½ûÂþÌìÌÃ

..how much are you looking to transfer; is it for a house purchase?

Smaller amounts, [url]www.PayPal.com[/url] is good, but for larger amounts consider [url]http://www.fxsolutions.co.uk/[/url], [url]http://www.currenciesdirect.com[/url] or [url]www.icnforex.com[/url]

We used our UK bank can also arrange a transfer. They offered a quickie solution (more expensive) or a slower one (not so bad).

Yes sorry house purchase and £150,000.Many thanks.

[QUOTE=PAS 55];) Could anybody recomend any ½ûÂþÌìÌà banks(good & bad) and the best way to transfer money from the Uk to Italy(MoneyCorp)? :p[/QUOTE]

We used Moneycorp you have to register with them ie send photocopy passport utility bill, then you phone to get the best rate for euro they will fax or e-mail forms go to bank send money BACS 3 days or CHAPS same day,once they recieve your money transfered to your account or recipent account in Italy next day. Sounds complicated but we found it pretty good,mabye somebody knows better way?

Good Luck

Dave

[QUOTE=PAS 55];) Could anybody recomend any ½ûÂþÌìÌà banks(good & bad) and the best way to transfer money from the Uk to Italy(MoneyCorp)? :p[/QUOTE]

We`ve used Currencies for Less (or is it 4 less?). We`ve found them to be very good - I`ll let you know the details when I`ve found them or when Martin gets back home. We`ve also used our UK bank & not had any probs, although I think the exchange rate wasn`t as good. As for banks here, we had a bit of bother but eventally persuaded the Monte dei Paschi di Siena to take us on. Nobody wanted to take us at the time as we were non-resident. We thought it was a bit strange as we weren`t wanting to borrow money, just put money in! We had the same trouble when we wanted to open a business account (this time as residents). The most convenient bank to Martin`s practice didn`t want our money! In the end the Banca di Roma agreed - they were a bit more `progressive`. In Italy you have to pay the bank for EVERYTHING, even if it`s internet banking in order to save them work! Martin back - [url]www.currencies4less.com[/url]

[QUOTE=The Smiths in Puglia]....In Italy you have to pay the bank for EVERYTHING....[/QUOTE]

Yes, I'd forgotten that. It's not a killer cost, but something to factor in when considering "getting it sorted". We tend to pay a quarterly fee, fees for standing orders etc.... I think it's free to visit the branch, though ;)

They were brilliant..money went through in 2 days after I faxed my Iban.Ask for Bruce!

Becky

We have recently used the Abbey to transfer money both to italy and France. It is a flat fee of £25 and we I think we got a good rate both times, 1.4679 the last time. Do these other companies give a better rate and what fees are involved?

Jackie

[QUOTE=tuscanhills] We tend to pay a quarterly fee, fees for standing orders etc.... I think it's free to visit the branch, though ;)[/QUOTE]

LOL

The thing that always floors me is that you have to pay them to ACCEPT your money, even when you've already paid costs in the UK and you are sending them a Euro cheque. If someone where to be kind enough to send me a £ cheque from somewhere outside the UK, I don't believe the UK bank would charge a fee to accept it.

We have a Euro account in London with one of the major clearing banks. We can convert and transfer money from Sterling account to our Euro account with the same London Bank by phone anywhere in the world and at commercial rates of exchange (no other commercial banks have matched so far). There is no commision on exchange and the charges for items on the Euro Account are similar to a Sterling Account.

Our ½ûÂþÌìÌà Bank accepts cheques drawn on the London Bank and we pay very little charges on them. It takes about a week to clear (very good when you consider it can take as long as that to clear a cheque in the UK). You have to sign a form about money laundering every time you pay a cheque in (no trouble really: you sign and the bank fill in the rest of the form). We get really good service from our ½ûÂþÌìÌà Bank. You get an enhanced service if you become a member of the bank: pay a fee and become a small shareholder. Your membership is normally approved by the committee who has a local non-executive member. It is also good to nurture your bank manager (he can open doors for you).

If you are going to transfer money on a regular basis it is worth exploring if your English Bank would grant you the facility of opening a Euro Account. Worth a try! It has saved me a lot of money on exchanges and continues to do so.

Thanks for all the comments. ;)

I have been using XEtrade who I find are excellent. I send them money (GBP)via my internet bank account and then they wire the money (Euros) to my account in Italy. It only costs £7.60 each transaction (this being for the wire to my account in Italy) and it takes about 4 days. You can track the rates on the internet and when you see a good one you buy. At the moment they are at 1.4675 My ½ûÂþÌìÌà bank does not charge to accept these amounts. I bank with Unicredit Banca which charges about 6 Euros a month and every so often (usually every 2 months) I seem to pay a stamp to the government of about 12 euros. I am allowed about 8 transactions a month, after that they charge for each transaction.

I have also used Abbey for transfer money which took about 1 day and cost £25. It was also a good rate of about 1.45. If I was transferring a large amount I think I would use this way but you have to be in England to do it. It can be done while you are away but it means faxing documents which I am not too happy about.

I'm soooo glad Ireland adopted the Euro.....!

