FX Companies for transfer - How do they work for real?
 

Hello community. I want to move my savings in GBP (UK bank, standard account) in EUR, in order to then pay for the initial deposit for an house in the EU country I am moving to.

Companies like WorldFirst, Halo and MoneyCorp offer these kind of service, I think. But once I transfer my GBP (currently in the UK bank) to EUR (in the account I will open with one of these companies) how do I use the money?

Can I move EUR from the company account to another bank account in *any* EU country? Will I face hidden fees?
Can I take cash from an ATM in an European country?
Will the money just sit there, useless?

If you had previous experiences, please let me help understand. Their websites make it very clear how better their rates are and how you do the first part (in my case GBP->EUR) but they seem pretty vague about which limitations (if any) you have in using your money.

Re: FX Companies for transfer - How do they work for real?
 

They work on transfering the money to either a bank account of yours, or to a bank account of the solicitor you are using where they should be keeping it in a client account.

Re: FX Companies for transfer - How do they work for real?
 

The FX brokers transfer money, it is never "in an account" with them, it is only fleetingly in their possession. If they were holding money it would get very messy for them, and they would likely have to register as a bank.

When you transfer money, at the outset you have to specify where the money is being transferred to - IBAN / bank & account number, and the money will be credited there within a day or two.

You may experience a problem transferring money to a third party account as I hear that FX brokers commonly require money to be credited to an account in the same name as the account it was debited from.

Re: FX Companies for transfer - How do they work for real?
 

I have been using CurrencyFair in the last year. It has worked well for me.

Re: FX Companies for transfer - How do they work for real?
 

we have been using them too for a while and works well for us too

Re: FX Companies for transfer - How do they work for real?
 

I don't think I would be doing anything with the current exchange rates.