When you buy an overseas property or emigrate, it’s likely you’ll need to send money from your sterling bank account in the UK to a foreign currency account – typically your own, a lawyer’s or a relative’s.

Article written by The Overseas Guides Company

You could ask your bank to make the transfer, or do it on-line, but did you know that using Smart Currency Exchange, an FSA-authorised firm that specialises in currency transfers, instead will save you money, be quicker and mean you receive better service. Still not convinced? Here are 6 key reasons to always use Smart Currency Exchange for sending money abroad:

• They consistently offer exchange rates that are 2-4 per cent better than those available from a high street bank. When you apply this saving to the typical value of an overseas property purchase, what you save could easily be worth £’000s. Here’s an example. If you needed to send €150,000 to a Spanish account and your UK bank offered you an exchange rate of £1/€1.245 for the transaction, the transfer would cost you £120,482. If you asked Smart Currency Exchange to make the same transfer on the same day, their more competitive exchange rate could feasibly mean the same transfer would cost you just £117,000. That’s a saving of around £3,500!
• It’s so easy! Much like a bank, you start by opening an account with Smart Currency Exchange – this can be done on-line or over the phone and can take a matter of minutes. When you’re ready to send money abroad, you simply call your account manager, agree a competitve exchange rate, transfer the required amount of sterling to the firm’s segregated client account and provide details of the overseas beneficiary account where your currency needs to be deposited. This works in reverse for repatriating money.
• Transfers typically take just 48 hours to show in the beneficiary account, compared to 4-5 days with a bank. Also, unlike banks, you won’t pay a transfer fee for sending money abroad – or you may for those under a certain value but this will be minimal.
• There is no minimum amount you can transfer. In fact, you can arrange for regular payments to be made between your UK and overseas accounts, such as a monthly pension or mortgage repayment, and the accumulative savings will soon mount up.
• By paying a small deposit, you can secure an agreed amount of foreign currency at a fixed exchange rate, with a year to buy the outstanding balance. Called a forward contract, this is useful for helping you to budget when buying an overseas property as it means you always know how much its local price, for example in euros, will cost you in sterling.

Smart Currency Exchange is authorised by the Financial Service Authority (FSA) and must follow FSA regulations, so you have peace of mind that your money is as safe as it would ever be with a bank.
To find out more, visit the Currency Zone or download Smart Currency Exchange’s free report by clicking here.