Moving Money To Portugal

AustinSpeedy · Post by **AustinSpeedy** » Thu Jan 24, 2008 11:36 am

Just an update on a topic that was running a while ago, HSBC UK customers with internet access can now at last make international transfers direct into their Portuguese accounts. You need the Bank Identification code and IBAN number and the charge is £9

Bruce Wallis · Post by **Bruce Wallis** » Thu Jan 24, 2008 11:54 am

If you are moving large sums, check the rate you are being offered on the exchange Sterling to the Euro. I discovered that there are specialist companies in the market that will give you a far better deal than the high street banks, and on sums over £100,000, even a quarter percent is worth having.
If you know you are going to do a large transfer, it is well worth watching market trends for a couple of weeks. Even the day of the week in a flat market can make a worthwhile difference.

carolyn · Post by **carolyn** » Thu Jan 24, 2008 5:46 pm

Over the past few years we have tried several methods of sending money from the UK to Portugal - aiming to pay as little in charges as possible. I am not talking about big sums - 10s or 100s of thousands of pounds, but smaller amounts roughly £500 - £2000 - that cover expenses for our property.

We have finally hit on what appears, to us at least, to be the simplest and cheapest route! All we do is write a cheque drawn on our UK bank in pounds sterling and send it by post to the CVO branch of the Millennium (where we have an account). We do not pay any charges at either end (except the cost of the stamp!) and always seem to get a good rate of exchange. As an example, I posted a cheque from the UK last Wednesday (16th Jan), and it was credited to our account at the Millennium today (we have internet banking, so can see when it arrives) and got a rate of £1 = 1.3078 euros. Think that in order for this to work the Portuguese bank needs a UK branch.

This is by far the simplest and cheapest method we have found

e-richard · Post by **e-richard** » Thu Jan 24, 2008 7:03 pm

Neat solution, but not as good as you may think.

I use one of those FX companies that Bruce refers to above (XETrade) where they do charge for the transaction, but its a fixed £12.84 regardless of the amount, and their exchange rates are usually much better than the banks.

Today (at 17:56 - it changes every 20 seconds) XEtrade are offering approximately 1.3244.

So if one is transferring say 2000 quid:

Posting a cheque bank to bank at an exchange rate of 1.3078 will get you:
€2615.6 Euros less costs of nothing

Using XETrade (all via the internet) at an exchange of 1.3244 will get you:
€2648.8 Euros less costs of approx €17 Euros = net: €2631.80

A saving of €16.19 or put a different way, that is 6 extra large beers one can drink next time you go out there !

The bigger the sum of money you transfer at any moment in time, the bigger the difference, the more free beers you get

- and thats what life is all about - free beers

carolyn · Post by **carolyn** » Thu Jan 24, 2008 7:27 pm

We did try one of those companies - Foreign Currency Direct - and all went well for the first few transactions - good rate and cheap costs. But then they insisted on a compulsory £15 insurance for each transaction (on top of a £12 charge) so we gave that up! It put us off trying other similar companies but maybe I'll have a look at XETrade.

My husband would definitely agree with your analysis looking at it from a 'beer voucher' point of view

Rob Watson · Post by **Rob Watson** » Fri Jan 25, 2008 2:09 pm

If anyone wants an alternative we use GCEN. Haven't tried anyone else to be honest but rates always compare v favourably to banks.

Although they won't do small 1 off transfers (I think the mimimum is £2k) they will transfer much smaller sums if it's a regular monthly payment. We just have a standing order to them to send cash over each month to cover mortgage and bills, you can tinker with the standing order amounts if you like aswell - they will just transfer whatever you send although the S.O. has to be with them by a certain date. I believe the way they work it is that on the first of every month they club together all of the regular payment standing orders they have received and make a bulk euro purchase before firing the cash off to all it's separate destinations - I assume that's how they manage to give competetive rates even on small amounts.

Misty · Post by **Misty** » Fri Jan 25, 2008 3:57 pm

You have to watch some of these exchange places, some charge, some do not. I believe Sterling Exchange do not, and they quoted me 1.33 a couple of days ago for £10,000.

AustinSpeedy · Post by **AustinSpeedy** » Sat Jan 26, 2008 10:43 am

The point I was making was that up to recently, it was not possible to make direct international transfers using internet accounts, we had to fax our bank with all the details and pay a flat rate of £20, internet transfers are far more convenient, faster and cheaper. If you are moving a lot of money, obviously it is worth using a money transfer company, but the HSBC facility is similar to BACS and you can pay directly into any account, not just your own, provided you have the details. We do not have a managing agent and pay our Portuguese utility bills by direct debit. Occasionally we get a nasty surprise, (for example when EDP actually read the meter every blue moon) and if you don't keep a big balance in your Portuguese account, this can be embarrassing!

JohnT · Post by **JohnT** » Mon Jan 28, 2008 12:23 pm

I read with interest the comments regarding money transfer to Portugal. I am a director of Premier FX based in Almancil. We specialise in money transfer and currency exchange in the Algarve. We have no minimum amount requirement and do not charge for transfers. A large proportion of our customers are property owners that need to send regular payments to pay bills and maintain their properties. I would be happy to hear from anyone that sends money here on a regular basis and discuss if we could help. Our website is www.premfx.com and my email is john.thorpe@premfx.com