Save money on your international transfers
Moving money abroad in a digital world should be one of the easiest things you can do, especially with the cost savings you would expect a global marketplace to offer, yet choosing the wrong service to send your funds overseas, can leave you paying more than you’d expect.
Most people head straight to their bank if they need to send money overseas, but that could leave you out of pocket on large transfers. Even making small regular payments could hit you hard in the wallet, with banks typically charging as much as £40 each time you want to make an international transfer. Making a monthly transaction to cover a mortgage or agents’ fees on a home abroad could typically cost you as much as £480 every year just through transfer fees.
Thankfully, there is an alternative way to move money overseas, which gives you more flexibility on how you make the transfer, and can offer better exchange rates than you would typically get from a high street bank. The CityAM International Payments service, which is provided by leading currency specialist Moneycorp, can offer you rates that are typically 3- 4pc better than those offered by the banks, and with much lower fees too.
For example, if you wanted to transfer £100,000, then saving 4pc on the deal could leave an extra £4,000 in your pocket – enough to do some serious renovations or improvements if you’re planning to buy a dream fixer-upper in the Dordogne. If you make your transfers online, then they are completely free, and even if you choose to deal over the phone, you will still only pay £10 per transaction.
However, while reducing your fees is essential, you should also consider how the currency markets interact as this can have a much bigger impact on the costs you incur when sending money overseas. A perfect recent example of a swing in the value of the pound happened after a YouGov poll was published, suggesting that Scotland was edging towards voting yes on independence. Of course, we now know the referendum result was a no, but after reaching a fiveyear high of $1.71 against the US dollar on July 2, the pound fell 11 cents to $1.60 on September 9. So, at this rate $100,000 would have been £62,500 in sterling terms, but the same amount on July 2 would have been £58,480- meaning your pounds would have gone much further.
The currency experts at Moneycorp have years of experience and you can benefit from their expert guidance- every client of the service is assigned a personal account manager to help them navigate their overseas transfers. Your personal account manager will be available at the end of the phone to guide you through the entire process of moving money abroad. They can explain the range of specialist tools available to protect you against fluctuating exchange rates, such as ‘forward contracts’ which allow you to lock in a rate for up to 24 months in advance. So, if the markets move against you, it won’t affect how much you get for your pound. On a property purchase, where months often pass between placing a deposit and completing the sale, it could be the difference between buying your dream property and breaking your budget.
If you are happy to make your transfers online, you can buy and sell any of 34 currencies, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and you can login to your account at anytime from anywhere. You can view a full transaction history, and store payment and recipient details, to make it easier to deal with repeat transactions.
In addition, Moneycorp has been trading in foreign exchange since 1979, and has established itself as one of the country’s top foreign exchange specialists. It is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority for the provision of payment services, which gives users of the CityAM International Payments service additional peace of mind.