Converting Euro's to pounds...

masterluke · 22 Jul 2006 at 19:57

Hi,

I have 5000 euro's in cash that my parents have kindly contributed to my wedding fund (they gave me the cash in Ireland and I brought it back here).

Does anyone know the best way to convert this to pounds in the bank?

Obviously I don't want to lose a lot in commission and want to get the best exchange rate.

Also my future father-in-law is in a bit of a panic over recent money laundering law which means that largeish cash transactions like this could land me with extra hassle.

Anyone got any advice?

Cheers

Kell_ee001 · 22 Jul 2006 at 19:59

I heard the Post Office was one of the best places to do this.

Rotty · 22 Jul 2006 at 20:03

5000 euro wont cause an issue re money laundering rules ( I think £10,000 is the threshold for having to prove where you got it from )

I would talk to your bank re getting it converted , you ought to get a better rate than tourist rates for that amount

young lad · 22 Jul 2006 at 22:12

www.xe.com

momentimori · 22 Jul 2006 at 22:29

Rotty said:
5000 euro wont cause an issue re money laundering rules ( I think £10,000 is the threshold for having to prove where you got it from )

I would talk to your bank re getting it converted , you ought to get a better rate than tourist rates for that amount

I thought with the money laundering laws there wasn't a specified threshold just if the banker considered your transaction suspicious

Loki · 22 Jul 2006 at 22:41

Rotty said:
5000 euro wont cause an issue re money laundering rules ( I think £10,000 is the threshold for having to prove where you got it from )

I would talk to your bank re getting it converted , you ought to get a better rate than tourist rates for that amount

Not necessarily true Rotty.

Mrs L works for Co-op bank and she said all banks have a different method of making an assesment on money laundering. Some use a process of the average size of a transaction and if something is way above this then they may look into it especially if its cash and wheres its paid out to or exchanged. If you were being investigated for money laundering you would be on a watch list and wouldn't really know about it and that info would be shared with other banks

Biohazard · 22 Jul 2006 at 22:41

best way to do it if it is large amounts is gold, either dust or bar. What my parents done when transferring £300K from sterling to Euro when they moved to Spain. Beat the bad exchange rates at the time

sanofi · 22 Jul 2006 at 22:46

See if you can open a Euro account at your bank and wait for a good time when the exchange rate is decent, unless of course you need it asap.

Another option would be to give the money back to your folks and ask them to convert it in Ireland to pounds. That way you get 5000 and won't have to pay for the conversion yourself.

Amleto · 23 Jul 2006 at 00:01

sanofi said:
See if you can open a Euro account at your bank and wait for a good time when the exchange rate is decent, unless of course you need it asap.

Another option would be to give the money back to your folks and ask them to convert it in Ireland to pounds. That way you get 5000 and won't have to pay for the conversion yourself.

When I asked about setting up a different currency account, the fees were astronomical because it was a commercial account.

As for getting it converted in Ireland, I fail to see how that will help :confused:

robmiller · 23 Jul 2006 at 02:31

This is supposed to be a high class Bureau de Change, not some two-bit Punch and Judy show on the seafront at Margate!

maranello168 · 23 Jul 2006 at 03:51

Rotty said:
5000 euro wont cause an issue re money laundering rules ( I think £10,000 is the threshold for having to prove where you got it from )

I would talk to your bank re getting it converted , you ought to get a better rate than tourist rates for that amount

The threshold is £5k now (i'm the current money laundering officer of a certain bank in the UK)