Hello Everyone,

New to the forum, please bear with us.

My husband & I are moving to Spain, the Malaga region upon completion of our property, hopefully early May!! There are several things that we really need to sort yet, but a couple of the pressing ones are:-

How best to bring money over to Spain? - It has been suggested to me to pay in sterling cheques into a current account and wait for them to clear or negotiate an exchange rate (not tourist rates) with the bank and pay for chaps/international transfer, depending on value.

We are also quite heavily dependent upon the internet for family contact and seem to be finding poor reports about it and that cost is high. We have had problems with our own internet even with English speaking people trying to sort it out. We do not as yet speak Spanish (but plan to rectify that as soon as we can learn) and dread being unable to sort anything out because of our language barrier. Are there any English speaking companies who are known to be helpful?

Any advice gratefully received please.

Thank you.

Monty - 08 April 2009 12:32 PM

How best to bring money over to Spain? - It has been suggested to me to pay in sterling cheques into a current account and wait for them to clear or negotiate an exchange rate (not tourist rates) with the bank and pay for chaps/international transfer, depending on value.

In my experience the foreign exchange companies like HIFX (there are plenty of others, I’m not advetising!  Google a few of them and compare.) offer a much better service and better rates than banks when you’re transferring. Some offer internet transactions, or you can forward-buy on a contract - for example I’ve been paying a fixed rate for two years on a monthly transfer to cover my Spanish mortgage and due to the fall in the pound I’ve saved maybe a couple of thousand pounds and not had to worry too much about the exchange rate (of course it can work the other way if you’re unlucky).

MartCross - 08 April 2009 01:38 PM

Monty - 08 April 2009 12:32 PM

How best to bring money over to Spain? - It has been suggested to me to pay in sterling cheques into a current account and wait for them to clear or negotiate an exchange rate (not tourist rates) with the bank and pay for chaps/international transfer, depending on value.

In my experience the foreign exchange companies like HIFX (there are plenty of others, I’m not advetising!  Google a few of them and compare.) offer a much better service and better rates than banks when you’re transferring. Some offer internet transactions, or you can forward-buy on a contract - for example I’ve been paying a fixed rate for two years on a monthly transfer to cover my Spanish mortgage and due to the fall in the pound I’ve saved maybe a couple of thousand pounds and not had to worry too much about the exchange rate (of course it can work the other way if you’re unlucky).

Absolutely agree,  stay away from the banks, their rates are very poor,  I use CD for all transfers and again have fixed a rate for two years, and it has been really good given the way the pound dropped away.

As for internet there are loads of options but is really dependent on local availability, which you can only do when you have foot on the ground

Hi there,

Thank you for your replies, most helpful. We will no doubt be back with further questions over the coming days & weeks.

😊

Agree re using one of the currency specialists to transfer funds - check MoneySavingExpert and Quidco to see if you can combine a good deal.

On internet, we’ve had problems with Telefonica and are currently looking at Mercury Wirless Internet who looks quite good. Would suggest you ask around on arrival to see who has what internet package and get some ‘on the ground’ reviews/feedback.

I have been with telefonica for nearly 8 years and had ADSL for 3.The only trouble i have ever had was when i moved 2 years ago and they took ages to connect me,apart from that i find them very good.Less agro then BT.