Hi there all - looking for some advice please. I need to pay a deposit to a rental owner in euros (I am in UK). My bank in UK is Alliance & Leicester want to charge me £20 for a cheque in euros (which I can then send by post to owner) or £30 for an electronic transfer to the owners bank account. These costs seem steep to me! Has anyone else experience of how to effect this payment cheaper? Graeful if you would share this info with us

£30 for a transfer??? Via the IBAN numbers system these transfers should be a LOT cheaper (fixed rate rather than percentage comission), but I have noticed that some banks still work with their very own set of rates.

Better shop around some more.

Thanks Gambrinus - any idea wher I should be looking ( serious question - no flippency!)

I used Nationwide Building Soc. to transfer funds, mainly because I have a savings account with them but my transfer only cost me £18 each time so £30 is very expensive. I would deffinately check other banks/building soc. Also try the Post Office I think they also do a pretty fair deal.

G is right in principle - BUT the UK banks are managing to "delay" the implementation of lower rates in the same way they have conned the O F T on normal transfers between sterling accounts ( 3 days to transfer funds in the UK !!) by claiming that systems and software need further development.

I have to transfer funds to PT every month (living expenses from my salary paid in UK and in sterling) and the best I can find is a thing called EUROCHAPS from the Co Op bank which costs £20 a time but usually happens within a few hours. (When I was buying my house I was with another bank who charged me £35 a time and also managed to lose the balance payment for a fortnight which left us temporarily homeless !!)

Perhaps there is something better but if there is I dont know about it (just seen Lesley Jeans reply - maybe worth a look ?)

check out:-
http://www.westernunion.co.uk/info/home ... y_transfer

I tried that one (Western Union) before - max transfer value £999.99 and costs of £47.00- plus you have to do it on a visa or mastercard (more hassle)

I bank with A&L and I'm pretty sure the £30 for a transfer is the "same day transfer". There is a 3 day transfer that should be much cheaper. Mike

Might be worth giving these a ring


http://www.currencies.co.uk/pages/regular-payments.htm

not used them myself yet

Thanks to everyone for their helpful responses to my initial post. Heeding the advice to shop around I have now found that Barclays offer a secure electronic transfer for sums <£1000 (or converted euro equiv) - for just £10! The transfer is guranteed to be completed within 72 hours too. Many thanks again to all for their kind and swift help.

I use www.hifx.co.uk for transfers. They make their money on the exchange rate but still manage to give a better rate than the major banks. They make no extra charges. They offer individual transfers of £5K + or regular monthly payments of smaller amounts. Their rate suffers a little on the regular payment method but is fixed for the year.

Why not use Pay Pal?

I do a lot of buying and selling on there and it's very cheap.

why don't you get travelers cheques in euros a send him? or even in pounds...

Just a note about Western Union, if you go into any Western Union office, such as as any Going Places office there is no maximum you can send and you pay cash. The only stipulation is that you can only send one transaction per day and if you are sending a high amount, I think over GBP 2000 you need photographic ID!

portugeezer wrote:why don't you get travelers cheques in euros a send him? or even in pounds...

I may be mistaken, but I beleive travellers to be cashable have to have two signatures on them, effectively turning them into hard currency, which if intercepted in the mail can be cashed anywhere.