Paying for a house purchase in Northern Ireland.

desert.emerald

We've recently gone Sale Agreed on a second home (holiday home) in Northern Ireland. We will need to pay for it in sterling obviously but are residents of the Republic. What's the best way to transfer the money, getting the best rates?

Atlantic Dawn

Try something like Wise, i'm not sure if there will be an upper limit they will allow. I've used this myself for car parments previously.

https://wise.com/

desert.emerald

Thanks Atlantic Dawn! Would I be fleeced if I did a bank draft and dropped it to solicitors myself?

Atlantic Dawn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118911394#Comment_118911394

With a car purchase I was finding the rate the bank was giving was poor, then along with the charges the difference was about 3-4% so considerable amount on a £100k house.

macvin

Simply ask the bank for a dealer rate. Once its a decent value (£50,000 or more), the bank should be able to get you a dealer rate which will be close to market rate.

The other option as above is to open a wise account or transfermate https://www.transfermate.com/personal/ and do it via their platform.

The difference between the walk in bank rate and dealer or intermediary rate is about 1.5% (about £1500 on a £100,000 transaction)

A bank draft is worst of all. As its sterling, it can take up to 15 days to clear and you get a worse rate on top of that. Avoid bank draft is at all possible. Its an archaic way of payment

desert.emerald

Thanks guys. Very helpful.