Sparkle2nite

Hi
We are here at last, and are settling well but I wonder if anyone can help with transferring money from a uk account to our account here. We have opened an account with Unicaja Internacional and transferred £3000 over this week. We were charged £25 by our UK bank + £2.95 for an agents fee? When the money was changed into Euro's we didn't seem to do very well and by my reckoning seem to have made a loss of around £70 on the amount.

Can anyone advise the best way to do a transfer, we will be living here permanently but will also keep a uk account open. We have the proceeds from the sale of our home in the uk in England. People recommend HIFX, do they do 'one off transfers' and how do they work as far as no commission?

Any help greatly appreciated as this seems to be the only stumbling block we have come across......to date!!!!

Thanks

pwwm

Hi

We use HIFX all the time, but you must move £5000 or more, you need to set up an account with them first, when you wish to move money you call them and they will tell you the exchange rate at commercial rates, they charge one cent, ie if they quote 1.45 to the pound you will get 1.44. We have done ok with them and will use them whenever we move money over.
Yes they will do "one off" transfers etc.
Just call them to start the ball rolling. By the way we have been into their offices in Windsor and spoken face to face as well as doing over the phone from here in Spain.

Hope this helps
pwwm

Sparkle2nite

Hi pwwm

Thanks for that, I am looking at their site now. We transferred £3000 just to see how that went so would be looking to transfer at least £5000. I'm new to all this so really appreciate your help. Do they have a branch in Spain with English speaking or should I ring UK?

Many thanks!

pwwm

Hola

We have not found them in Spain, only called the UK number, but very helpful etc, you will need to fill in a contract but that is normal and not a problem, Being here we transfer to their account at Barclays and they do the rest, very fast and efficient service.
pwwm

Sparkle2nite

Great, I'll give them a call, thanks so much for your help!

pwwm

By the way

We never move less that that figure, like you we keep some funds in the UK and move when we need to.

Sparkle2nite

I'm learning!!! How do you find your Spanish Bank, are the charges ok?

pwwm

We use La Caixa here and find them fine, but I would not keep large amounts here, they pay you interest and then take it back with charges. but yes they are excellent and the staff are great, they will even help you with non bank related problems.
Otherwise we are happy with the bank, we used Bank Inter who we have dumped now and prefer La Caixa.
pwwm

BigVern

Hi

try www.torfx.com - personally I use them and have no complaints.

also speak to your Spanish bank and see if you can negotiate a reduced landing charge for transfers in.

good luck.

poollounger

I have used HIFX as well and find them excellent. I wasn't aware of the 1 cent commission as I always get the money exchanged at whatever rate they quote me, and I always ask if they can improve on it, and they often do, or I ring back a litle later and that can also work in my favour. They are extremely helpful, and when transferring by internet from my account to theirs sometimes takes a litle longer than their terms of 3 days there is never a problem, as I warn them in advance. They guarantee no charges whatsoever per transaction and that includes no charges form the bank receivng the money in Spain. The contract notes can be viewed at each stage of completion on line.

pwwm

Hi
It is not one percent it is one cent they take, they have to make their money from some where, and they quote you what you will get.
We shall continue using them, the only problem we have had was Barclays had not transferred our money to them, hence they thought we had noy agreed to our contract but they were excellent and realised it was not our fault we still got at the agreed rate
pwwm

poollounger

Sorry I did mean one cent...but this is built into the price they offer you I believe.