How to transfer money from Spanish property sale into Revolut

@peterchin2

morning! if you wish to move back to uk then I recommend to use a currency transfer company

as tax adviser, I can help you with one

@peterchin2 Hi Peter, maybe your question is unclear here because it is mentioned as a topic. Btw for any currency transfer it is just the matter of calling the consultant directly. Write to me directly if you need any help as i am also a currency consultant  and maybe you can pick the one you are most comfortable working with.

Thanks

@peterchin2

We paid our seller direct to his UK account, so I don't think there's any legal requirement to have a Spanish account for the proceeds. But if it goes into your Spanish account, you simply transfer it to a UK account (directly, or via a currency exchange company if you get a better exchange rate). I personally use Revolut and WIse, and I recommend them both.

I use Wise.  They don't  ask questions  about where I got the money from. My Spanish Bank is constantly  asking where my money is coming from and demanding copies of all my UK Bank Account Statements. They really are very intrusive and unpleasant. They claim they are only applying the EU money laundering  laws, but it's very counter productive because I keep as little as I can in my Spanish account.

@gwynj

Thanks for this @gwynj, I wondered  how a standard bank in Spain like Caixa add their costs, even just to transfer to an overseas bank, like Wise, etc?  Do they try and grab this 'cut' as well??

They're not getting their best profit by not transferring it (say 50,000 euros) to a currency FX account, hence are they desparately clawing to charge your current account at the outset? 

Best wishes,

Mark.

@Mark Areva

There's usually a service fee, and the exchange rate you're given can vary. The first is obvious, but the second is a bit more hidden. So you have to compare the final amount (of converted currency) being sent, rather than just the service fee. Typically, a bank will give you a less generous exchange rate so they make a bit extra that way.

The market has gotten more competitive because of all the FX exchange folks, so I'm not sure that banks are much more expensive at this point.

I have an ebank account in UK (Monzo) and when you want to do international transfers they don't even bother to do it themselves, they route it via Wise.

Now, you've got me curious... so I logged into Halifax bank and Wise to transfer UK to Spain (GBP->Euro).

The Wise fee was 2 quid and change, with an exchange rate of 1.16923 and Halifax was free, but with an exchange rate of 1.1277. Not much difference, but on 50k euros it might be a couple of grand.

Use Wise, as it has good exchange rates & is also a bank.

I was going to recommend  Wise as well.

@Meryl Evans

Wise is good, and I'm fan. But I think it's currently an "emoney" entity (like Revolut), and does not have a banking license (like Monzo, Halifax, HSBC, etc.).