If you’re moving abroad to a country with a different currency than your home country, it can be difficult to exchange your money in large doses or on a regular basis. I know, after living in Spain for 2 years and returning home to the UK fairly often, I have trouble finding the best way of transferring those euros back to pounds. Especially now my earnings are worth less when I travel than they did when I was living in the UK, it’s frustrating to know that I will often loose out by paying overpriced bank fees when exchanging currencies.
After having a look through the various options for transferring money abroad I’ve come up with a few of the best ideas to avoid loosing out.
Premier FX
– This UK company helps you transfer money without any fees or commissions and at a great exchange rate. I’d recommend using Premier FX if you’re looking for regular payments such as bills or mortgages, or even if you want to move a large amount of money to buy a house, car, boat, etc, using a foreign currency. With Premier FX, its also possible to fix-in a rate for a currency transaction to be processed up to two years ahead, really handy if you are trying to budget for the future! They operate worldwide and have a great customer service scheme with an office in Palma too (my home!). They can talk you through the whole process if needed with no-obligation to transfer. Transactions can be done online or via your personal Account Director, you just need to register to get started! (Please enter fallforspain.com in the ‘How did you hear about us’ box when registering)
Transferwise
– You may have heard of this company with their huge marketing campaign last year. Transferwise also has much lower rates than the banks BUT they do charge a small fee for the process. If I was to send 1000€ I’d spend 5€, which isn’t so much. Payments can be done really fast online and I’d say simplicity is the benefit here. I’d recommend Transferwise for smaller amounts of money. Click here to get a free first transfer with Transferwise.
Exchange with friends and family
– A pretty obvious point but one I’d recommend all the same. When your friends come over to visit you or you take a trip back home, ask around if anyone is travelling to Europe anytime soon (I’m sure they are!). You could both benefit saving on fees and just using the flat rate, real-time. I often try to do this when my friends or family come to visit me, just remember to ask around!
These are the 3 main methods I personally use to exchange between pounds and euros. How do you usually deal with exchange rates and transaction fees? I’d love to hear some advice 🙂
You might also want to read:
Fall for Spain 