Copyright 2005 Oliver Phillips. May be freely reproduced "as-is" for private and commercial use. In Part 3 of this series, Oliver Phillips of PFS France (http://www.propertyforsalefrance.co.uk/) looks at an alternative way to move money abroad.
If you already live in France, or intend to finance your property purchase from equity in your UK home, chances are you'll want to move some money abroad.
Transfering money from
UK to France requires someone to handle transfer on your behalf and usually your bank will be happy to assist you but beware, though convenient and familiar, your transfer might cost you more than it needs to.
Instead you may be better contacting a currency house, a company which exists specifically for purpose of moving money; both large single amounts for your property purchase, and lower regular amounts such as a monthly pension.
Transferring money via a currency house is often cheaper than using your bank for two reasons; firstly their charges may be lower than your banks, but more importantly exchange rate you receive is likely to be more attactive than rate offered by your bank which is typically a tourist exchange rate and signifcantly lower than rate you see published in financial press.
