Buying Euro's

For those of us with an income in the UK but a need to transfer money to French bank accounts, what are the most cost effective ways? Far larger sums, say over £3,000.00, we have used a foreign exchange dealer, Baydonhill, whose service and pricing has been very good. Smaller amounts to cover monthly direct debits from our French bank are more expensive. Cash withdrawals using our Nationwide debit card attract a £1.00 charge and a 2% fee. When buying stuff in France we try to pay using our Nationwide credit card as it gives the best exchange rate, not mid market, and no charges. We have been recommended another FX dealer which I have tried today. Purchased £335.00 of Euro's at €1.2106 to the £ (XE.com €1.20982 at the time of writing this) with a fee of £1.67. Should be in our account on Wednesday morning. Will advise how it goes but so far looking very good. Any other recommendations from your own experiences?

Euro's credited to our Credit Agricole account this morning. Very cost effective way of buying them.

Alpen wrote:Any other recommendations from your own experiences?

www.currencyfair.com is always a good deal.

We use Nationwide, which costs a set fee of £25 and a reasonable exchange rate. Using our debit card at cash machines for euros costs nothing as we have their new-fangled flexaccount which also gives a 5% return on any funds up to £2500, for a limited period of course. Account fee of £10pm includes European-wide vehicle breakdown cover and travel insurance.
Here endeth the advert for Nationwide....
We used to use HiFX but they charge a fee for amounts less than £3k, and use a lower exchange rate.
We'll definitely look at those others mentioned here though.
One word of warning. One exchange we did last year from Nationwide of £800 was credited to us at AXA Banque for 800euros, a one-to-one rate! AXA insisted that they couldn't possibly be to blame, as did Nationwide. The latter were more willing to look into it, and after some probing it was put right, with us getting an apology phone call one evening from AXA. If it hadn't been for internet banking however we wouldn't have discovered the cock up for weeks, until bank statements had arrived.

We have started using transferwise they gave us a better deal than our usual fx company by 2 cents in the pound .

We use CaxtonFX. They give a rate which is about 5% better than the banks' tourist rates and 2% better than bank to bank direct tranfer rates, and they do not charge a transaction fee.

I used TransferWise to get the rate I mentioned at the start of this thread. Go to www.transferwise.com. A good rate for a small amount and a very modest fee. All the ones mentioned are worth checking when you go to buy Euro's.