Sandm4n

Hi All,

planning on moving to Spain next month and need your suggestion/advise on the best, most reliable and safest way to exchange £ to € and transfer it to a bank account in Spain.

I know that using a direct bank transfer is the easiest/safest way to do that but it’s also the most expensive (please correct me if I’m wrong).
searching online I discovered that there are many companies that do currency exchange and transfer to international banks but after reading some reviews(good and horrible) I got confused, please I’ll appreciate your experience (only good ones I hope 😉) with money exchange and transfers companies and from what companies should I stay clear.
I don’t want to break any forum rules so if sharing company names is forbidden then please send me a private message.

Thanks

Barriej

Most of us here use Transferwise (now known as Wise)
Ive used them to transfer from the UK to my Spanish bank account.
Ive also used XE to transfer money to the solicitor we used when buying the flat.

XE dont charge but make their money on the exchange rate.
Wise charge I think about £3.50 but you get a better rate. For a large sum they may split the amounts as some banks make charges for receiving large amounts (the flat purchase was split into €25.000 blocks)

There you go and welcome to the forum by the way.

Fred James

I use Moneycorp. I can move funds from my UK account either by bank transfer or more easily using my bank debit card. Once into Moneycorp I can exchange it to Euros when I choose and leave it there as a Euro balance until I want to transfer it to my Spanish account. That usually takes 2 hours at no charge.

Sandm4n

Thanks, glad that I’ve found this forum.

Sandm4n

Thanks.
How’s Moneycorp exchange rate compared to XE and Wise?

Fred James

I have no idea. The rate depends on the size of the exchange. I find them very easy to use and I am not concerned by a 1 point difference in rates, life is too short!. Just wait a day and the change in base rates could outweigh any differences.

Sandm4n

well said 👍🏼
Have you used their pre paid mastercard ?

spainrico

I use Wise (ex-Transferwise) excellent service, commercial exchange rates and multi-currency accounts with a free debit card. I have used them for a couple of years with no problems.

https://wise.com/es?gclid=CjwKCAjwpK...hoCZaUQAvD_BwE

Fred James

No, I didn't even know they did one. I don't need one anyway

Sandm4n

Any idea the reason that wise and moneneycorp receive so many negative reviews on trustpilot?

spainrico

Posted by banks?

Regarding Wise -

No idea I can only speak for myself and several friends who are equally impressed. Never seen a negative thread on this forum regarding them.

My debit card was late in arriving (probably a postal problem) I contacted Wise who were helpful and friendly. Doubtless out of their millions of customers and transactions some have experienced difficulties..........

Sandm4n

It seems that most of the horrific negative reviews are from the past few months, did Brexit just kicked in?😉

spainrico

With Spanish banks charging high commissions to receive funds from non-EU countries even bigger reason to use Wise or similar (IMO)

marcbernard

I note that you say that Wise debit card is free. I paid €7 for mine back in January! Do you think I could claim it back?

dougal03

I used Currencies Direct.Have done transfers both ways.It was handy in my area whilst in Spain as they had a local l office that I could go into & speak directly to a human being face to face.One of their staff members came to the Notario ,collected my cheque from my property sale & deposited it into the account I had set up previously.