Can you afford to lose £4,000?
The economic crisis is certainly causing issues for people all over the world, yet in the world of international money transfers there are actions that can be taken to safeguard your money – especially if different currencies are required. International payments include payments between countries for property, the movement of pension payments, transferring savings or paying for any goods or services in a currency other than the one you have. Working with an international payments specialist rather than using a bank will allow you to save money over using the bank AND provide you with options that can minimise financial losses.

Moving Large Lump Sums of Money Internationally
Do you need to pay a staged payment for a property? How about moving funds from the sale of a property abroad back to the UK? Regardless as to the reason for moving money – or where you need to move it to - it’s important to realise that for every £/€100,000 you move, you could pay around £/€4,000 unnecessarily if you use a bank. Banks around the world add a margin of around 4% more than the margin used by international payment specialist. Using a bank rather than a specialist is similar to buying a property and then asking if you can pay and extra £/€ 4,000 for no reason.

Aside from saving money on the cost of buying currency, you can also ensure that the value of the money you’re moving doesn’t change. In other words, if you need to move a large sum of money within the next year and you’re happy with the current exchange rate, you can reserve that rate today yet pay for it at a later date.

For example, during the month of January 2008 Mr & Mrs Kingston contacted Smart Currency Exchange to discuss a payment of €89,400 due in November 2008. The Kingston’s were happy with the current rate of €1.317/£1 so they booked a contract for the full amount and simply paid a 5% deposit to secure the transaction. When November came, the Kingston’s sent the money due (less the 5% already paid). If however, they had waited until November 2008 to purchase the Euros, they would have had to accept a rate of €1.155/£1 and pay an extra £9,521.

Whilst the euro has lost ground since it was at parity (€1/£1) in December 2008, in the grand scheme of things it’s still a fantastic time to purchase or secure a rate for Euros to sterling. So if you originally bought your Euros at close to €1.50/£1 and you want to now bring the funds back, now is the time to think seriously about doing it - especially given many analysts feel that sterling is likely to continue to strengthen towards €1.30/£1

Moving Small Sums on a Regular Basis
When moving small sums of money on a regular basis you can benefit greatly by fixing the currency exchange rate if and when the rate is at a good level. For example, in January 2008 many Brits living in the Europe secured a rate of €1.31/£1 for monthly payments for a year or two on all their pension payments. That means that as Sterling weakened throughout the year, clients were unaffected by the rate change and received a rate of 1.31 each month.

In addition to saving money on getting better-than-bank exchange rates and fixing rates for future use, international payment specialists can also reduce the fees associated to transfers, shrink the transfer times from 5 days to 48 hours and provide a level of service that far surpasses the cold impersonal bank. As for safety, specialist organisations like ourselves process payments through a bank and negotiate a better rate of exchange with the bank and then pass the savings onto the end client.


For more information on Smart Currency Exchange, please call our freephone: 0808 163 0102 (+44 (0)207 898 0541 from outside the UK) or visit our website at: SmartCurrencyExchange.com