Money transfer

try moneycorp their add looks ok but never used them
...good luck

I seem to remember we opened a sterling account with our Spanish bank and then moved the money sideways within the bank. It worked pretty well. Check it out as one of your options.

The truth is that they will take large amounts of your cash for changing it from one currency to another however you try it.

I agree with above comments. You will have to bite the bullet and pay whatever.  Best thing is to look up half a dozen exchange companies on line and find the cheapest.

You could ask your Spanish solicitor if you can transfer direct to him (as they do in the UK), but don't forget if you open an account and transfer to the account, you will need your banks IBAN number as well as your account number.  And you need to make sure it is accurate as otherwise it may go to the wrong bank and takes ages to trace.

My English bank allows on line internet transfers now direct from my UK account to my Spanish account.  If you do on line banking may be worth doing that when you know your IBAN and account numbers.  But will take up to a couple of weeks if you open an online now.  I use this to transfer a lump sum at regular intervals.  I found that paying bank charges and cost of transferring through a company was a double wammy of charges.  If your bank transfer fees are a bit more they will be compensated by not paying a company as well.

Questions like this will have so many answers, a  bit of internet searching is more beneficial.

HI I have been here for two years. Have transferred E17000 in bulk at the best rate and lots of smaller amounts through
[email protected].   Smart Currency Exchange will transfer  small amounts or large amounts free of charge.  If its a large amount you tell them the date you want the money by and they watch the market until its as high as it's likely to go and then ask if its OK to transfer on that day.

They have always been easy and trouble free for me and I would recommend them. David is David Comber.
You need to contact them and they  will give you their account number then you give them the IBAN address and account no of your Spanish bank account (this is inside the front of your passbook) and they will give you a reference  number to quote when you transfer the money into their account ready to go.

I suggest you email David and ask him about it and he will send you details.
For me - a bit phobic about numbers its been marvellous.
Hope this helps.

Try to check Citi bank or Barklays bank. They ve offices in both countries and don t used to charge any fees as I know

I meant to say 170,000, missed a zero off my post!

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I've been using Transferwise recently and I've found them to be quick, cheap and easy

If I have an Italian passport and decide to go and live in Spain (I am Venezuelan and living in Venezuela, you may know the serousness of the situation right now here, with the dictatorship and everything) I would like to know what I should have to do with my US accounts. All our savings are in the US. It seems that I will have to pay Spanish taxes on these savings or risk penalties if I do not inform about having those US accounts. I would appreciate any information in this regard

It depends on your situation so you will need to do some research, but it would be nice if people posted numbers and specifics. I have been living in Spain off and on for 21'years and have lived there last 4 in Alicante continuously. I have used SWIFT, banks, FX companies, and credit cards to transfer funds. For me the following works well. For anything that you can buy with credit cards, there are two cardsje CITI platinum and the British Airways Chase Visa that make money exchange on purhases of very close to bank rates. I have checked with say x-rates exchange rates online. The cards themselves cost $90-$100 pet year but if you buy on the order of say $10,000/year of purchases, you are at 1% which is what an FX charges and you get the other card benefits, FFB miles, Car rental insurance, etc.

For transfers of $10,000 or more I use World first which charged me about 1% with no commission when I first signed up (you have to complain about the rate to get them to lower it to 1%). They have inched up a bit, but are still close to 1%. The rate was about the same as a previous FX company I used, but with World first I can lock in on a transfer rate with my computer. Since they are located in the US, I can make a bank transfer to World first at no charge from my credit union in the US. They then transfer to my Spanish bank. I believe that if one transfers larger amounts a better rate may be possible.

My experiences with bank transfers, and SWIFT were that they clipped me for a few percent and SWIFT would sometimes keep my money for more than a week before it landed in my account. Unacceptable.

TBH I'd avoid TransferWise especially if you're talking about regular transfers. I've used HiFX, TorFX and WorldFirst in the past with no problems but I just tried TransferWise to transfer some living expenses from CHF to Euros. The 5000 franc transfer left my CHF account on the 22nd June. But I had to call TransferWise yesterday after my landlady complained that my rent was not paid on the 1st July. That was 4pm and they told me they could not investigate because "the team" had all gone home. I called again today and of course someone else told me they "would investigate" and now I just received an email saying that their "team" is investigating what has happened to my money and this may take "some days". Meanwhile I have 70 euros to live on until they sort it out...

Thanks for the information. Sounds like you need to speak to the team manager!

It just goes to show. The slowest that Transferwise have been with me is three days and recently they've often transferred in the same day but jimrollo has a totally different experience. It's one of the problems of giving advice - your experience and that of the person you recommend the service to may not be the same.

True, but your advice is usually great, so don't be dissappointed.

I would recommend steering well clear of high street banks, they are a rip off! I use First Rate FX and they charge no fees whatsoever to transfer your money abroad and their exchange rates are excellent. Good luck.