Millenium Free Bank Transfers from the UK

[sam]

I too got this letter, so would be interested in the outcome. As it appears to de directed to their UK customers I was surprised that it was in Portuguese only.
I currently do monthly standing order transfers through Foreign Currency Direct, who do not charge for this method. It is flexible, and they have 4 payment dates a months. I usually send once a month, but can vary dates, do extra transfers, or miss a payment when necessary. So for me it would only pay if HSBC give a better exchange rate.

[Janey]

I sent £20 as a test run to see if it worked and what the rate would be. Sent the money to the HSBC account on Friday. Got a telephone call from a very nice man from Millennium on Monday to say I hadn't put our Millennium Acc No. as the reference (which I definitely had). It obviously got left off between my Barclays account, HSBC and Millennium. He had traced us, hence the phone call but needed proof that I had sent the money so I had to print off part of a Barclays statement showing the £20 transfer with our Millennium account no. in the reference and email it to him. Today we had an email from Millennium with an attachment showing the credit. We received 23.57 euros. Not sure which day they took the rate. On Friday I was quoted 1.18 by a Forex company but the rate had risen by yesterday. So not bad and fairly prompt assuming the reference gets passed along the line and they don't have to call every customer on each transaction. Will try a larger amount soon.

[superbocker]

Used the service on friday. Money was transferred on Monday and available in my account today (Tuesday 18th). I got €1.19 as opposed to the €1.12 that i got on 10th from my normal transfer source - despite the market moving up thats still an impressive difference.

I subsequently had a chat with Millennium in London to confirm that the 'Next Day' service wasn't a fluke and have been advised that transfers will take place on the next working day.

Just off now to change my Standing Order.

[PTBUXTON]

Baniff offer the same facility currently through a third party which is ......wait for it Barclays !the lot that have just had their arse smacked for mis- leading 1000's of their clients,anyway my 1st and to date only transfer went ahead with out a hitch no charges applicable.

[tricky]

I am with First Direct which is part of HSBC, I wonder if the same facility would be available?

[Polli62]

We are with Millennium and I think I will try a small deposit like fmm & superbocker through HSBC to test the system, rates of exchange look competetive.Once bitten twice shy, we will see.

[superbocker]

I am with First Direct which is part of HSBC, I wonder if the same facility would be available?

Tricky, we're with First Direct, did the transfer online to the HSBC account which was simple. If you have any reservations ring the London number on the letter and chat it through with the Millennium guys, I even got offered to pop in for a coffee if i was passing, can't say that's ever happened with any of my uk bank dealings. SB

[vintage61]

I too got the letter, spoke to the really nice guys on the London number and tried to transfer £10 as a test from my UK LLoyds account. I had a message from the London guys and had to send a scan showing my transfer. They told me they are having problems getting the reference number to clear, but they are trying to resolve the issue. Anyway, transfer has gone through and I received an email showing the details. Marcos in the London office said if I want to transfer a larger sum I could send him a scan of the transfer and all would be well. I can't belive how helpful and and customer-friendly they are. But I have to say, when I needed to contact the Millennium customer service line in Portugal they were great - they put me through to my branch in Silves and I was able to speak to the lady there who had set up my account.

[sanreen]

Could anyone let me know if Millenium charge monthly administration charges to accounts?

[KenC]

Could anyone let me know if Millenium charge monthly administration charges to accounts?

Yes, if your average balance is under Euro3,000. It is around Euro3.5 if the average balance is between 1,500 and 3,000 and Euro7 if under 1,500. Otherwise, no, it is free.

[superbocker]

I pay €6 a month

[sanreen]

Thanks KenC and superbocker. Think I will go in and see them next week when I am over. Would make transferring money easier and cheaper

[Farol]

FairFx have also introduced a service to allow foreign transfer to be made without charge whilst supposedly giving good exchange rates I don't know how it compares with Millennium & Banif schemes but if it works as well as ther FairFx card then it might be worth a try.

See here for details: https://www.fairfx.com/fairpay

[Polli62]

Is fairfx covered by the financial services authority compensation scheme should anything go belly up?

[Farol]

Is fairfx covered by the financial services authority compensation scheme should anything go belly up?

There is a good general summary of protection to various foreign currency services on the Expatmoneychannel site here : http://www.expatmoneychannel.com/conten ... -confusing

Obviously not all firms are named (for example Fairfx and Western Union) but it is possible to draw some general conclusions.