Sending Money Overseas to France

If you are contemplating moving to France or are looking to purchase a French property then you will no doubt be negotiating hard with your agent to get the best deal possible on the price. However what many people fail to appreciate is that they can reduce the true cost of the property by thousands of pounds simply by using a specialist currency company rather than their bank to send their money overseas.

In addition to not shopping around for the best deal most people unintentionally expose themselves to significant currency fluctuations during the purchase process. This starts at the point where the buyer works out their budget based on the exchange rate at the time they start looking. However it may be many months before they find the property and have to put down an initial deposit followed some weeks later by various instalments. During this time the currency rate will have fluctuated – sometimes it will move in your favour and sometimes not – this gamble will mean that you could have to pay thousands of pounds more to purchase the required amount of Euros to complete the transaction.

Couple this with the fact that a high street bank will apply a margin of around 2% on any transaction and it becomes clear that the buyer needs to understand that the currency purchase is a key element of the property transaction.

Fortunately the solution to these problems is simple – use a currency specialist instead of your bank! It is with this in mind that Lost in France are pleased to announce that they have partnered with leading specialist – Currencies Direct.

Currencies Direct is able to offer clear and simple guidance to anybody with international transfers to make whether it is for a property purchase or much smaller amounts. This includes being able to offer the best currency rates in the market and information on how to book a forward contract to negate the currency exposure during the purchase process.

The key benefits that Currencies Direct offer clients are:

Free account opening
No Handling Fees
Commercial exchange rates, typically 1-3% better than those offered by a bank
Forward contracts to help guard against currency fluctuations

In addition Currencies Direct can offer commercial rates of exchange for smaller amounts, a regular transfer payment plan for those clients that need to send smaller amounts on a monthly or quarterly basis and travel money delivered to your door.

The first step would be to create an account. Setting up this account allows you to trade, but does not commit you to do so

Economic Crisis forces many Brits to play the waiting game

The economic crisis and housing crash gripping Britain at the moment are crippling the plans of many expats to start a new life overseas. With many Brits needing to sell their property in order to finance living abroad the lack of buyers in the UK housing market is preventing future expats from upping sticks and going. The state of the housing market is also having another knock on effect for expats moving abroad. Many are finding that they’re in a race against time to sell their property and move before the visa for their new life expires.

The currency specialist HiFX, which helps around 30,000 people to buy property abroad saw a one third increase in enquiries from expats looking to move abroad in 2008 and a 10% rise in the number of people who actually took the plunge, gave up on the UK and decided to live overseas. This followed on from record numbers of emigrants in 2007. The standard of living conditions in the UK and the state of the economy are forcing people to leave the UK in droves.

If you are in the position of moving overseas, but being unable to sell your house, an option to consider is remortgaging your house and then letting it out. This has a number of benefits for expats living abroad. Firstly it gives you capital without having to wait for your house to sell. Secondly, if you decide after a time you really don’t like living overseas you can go back to the UK without having to go through the cost and lengthy process of buying a new house, just boot the tenants out of yours!