Don’t assume that high street banks will necessarily offer you the best deal. Currency specialists can save you money by offering better rates of exchange and lower transfer fees. Savings of two percent and more on exchange rates and £10 to £20 per transfer on transfer fees are very realistic.

Plan ahead
Don’t leave your overseas payments until the last minute, as you will be forced to accept the currency rate at the time of transfer. Making your transaction at the right time can make a big difference to the amount of money you end up with.

For example, if you were sending £50,000 to a European destination on 21st May 2010, you would have received €57,045, while sending the same amount on 11th June in the same year would see that figure rise to €60,525. That’s a difference of €3,480 in just three weeks, and it demonstrates the extent to which a bit of extra planning can profoundly affect your outcome.

Outside help
While high street banks are often the first port of call for most international money transfers, foreign exchange specialists can offer individuals superior rates of exchange, in addition to a more comprehensive range of services that will help protect them from adverse currency movements.

A forward contract is just one of the services a currency broker can provide. You book to buy or sell your currency in the future, at a rate you fix today. Forward contracts can help protect against adverse currency movements and can be used to lock into favourable exchange rates. What follows is a brief outline of some of the tools and products currently on offer from currency specialists.

Spot contracts allow customers to buy or sell currency for immediate delivery and are particularly suitable if you want to receive your currency quickly and efficiently. Stop loss orders set a minimum level at which you will buy/sell your currency. Your order will be fulfilled automatically if this rate is reached in the markets. Effectively, this guarantees a minimum rate at which your currency will be exchanged. Conversely, limit orders set a higher target exchange rate at which you will buy/sell your currency. Your order will be fulfilled automatically if this rate is reached in the markets. Effectively, this guarantees a maximum rate at which your currency will be exchanged. If you run a limit order in parallel with a stop loss order, the exchange rate at which you trade is guaranteed within a given range – which means you can plan ahead more effectively.

Currency brokers can also help you with regular payments, allowing you to lock into favourable exchange rates for up to two years, giving you peace of mind that the amount of foreign currency arriving in your overseas account will stay the same each time. They collect your sterling by direct debit and automatically send the foreign currency abroad, so every month you can relax in the knowledge that your transfers are taken care of.

Contact
Tel: +44 (0)20 7589 3000
Web: www.moneycorp.com