Contracting in Europe anyone recommend a reputable currency broker to transfer

[sbakoola]

I am contracting in Europe anyone recommend a reputable currency broker to transfer money from my UK bank account to my European bank account ? I'm currently withdrawing cash from cash machines and getting charged by RBS £5 a pop + bad exchange rates.

I also heard that many of the UK banks have foreign bank account setups where you can have two accounts in different countries with the same bank for sterling to Euro transactions and vice versa, has anyone had any experience of using these ? I wouldn't be doing regular transactions just large (eg. > £2k to £25k+) ones once every 2-3 months.

Your advice is much appreciated.

[scooterscot]

I use XE - The World's Favorite Currency and Foreign Exchange Site

There's a number of other local brokers for sure, but xe.com beats the rates banks offer without a problem.

I din't really pay much attention until I realised the rates UK banks were converting at. Loosing about £150-300 with every transfer. Good on them, but they've had their fun and lost another customer.

I should add the xe.com verification process is long winded and takes a couple of weeks.

[doodab]

I used to use ukforex, they were pretty good. Minimum xfer was something like £3k.

[stek]

Nationwide Select Flex account.

No ATM charges abroad, not sure how good the rate is but life's too short.

Tenner a mo but you get travel insurance breakdown recovery, stuff like that.

It was worth it for me just to save the ATM fees..

[CoolCat]

for long term purposes you would be better off with a Euro denominted bank account (keep your normal UK GBP one too). Mostly Brits open such an account with one of the big banks in one of their channel island branches. You can then swap money between your GBP and Euro account very cheaply. And you can also get ATM card with your Euro account.

Alternate is to open a bank account local to where you are abroad. Can be a bit more tricky as then the bank isnt so accustomed to ex pat Brits making strange requests. And some banks want to see local residence cards etc. Charges can be high etc.

[scooterscot]

Nationwide Select Flex account.

No ATM charges abroad, not sure how good the rate is but life's too short.

Are you sure about that? I stopped using them when they decided to start charging...

[stek]

Are you sure about that? I stopped using them when they decided to start charging...

Yes, it's the new Select version of Flex. Tried and tested by me in Dublin!

[scooterscot]

Yes, it's the new Select version of Flex. Tried and tested by me in Dublin!

I see - I have the old 'Nation one account'

[Alias]

Metro bank is good in this regard as its a near perfect exchange rate with no fees...

[darmstadt]

I use Hawala...