank transfer, then you have to use a high street bank (BOI, AIB, etc.), do you have an account here, probably get the best deal from your own bank if you do?

I wouldn't take XE's rates as gospel, good for an indicative value only.

Do you mind telling us is it a large amount, what's the item? A sterling draft might be another option.

JohnCleary

Yeah I have a BOI account - i'm going to check during the week what their prices are

A bank draft is an option yes. I normally use Bank Drafts as I physicially go over and pick the machine up myself, but this time i'm having it delivered (First time ever buying one new so I don't need to inspect before purchase)

It's not mega bucks, but it's not the amount i'd like to lose or anything.. and no it's not a car

I think i'll go with a normal bank transfer tbh, that XE.com money transfer is a pain in the hole to set up

nava

With AIB you can transfer money online, BOI might have similar option, so you won't need to go out, I think that you can also select the currency for the pyment so you don't need to worry about exchange rates and making sure that they get the exact money and they don't loose on the currency exchange.

quinnray

For small amounts of money you won't get a 'good' deal (close to market rate)
For large amounts of money you can - I used fxsolutions.co.uk in the past.

You can do a thing called a "forward" where you can tell em I'll transfer x thousand EUR
at todays rate, but won't do it until next summer.
Handy if a currency is weak such as GBP at the mo.
They need 10% upfront for this.

RSF76

I am wanting to send around €5K back to a bank account in the UK. One of the websites mentioned below "xe.com" says that if you are sending money from one account to another, both accounts must be in the same currency ! This can't be the case.

You say you used fxsolutions in the past, would you recommend using them. And is there alot of hassle setting up the transfer ?

I really do grudge the way the banks makes so much money over a tranfer of our own money ! Please help