andrewdburke

Hi all,

I'm moving to Milan on a year long secondment at the end of August. I'm wondering if anyone has any tips for how to exchange money from GBP to euros on a regular basis (to cover living costs etc) without loosing out too much on exchange rates and commission.

Any help/advice is much appreciated.

Regards

Andrew Burke

Lorna at Vicenza

Hello and welcome to the forum.

I have no money to transfer anywhere and can't help you, but some of our members will be along with info for you.

HADENOUGHPIZZA

a lot will depend on how much you are shifting ! First stop is to check out if your employers have anything set up with either UK or Italian banks that would cover this , second I'd check the UK bank you are with and ask how much they'll charge you for ATM withdrawals in EUR going across your GBP account .

Petra R

I have a "prepaid credit card" (which I got after I moved to the UK, and had to start my credit history from scratch) which comes with a "Euro Card" as an extra.

When I am in Germany or Italy (or anywhere outside the UK) I transfer money from my UK current account to the prepaid Credit Card (for free) and from there to the Euro Card, which allows me to pay for things in Euros or take out cash without any charges.

Works for me. There is a small monthly charge but I am really glad I kept it after I became eligible for "proper" credit cards!

http://www.mycashplus.co.uk/ - This is who I use

Garbatellamike

Andrew,

it might be worth speaking to your HR Dept and see whether they can arrange to pay a percentage of your salary into an Italian account, I managed to get it done that way and thereby avoid charges.

Petra's tip looks like a good one too - wish I'd known that.

Whatever you do, don't just use a UK debit/credit card here for the longer term because the charges are very high - I did this until I got my Italian bank account opened and nearly had a heart attack when I got my monthly UK bank statement.

ciao
Mike

andrewdburke

Thanks all, some great tips here!

Looks like I've got a few options to explore as i too want to avoid those nasty charges!!

Geebert

The 'moneysavingsexpert' website has an interesting page showing you the hidden charges that a lot of banks add on.
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/tra...p-travel-money

After reading this, I got a Halifax Clarity credit card for spending money abroad from my UK account.

angeli

I use Moneycorp for monthly transfers....they advertise no fee charged to British Expat members...shame I set it up before they posted ad.... Hope that helps.

munka

I have this same issue because I am on secondment in Italy and still get paid in the UK in GBP.

I got a Cash Passport before leaving the UK. There are various different versions all of which have different T&Cs - for example Travelex do one, as do various supermarkets, Airmiles etc etc.

I got a supermarket one which is free to top up from my bank account - using the exchange rate on the day. It has an online login so you can keep track of how much is on there.

The card I use most here is my Nationwide Select Credit card. I get a great exchange rate and it's free to use on purchases (obviously not for cash withdrawal)

If you get an Italian bank account, the post office do a free money transfer service. I find the rate is better on my credit card or cash passport, but it's handy if you need an italian bank account for bills etc.

TheManInMilan

FairFX has always worked very well for me. Thomas Exchange also good but for the first time at least you need to provide documents to them in person I believe.