Transferring money

by **snapperjon** » 05 Mar 2010, 13:17

I need to move a small amount of money from the UK to a Greek bank account. Barclays (boo! spit!) want �20 to do this, which is a total rip-off. Imagine my amazement.

Any bright ideas?

by **sugardens** » 05 Mar 2010, 14:38

I bank with Smile internet bank (same as the co-op bank) and have sent money to Greece in the past. I've not had to pay as much as you have but can't remember exactly how much. Maybe it's worth shopping around with different banks. Alternatively you could load a money card with euros in the UK and send it snail mail to someone in Greece who could transfer it into your Greek account? It would have to be someone you trust as they'd need your pin number. Good luck with your researches and shall look forward to hearing how you solve this one.

by **snoopy2** » 05 Mar 2010, 16:01

I had the same problem Snapperjon when i had to pay the deposit on the property we were renting with Symi Visitor. That was with R.B.S. Needed a first class double honours in economics to understand the forms for transfer as well. Had already sent a cheque which went missing!!!!! It is a problem.

by **John H** » 06 Mar 2010, 08:10

Santander's Zero Credit Card doesn't charge a foreign exchange fee.

by **snapperjon** » 06 Mar 2010, 10:09

Thanks, all. We've manage to do the transefer via an Allance and Leicester account. A simple phone-call did it. Beyond Barclays, it seems. Not sure what the charges are(!), but it looks as if it'll cost �10. If only we were in the Euro...

Anyway, the Little Blue House is OURS for the middle weeks of September!

(And we'll be having a party - so let us know if you're there then).

Huge thanks to Wendy and Adriana for booking this for us!

by **Kojak** » 06 Mar 2010, 21:00

No doubt you'll be leaving on 22nd September, Jon, the day I arrive! :evil:

by **Allan** » 06 Mar 2010, 23:48

You will LOVE the Little Blue House Jon. Wonderful quiet position yet handy for the Rainbow, Sunrise and Olive Tree. What more could you want?

by **snapperjon** » 07 Mar 2010, 09:23

Kojak, we're flying back on the 25th, so if you're getting in on the 22nd, that'll give us time to hide.

Allan, we looked at quite a few places and this seemed to have the lot - position, view, space to entertain, proximity to beer.

Seems that quite a few from this forum may be around - really looking forward to meeting at last!

by **Kojak** » 07 Mar 2010, 15:08

23rd September would seem to be a good date for a party then? :twisted:

by **Aspen** » 08 Mar 2010, 21:17

We're very much looking forward to meeting up, Kojak! Not sure yet about dates for anything Jon has in mind, but we can always manage Lefteris of an evening on the 23rd, if nothing else.

by **Kojak** » 09 Mar 2010, 00:01

Great stuff! It will be good to meet the faces behind the Noticeboard lol!

by **Kojak** » 12 Mar 2010, 17:54

I was in the Post Office this afternoon and noticed they had a sign up for transferring money abroad via moneygram.com. I logged onto the site and found that they would charge �46 for sending �1000 to Greece. It looks like the Alliance and Leicester might have been cheapest. Moneygram.com don't transfer it to a bank, but to a moneygram agent so it might not be any good for Symi.

by **snapperjon** » 12 Mar 2010, 18:48

�300 has turned into �315 with a �4 charge. This is an exchange rate of 94p, which seems about right. Anything with `agent` in it means someone has to be paid, I would think!

Just checked the UK Post Office rate, and they'd have given us �320 for �300, so this is pretty good I reckon.

Counting the days...

by **Kojak** » 12 Mar 2010, 19:12

The Post Office is pretty good and I don't think they charge commission.

by **Kon** » 12 Mar 2010, 21:25

[quote="snapperjon"]

�300 has turned into �315 with a �4 charge. This is an exchange rate of 94p, which seems about right. Anything with `agent` in it means someone has to be paid, I would think!

Just checked the UK Post Office rate, and they'd have given us �320 for �300, so this is pretty good I reckon.

Counting the days...

[/quote]
Jon that is very good exchange rates ,the Aussie dollar is less than half. :cry:

by **sugardens** » 12 Mar 2010, 23:16

Pretty please.........Can you make your party on 22nd as we go home on the 23rd - that way we get to meet all of you!

by **D and E** » 13 Mar 2010, 11:58

Having faced the problems in this thread of poor exchange rates, transfers and fees over the years we finally took up an offer of opening a Citibank Euro Account which is easily managed online and of course comes with a debit card that works in all the ATMs on Symi and elsewhere throughout Europe. Would recommend it to all us regular SVs.

by **AMPY** » 14 Mar 2010, 00:07

For what it's worth I got myself a prepay debit card last year. The way they work is that you pre load a set amount of Sterling onto them. That is immediately converted to Euros (at an excellent rate) After that you use them like any other card (including in ATMs). Mine has no charges whatsoever. (Save withdrawing money in the UK). You can top up anytime using the interweb or via your mobile. Good as cash except you are covered if it gets stolen. Worth a look.

by **snapperjon** » 14 Mar 2010, 17:07

Thanks, D and E and AMPY (hello AMPY, welcome to the forum!). We're thinking of a Euro account which would probably make the most sense given that we seem to be in Euro-land more often each year. How does it work in terms of a/converting currency and b/charges?

Re our September soiree, we'll be there between Sept 12th - 23rd (spending the last couple of days in Rhodes) and don't know what days we'll be having it. Of course you're all invited. We will anyway see some of you in a bar no doubt!

by **peterv** » 15 Mar 2010, 19:05

Most banks will make a charge for converting the currency into an Euro based account..

However if you have a Nationwide FlexAccount (and a small number of other banks and building societies) you can use a debit card to withdraw money from ATMs throughout the EU without any fees and get money market rates. In September 2009 I was getting a better rate than quoted as the exchange rate on the BBC "markets" pages at the end of the day.

Many of the high street banks will charge a fee for drawing money out on a debit card.

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