One of the biggest mistakes you can make moving to Spain!

One of the biggest mistakes you can make when emigrating to Spain – or any other country for that matter is not moving your money around in the wisest way. What makes us say this? The simple fact that it is the one and only big mistake we made.

We’re pretty thorough people in most things we do, we do our research, and get our ducks in a row in almost everything; but somehow we missed the boat on this one and moved the initial money by conventional means. After moving a reasonable amount of cash and paying the price in unfavourable bank exchange rates and ridiculous fees we discovered just how many foreign exchange companies we could have used – most offering considerably better exchange rates, as well as free transfers (the UK bank average is around a flat fee of £25) on anything but the smallest of amounts.

If you are moving out bring just enough, get a bank account open and then use the services of a specialist exchange company. Be careful to read the licensing small print on the website, check to see the company is licensed by the FCA, and they should include a registration number you can check with the FCA if you are unsure.

While a bank might offer you a rate of €1.07, a currency broker like TorFX could help you achieve a rate of €1.11. That 4 cent difference could see you get an extra €4000 on a £100,000 currency transfer.

That’s one hell of a lot of money by anyone’s standards!

TorFX is Spain Buddy’s exchange provider of choice, and we have no reservations in recommending them. Full details of the company and free quotes on current rates are available via their website at TorFX.

Elle Draper

Elle, along with Alan, is the owner of Spain Buddy and the busy web design business – Spain Web Design by Gandy-Draper.
Born a “Norverner”, she then spent most of her life “Dann Saff” before moving to Spain in 2006. Elle’s loves are Alan, the internet, dogs, good food, and dry white wine – although not necessarily in that order.