House sale (€) back to UK

[JM1987]

In the process of selling a property in Portugal and need to move the money (six figures) back to UK… any advice on most economical way of transferring the money back from Euros to Sterling to UK bank account?

[ChrisBCN]

You are unlikely to beat Wise… I would drip feed it over several days though.

[BuildBackBetter]

+1 for Wise.

[masaccio]

If I remember how Wise works correctly, Wise will transfer the Euro sums in chunks anyway depending upon what GBP-EUR transactions it is doing that day. Given their volumes I’d expect it to complete very quickly even if you attempt in one go. https://wise.com/help/articles/2932149/guide-to-eur-transfers says the transaction limit is EUR 230,000 for personal customers.

• This reply was modified 55 years, 4 months ago by .

[Steven]

Would Starling Bank be an option? They allow you to open accounts in both Euros and Pounds and can then transfer between the two. Never done it but worth exploring.

[Reeferman]

I used Wise for my Spanish house sale funds. I did it in 3 tranches over 3 days. No issues

[JM1987]

Thanks all – Wise does look good, not used before. How does this work in practice?

– Set up Euro account on Wise and have funds transferred directly there? Then move that to UK bank account?

– Or transfer as and when from current Portugal bank account to EUR wise account?

Or no difference?

I did a dry run and could see how to get the money out of Wise, but not how to get it into Wise!

Reeferman wrote:

I used Wise for my Spanish house sale funds. I did it in 3 tranches over 3 days. No issues

[AJA]

Look here

https://wise.com/help/articles/2898124/how-do-i-receive-money

You can just transfer from your EUR account to the EUR account you set up at Wise. Or give your buyers your EUR acc details at Wise.

You can only receive money in the same currency ie EUr to EUR but you can convert to GBP once received.

Then transfer to the UK

[BuildBackBetter]

Whatever you do, keep the documentation ready to prove your funds source – any one bank in the chain could trigger AML checks and freeze your balances.

[VinZ]

Revolut – if you get the free premium trial you don’t have limits on currency exchange but I’m not sure what the cap is.
But don’t lave the converted £ in there, move it to your account straightaway.

• This reply was modified 55 years, 4 months ago by .

[John]

I wouldn’t trust Revolut with any more than £1000.