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View Full Version : Has anybody used a currency exchange service when buying a property in Tenerife?



arthur
30-11-2012, 10:06
I was wondering if anybody has any experience of using a currency exchange service such as Caxtonfx or Moneycorp in order to exchange and transfer the money for a property from your UK bank account to your Spanish account?

Are these services really as secure as they appear? What sort of difference in rate do you get over your bank?

karinagal
30-11-2012, 11:27
I was wondering if anybody has any experience of using a currency exchange service such as Caxtonfx or Moneycorp in order to exchange and transfer the money for a property from your UK bank account to your Spanish account?

Are these services really as secure as they appear? What sort of difference in rate do you get over your bank?

We used Caxton FX to transfer our money for our apartment purchase. You won't get the Interbank rate, but because of the size of the transaction you will get a reasonably good rate. We paid the money direct to the solicitor's client fund and it arrived in 2-3 working days. I use Caxton FX every month to send money to my Spanish account to cover my direct debits, and I use their currency cards for my spending money and cash withdrawals.

garlicbread
30-11-2012, 12:07
I have been using currency exchange companies regularly (3-4 times a year since 2003) to transfer sterling to my Canarian Bank account with absolutely no problem and the rate , whilst it is never as high as the interbank rate as karinagal says it is always a point or more better than the bank rate here and there are no charges either. I use http://www.torfx.com/ mostly as I've fostered a rapport with one of their dealers but others such as Currencies Direct dot com, xe dot com, moneycorp dot com and even the Post Ofiice dot co dot uk. No reason to think any of them are unsafe.

golf birdie
30-11-2012, 13:35
before using anyone you should know the risks.

From moneysaving expert;


Sending larger amounts (£5,000+) When the amount you wish to transfer jumps to the 'serious' level, then the only players able to give a good rate are specialised Foreign Exchange (FX) brokers. There are a lot of companies, and the same lack of protection applies as above - so be very diligent in checking as there could be massive amounts at risk

Who's it suitable for?
This method only really adds up for sending a few thousand pounds at least or making slightly smaller, but regular payments. It's possible to use this method for smaller amounts too, but then it's costlier. Typical examples include:

Making large purchases abroad eg, house, car.

Paying off overseas mortgages - you can arrange monthly transfers.

If you're moving abroad and want to convert all your cash.

It is very important to be aware that no compensation scheme exists if these firms were to go bust
How to do it?
When transferring larger sums, it's important to remember that even small differentials in exchange rates can make an enormous difference.

Think about it... a 1% rate improvement on £100,000 is a £1,000 gain. So finessing the very best rate takes on even more significance.

1.Benchmark the rate.

Quickly go to the Travel Money Maximiser to check out the best rates there. That finds the top rates for getting cash when going on holiday, so you should be aiming to beat its best, after all fees.

2.Ask your bank for a quote.

It's rare your bank will actually be the best buy. However, it's a very useful secondary benchmark and some have special facilities for existing customers, so it could come up trumps.

3.Use a specialist currency broker.

These are companies that buy and sell vast sums of foreign currency which allows them to offer excellent exchange rates because, even if they only make a small percentage profit on every pound, that soon adds up when you're dealing in hundreds of millions of pounds.

There is no hard and fast rule to which currency broker is best, so get quotes from all of them to find the the best rate for your currency. The regularly quoted big brokers include such players as HIFX*, Currencies Direct* and Moneycorp, so they're the obvious places to start - though of course they are still no more protected than others.

Typically they offer within 1% of the 'interbank rate', whereas your bank will normally be up to 3% worse than that, equating to £3,000 for a £100,000 transfer. In addition, most don't charge fees to send money, and the broker pays for any receiving fees, so all you pay is the margin they take via the exchange rate.

The rates for these change constantly, often by the minute, so to find out which gives the best rate to your chosen country you need to get quotes as close together as possible. And do remember, the golden question to ask is "how many Euros/Dollars/Yen will you give me for my £x,xxx after all fees and charges?"

Unfortunately, the less you transfer, the worse the rates available get, meaning this is only worth it for high value money switching.

Warning! There's no compensation scheme
Unlike banks, currency exchange businesses are not covered by the FSCS, so there's always the risk, if something goes wrong, you won't be guaranteed full compensation.

However, bigger businesses, trading over 3 million euros a month, must be authorised by the FSA. This means your money is kept separate from company accounts, a process known as safeguarding. If something was to go wrong with the company, your money should be paid back to you.

Smaller firms can choose to be registered which means there's no safeguarding process as above. If something goes wrong, your money is not protected at all.

Both allow complaint referrals to the FOS, should a company not deal with it appropriately. The FOS will then investigate on your behalf.

Knowing this, these companies work hard to prove their stability, and a little research should bear that out. HiFX, for example, stores your money in a Barclays account while it's in transit before it hits your account overseas, to ensure it is safe. See a full checklist of questions to ask.

languagefan
30-11-2012, 13:41
I used FCG to transfer big sums of money I transferred here from the UK to buy a flat. I checked all their website references with UK authorities before and and was satisfied.
They were extremely professional, punctual and responsible, and give the best rates and I will use them again if I ever need to transfer money
I was wondering if anybody has any experience of using a currency exchange service such as Caxtonfx or Moneycorp in order to exchange and transfer the money for a property from your UK bank account to your Spanish account?

Are these services really as secure as they appear? What sort of difference in rate do you get over your bank?

fixer
30-11-2012, 14:14
Ive been using Caxton fx since 2004 first to transfer the money for the deposit on our apartment and now for our mortgage dont use a bank they cgarge you then give a poor rate caxtons rate always better paticulary for bigger sums.David

Steve 4
04-02-2013, 14:11
Cheers, golf birdie - a very helpful post in this thread, indeed.

kathml
04-02-2013, 16:08
I have been using currency exchanges recently have registered with several and have transferred upto 50,000 euros with each on the basis that they are not all going to go bust at once

By fixing rates ahead along with the better rates than banks I reckon Im going to save around £6000.00 on a £150,000.00 investment

Steve 4
03-06-2013, 15:37
I've been using MoneyCorp for the past few months: they've been excellent and given me the best rates I could have got anywhere.

Peanuts
03-06-2013, 16:53
Have used Moneycorp in the past and their service is very good. If you have bigger amounts they will contact you to discuss your requirements and you can set the rate in advance or get the best rate on the day.

Not sure, but I believe they are even regulated by the FIA. Please check or ask, giving you peace of mind if something does go wrong.

Steve 4
03-06-2013, 17:34
Yes, Peanuts - that's the experience I've had. If anyone's dealing in larger amounts over 5 or 10k, MoneyCorp are spot on (ask for James on the dealing desk as he's particularly good and switched on). If the exchange rate on a particular day is, say, a little over 1.18 [Euro to Pound] you should be able to get close to 1.17 without any commission charges at all. Although I haven't used them yet, I've also spoken to HiFX, who seem to be able to match those kinds of rates on smaller amounts as well.