Changing Money

We use HIFX - once your account is set up it can all be done online and even for me, a complete techophobe, is easy. www.hifx.co.uk In the past we have also used caxtonfx - not sure why we changed as both have been fine and allow you to set up an account with an Italian address - some of the others insisted upon a UK address so were instant non-starters for us. The rates are better, we recommended them to a friend of ours when they were buying their house and the difference between the bank rates and the specialists was thousands. However, be aware that the published rates are usually for large amounts, so if you are transferring less then you do not get the 'top rate' but it will still be better than the High St banks.

Thanks for the info. I'm being offered 4 points off the interbank rate on an exchange of Euro 120,000. I expected better and am rying to work out if I can get better! David

I used http://www.smartcurrencyexchange.com/ But it is always worth ringing round first to see what you get offered & then you can ask them to beat your best quote. I found the advantage of this lot is that you have a relationship with a real person & after the main transfer you can subsequently get a good rate if you have to transfer smaller amounts. Once you are set up everything is done with a phone call so you can watch the rates & react quickly.  Pip pip

sorry I am going to just jump on to your thread if I am wrong I will create a new one I want to move enough money over to Italy from UK for my deposit on a house and we really dont want to do a bank transfer and risk a bad exchange rate so  are these the kind of organisations that will offer the security of not loosing too much money   thanks 

I use Currency Online and the exchange is usually within 2 points of the interbank rate. They will hold the funds and then I can transfer from there to any bank with an IBAN for no charge (with mininum amount).

Another one I can recommend is XE.com. You can get a reasonably accurate quote online (though the rate changes by the minute!). It takes a little work to set up, but they are helpful about talking you through it. It's another option, probably quite similar to the ones above, but you could include it in your comparisons.