Paying large sums in Foreign Currency

Crey86

Hi there,

I'm going to be doing some pretty expensive training in Sweden over the next few months. The basic course alone costs ~200,000 SEK, 23,000 EUR as per the market rates. If I check BOI rates however, it's looking like costing an extra 1300Euro on top of the market rate.

I know with larger sums, they'll do a bit of negotiating, but I'm can anyone advise the best way to pay my fees, with the least cost.

I had planned to front load a credit card, which could still be the cheapest, but I want to explore my options before I pay out.

Is there any possibility to negotiate a better rate using your credit card? This would be ideal, because I'll probably use it for my day to day living also.

If it helps, I'll be paying the basic sum in either 2 or 4 payments.

Thanks very much for your help.

Crey86

Rightwing

Crey86 wrote: »

Hi there,

I'm going to be doing some pretty expensive training in Sweden over the next few months. The basic course alone costs ~200,000 SEK, 23,000 EUR as per the market rates. If I check BOI rates however, it's looking like costing an extra 1300Euro on top of the market rate.

I know with larger sums, they'll do a bit of negotiating, but I'm can anyone advise the best way to pay my fees, with the least cost.

I had planned to front load a credit card, which could still be the cheapest, but I want to explore my options before I pay out.

Is there any possibility to negotiate a better rate using your credit card? This would be ideal, because I'll probably use it for my day to day living also.

If it helps, I'll be paying the basic sum in either 2 or 4 payments.

Thanks very much for your help.

Crey86

I'm not sure you are posting in the right area, there may be a banking forum somewhere. Debit cards are cheaper than credit cards.

Maybe try one of the currency sites like xe.com, they are competitive.

Crey86

XE just gives you the market price, I'm actually looking for the cheapest rate I can get for myself.

I'm possibly in the wrong area alright, I searched similar topics and they seemed to be here, so I commented here as well.

I see BOI have their own thread too, but I don't want to limit options to BOI.

Thanks for your reply though. If the mods can move the thread to a more appropriate place, please feel free.

Rightwing

Crey86 wrote: »

XE just gives you the market price, I'm actually looking for the cheapest rate I can get for myself.

I'm possibly in the wrong area alright, I searched similar topics and they seemed to be here, so I commented here as well.

I see BOI have their own thread too, but I don't want to limit options to BOI.

Thanks for your reply though. If the mods can move the thread to a more appropriate place, please feel free.

Go, to Biz, Personal, and there's a banking section there. Someone may be able to help you.

It should be possible to beat BOI's rate, but the spread on Scandinavian countries can be high.

andrew

Moved to banking, insurance, and Pensions forum

Marcusm

Look to professional FX companies such as currency fair, transfer mate or even talk to Fexco. LOading a credit card with cash is highly unlikely to be an efficient method.

coylemj

Marcusm wrote: »

Look to professional FX companies such as currency fair, transfer mate or even talk to Fexco. LOading a credit card with cash is highly unlikely to be an efficient method.

+1 Credit cards nowadays are charging up to 2.5% off interank rates so definitely to be avoided for large money transfers.

Crey86

Cheers guys, sorry for the slow reply. I'd forgotten about posting this. It turns out CC isn't going to be an option now anyway. I'll check those guys out and see what they can do for me.

Much appreciated,
Chris