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Hi I just thought I would share with you my dealings trying to set up regular (monthly) payments to my account in Spain.
HIFX = No charges at all, a deposit of a month in advance for every year you sign the contract with them i.e three year contract = three months deposit. when you come to the end of that contract your last three months payments will be the deposit you payed. A fixed price for the duration of your contract.
A very poor rate of exchange. eg . I was quoted 1.33 when the rate was 1.47.
TRAVELEX = A flat rate of £10 per month (£120 a year!) but you get the rate of the day. eg: 1.47 as per above example.
A whooping 0.14 euro for every pound you change above HIFX.
My example is £320 every month HIFX=425.60 Travelex=470.40
You can work out the math for yourself. I don't think the exchang rate has ever fell as low as 1.33
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Simmo
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Im suprised at thet - last time I used HIFX they were top rate, never as low as 1.33!
Years ago the rate was lower than 1.33, but not for quite a while as I recall
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Quite frankly m'dear, I don't give a damn!
www.herbalmarbella.com
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I've not looked at that site yet, thanx for your advice
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Simmo
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We haven't used CD for regular transfers, Simmo, but we used them for our stage payments at spot rates at the time, over two years ago.
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Hi Rixxy, They told me transfers over £400 a month would get a better rate of 1.38 but that is still not great.
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Simmo
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Just looked at Currencies Direct, things look as favourable as Travelex, waiting now for a dealer to call me. Will post the results
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Simmo
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if you use www.4xcc.com it gives you the trade price in real time minimum amount is 1,000 pounds and for that you can get 1.44 at present the only problem with them is that you can only trade M-F 09.00 to 17.00 This message was last edited by conrad on 9/4/2007.
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If you have a Halifax account in the UK and in Spain, not only will you will get a better rate than that. (It's usually a few cents less than the quoted) but there is no charge. So for me it works out ok but if anyone knows of a better deal I would be happy to hear about it.
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may the farce be with you
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hi all, when I sent my deposit over in April I did it through my local Barclays bank. It seems they give different rates on the amounts to be sent. As the deposit was more than £20k they gave me a rate of 1.474, while the proper exchange rate was 1.479. Although it doesn't seem a lot on a £30k deal they made over £150, I also had to pat a charge or £20-30, for the transaction.
If opening a bank acc in Spain it does not seem ideal to send monthlt installment and have to pay this sort of transfer each month, and if they are small monthly amounts you will get the worst exchangr rates. Someone has already quoted 1.33 if you could get 1.47 the difference would be £80. plus a £20 transfer a loss of £100pm. It would save a fortune to send money once or twice a year if possible.
I have tried the internet and currency exchange companies seem to offer better value for money. I have not spoken to any consultants yet as my completion date is April 09 and that could be 6-12 months late.
Log on to Moneycorp.com the provid for private clients as well as corporate. It may well be worth giving one of their advisors a call and compairing deads.
The also have a handy currenct convert on the website, today it shows a rate of 1.479.
If any one does deal with them please post your findings on this site as there should be a lot of people having to make a choice soon.
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I realise we are talking about regular payments to Spain & not occasional transfers but I'm wondering if Pat's speaking of these ?(Occasional transfers, I mean, rather than regular ones)
I've advocated Halifax UK to Banco Halifax for occasional use many times on this forum but in June we transferred money for community fees & for spending whilst in Spain in the next couple of weeks & they gave us a very poor rate which we queried but were told that was the rate then. (We commented it was like the tourist rate but they said no & quoted less for tourist rate).
Our community fee was due just before we went out so we transferred anyway. I had recommended transfers between Halifax a/cs to friends who found exactly the same when they also transferred. We always ask the rate before we transfer but previously had always been very happy with their transfer rate being so high so just be aware.
BTW we have a Nationwide Flex a/c & use our debit cards in Visa ATMs in Spain (no charge) & enjoy terrific rates of exchange, virtually the bank rate. I'm looking at paperwork in front of me (to be accurate) & on 26/5/07 we transferred £700 Halifax - Halifax & got 1.4293 then on 12/6/07 in Spain at ATM we got 1.4801 through Nationwide  (Of course we need to use the Halifax -Halifax transfer if we need funds in Spain when we're not.) We had opened a Nationwide Flex a/c just after this low rate was given at Halifax &, as the debit cards & pins arrived on the Saturday before we left on the Monday we nipped to Nationwide & put £50 in so we could play with the ATMs in Spain to see the rate.
Needless to say Halifax haven't had the pleasure of our company for transferring money since but we did visit them last week to take £1000 from our a/c & nip it round to Nationwide into our flex a/c for our next trip starting Friday if I ever get off the forum & do the packing. 
This message was last edited by morerosado on 9/5/2007.
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I am still waiting for Currencies Direct to ring me! I also have a Nationwide Card solely for the purpose of using it for Spain (safer than carrying cash). Is the limit £350 as it is in Britain ?
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Simmo
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Thanx for your replies, I am still exploring the possibilties of regular payments. My dilemma is should I leave my cash in the bank earning interest (which more than covers Travelex £10 flat charge) and have the hassle of making two or three payments a year, or the peace of mind that my mortgage payment will be there every month without me doing a thing. Ummmm
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Simmo
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I recently used Xe.com and got 1.475, plus an £8 wire fee transfer. You arrange the deal, arrange a BACS payment to them (about 3 days) and then it goes to your allocated account. Took 5 working days from my UK bank to my Spanish bank.
Mark
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My lawyer has advised we use Banco Sabadell in Spain for regular payments. Does anyone know anything about this bank. Is it reliable? What are the costs involved? has anyone any good or bad experiences with this bank? I would appreciate your advice.
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Janmet
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We use Banco Sabadell, and have our mortgage with them also, as 3 years ago when we purchased they offered v good deals, you can also use Sol banks, as they are part of them, so wherever you are in Spain or the Balearic I slands you will always find a branch. We always receive regular statements from them also posted to us here in UK and they also post any recent transactions. The problem we have at the mo, is that when we occasionally have to transfer money into the account (although when visiting Spain we try to deposit as much as poss), we bank with the Abbey, and they charge £25 per transfer which we think is an awful lot, especially now they are owned by the Spanish Santander bank!!............
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Thanks for that very useful. With regards to transfer of money from UK to Spain. You can set up a monthly direct debit with Currencies Direct and can transfer anything from £150 per month, there are no changes whatsoever.
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Janmet
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hello .... My name is David and i am buying a house in Spain and i am confused about which currency exchange company to use ?. I have read most of your comments but im still confused is there anyone else in the same situation as me or is there anyone who has done this before with any advice? thanks
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Money transfers are a nightmare at the moment with the poor exchange rates. When we sent over £20,000 as a deposit, we got a rate of 1.45 which equated to about 29,000€. At todays rate (and eing generous and quoting 1.34) we would only have got 26,800€, so you can see we would have lost a substantial sum.
I have always used Xe.com as they have consistently quoted me a better rate than others. Some people swear that Currencies Direct are best for them. There are some that allow you to process the trade over the phone and others that allow you to trade over the internet. They are all quite simple, but you have to open an account with them first which will probably involve money laundering checks. Once the account is open, it could be as easy as ringing up and saying "I want to send £1000 to my Spanish bank account please" and it's done.
Mark
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