[QUOTE=valgee]I have been using XEtrade who I find are excellent. I send them money (GBP)via my internet bank account and then they wire the money (Euros) to my account in Italy. It only costs £7.60 each transaction (this being for the wire to my account in Italy) and it takes about 4 days. You can track the rates on the internet and when you see a good one you buy. At the moment they are at 1.4675 My ½ûÂþÌìÌà bank does not charge to accept these amounts. I bank with Unicredit Banca which charges about 6 Euros a month and every so often (usually every 2 months) I seem to pay a stamp to the government of about 12 euros. I am allowed about 8 transactions a month, after that they charge for each transaction.

I have also used Abbey for transfer money which took about 1 day and cost £25. It was also a good rate of about 1.45. If I was transferring a large amount I think I would use this way but you have to be in England to do it. It can be done while you are away but it means faxing documents which I am not too happy about.[/QUOTE]

XETrade were recommended on another thread here. We've signed up with them but haven't used the facility yet. Our first transfer (for the exchange) was made from our personal Smile internet account - did not arrive in time even though we allowed seven working days. Smile used a correspondent bank rather than direct to our ½ûÂþÌìÌà bank and that seemed to cause major problems in Italy. For the completion we transferred from Bob's Lloyds account and the money was there in two days. I'm a great fan of internet banks but it seems the high street bank did have an advantage on that occasion. Looking forward to using XETrade soon.

We use Lloydstsb to transfer money from uk account to Italy and it takes about 5 days, its useful to have a contact at your uk branch who can look after you and who knows that you are abroad so they just get on with it when you request it.

We used a speacialised money exchange company called International Currency Network and for the £50,000 we sent over, we got an extra 2500 euro more than if we had gone through Barclays . We were given 1.49 euro to the £ and no commision for the exchange against Barcleys 1.44 at the time. The extra 2500 euro paid for the translator we had to use and he was the one who recommended this company to us in the first place.

[QUOTE=Technically Blonde]I'm a great fan of internet banks but it seems the high street bank did have an advantage on that occasion. QUOTE]

We have used Caxtonfx on several occasions - very efficient, very good rates and no charges. To transfer the money to them we have used a high street bank (Alliance & Leicester) and an intrnet bank (Intelligent Finance) - the internet bank was much easier and a same day transfer was much cheaper with them. Caxtonfx have been very good at transferring the money to Italy - they even rang to tell us that the bank account number didn't look right and they didn't want the money to get lost in the system (and they were right!).

Thanks again for all your help,where off to the Vice Consulate in Bedford on Monday for our Codice Fiscale's! ;)

I would advise you to use Currencies direct , when i wanted to transfer money my bank offered me 1.40 euros & currencies offered 1.47 euros
, that does make a big difference when you're transfering large amounts of money & they're using your money to buy money so theres no commision to pay( unless its under £5000,then it only costs a few quid )

First nDirect banking have been very helpful to us - good rate of exchange and flat rate charge of 21.00 pounds per transaction. No problems gettin g money there on time either.

Kath Thomson

We use UniCredit Banca. With internet banking it costs 2 euros a month and every other month we have to pay a government stamp of about 12 euros. We had to fight for a debit card but eventually got one.

To transfer large amounts we use Abbey National and they are extremely good, a good rate, presently about 1.44 and very quick. It costs £25. For regular transfers we use XEtrade on line. You track the stock exchange and when you like the rate you buy. They are very efficient and using internet banking I transfer sterling into their account (The Bank of America) in London and then they wire it to our bank in Italy. Each transaction costs £8.30. This takes about a week altogether. They have very good customer service and will ring you if you have any queries.

i find it strange bwhen people say that the bank has quoted them a rate... because once you get into the higher number transfers they phone the money traders in london and get a spot rate at commercial rates... the rates quoted by some seem to suggest tourist rates which are always lower...

however italian banks ..... it seems like pretty soon there will be a new person in charge... a second scandal has erupted here involving several of the major banks and one of the share trading companies and again it has reached the heights of the bank of italy.... i reckon second or maybe third time around it will mean his head will role...trouble is the italian government is unable to sack him and will have to bring in a new law to enable them to....

when you see the finace minister here at major economic conferences abroad accompanied by the head of the bank they refuse to speak to each other...

more seriously two or three of the major banks are having their senior staff investigated as lots of money seems to be diverted off into the caymens...

if you think about it a bit your english bank used to and most probably still does make lots of mistakes in overcharging.. most probaly one of the reasons why they gave up...the cost of administering their charges out weighed the actual benefits and when people started getting accountants to check it cost them in compensation.... nowadays bussiness accounts are still often overcharged... and if you consider the complexity of the italian bank charging system and the inability of anyone to understand the actual statements there must be millions purposely or inadvertentley skimmed

this whole upset started here when a spanish bank tried to take over an italian one... god knows why... but maybe because the italian bank virtually allows you to make unlimited profit out of their account holders... anyway it all went wrong and the central bank of the eu started looking at italian banks... what a nightmare... and ever since the scandals have been arriving almost weekly... so if you can avoid italian banks... and if not ...well they are all up to it... so there is no better choice... and none of them seem to be protected... so never ever hold investments in them.... or for that matter any financial institution here... the italians generally use the caymen isles