Helpful information when buying a property in a foreign currency.
For over 20 years Morfitt Properties Tenerife have been selling properties to UK based clients and have formed a great working partnership with Currencies direct. The company was founded in 1996 and traded over 10 billion last year. The company also has offices all over the world and thankfully one in Los Cristianos, Tenerife. We have found them superb to deal with and have a relaxed, helpful, professional approach and are never pushy. They will walk you through the entire process in exchanging your currency from start to finish and make the operation slick and safe. They beat the bank rates by trading much more than the banks. As all businesses, they are there to make money, they can work on smaller margins and give you, their client more money for your currency. There are no bank charges at all when using Currencies Direct, which is never cheap and can amount to several hundred or even thousands, depending on the amount of currency you are transferring. Using Currencies direct rather than your bank you will save between 3% to 5%.
They are of course regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) so you are well protected and your money is insured by the company. Banks only insure €100,000 in Spain and 85,000 GB Pounds Sterling. (Currencies direct have the highest credit rating with Dun and Bradstreet)
You can buy your currency in advance and even set a rate alert, so you don’t mis a spike in the rate of exchange if there is turbulence in the markets. Having an office in Tenerife there is always the added benefit when selling your property of sending your euros back into GB pounds Sterling without your funds touching your Spanish bank and incurring heavy costs. Currencies Direct can meet you after your Notary signing and take you to their branch and deposit the funds in their client account which you are named. You must take your property sales Deed, (which is called an Escritura in Spain) with you as proof of where the funds came from.

Just as saving money on any of the expense when buying a property in Tenerife, buying a foreign currency and transferring funds from a non-EU country cannot be underrated. The rate of exchange can vary with the different ways in which you transfer the currency. The banks do not give a good rate of exchange and different banks have different commissions which they charge.
Here is how it all works.
The money goes into the companies Barclays UK account in Sterling and is drawn out at La Caixa in € at the agreed rate without incurring any bank charges.
For sellers going from € into GB Pounds Sterling Currencies Direct have a unique agreement with La Caixa whereby your funds go into their clients account and saves on average 1.2% in bank charges that your Spanish bank would charge you.

Working closely with Currencies Direct we have grown in the knowledge of the workings of currency exchange to Tenerife when such an expensive decision has been made. We understand it can be daunting and so we like to advise you from the very start and get all the process running smoothly. We can introduce you to them or just walk into their office in Los Cristianos. You could even give them a call to familiarise yourself with them, they all speak English and I think you will be pleasantly surprised.

Remember, there is always “My mate Jim, in the Pub” who will have had a “better rate” with his Currency company! But remember, that the spot rates you are quoted can change literally in minutes, so my advice is to check and re check. Currencies Direct will always endeavour to give you the best that is possible and probably beat Jim in the Pub.

If you need any more information, please feel free to call us or better still, call Currencies Direct and speak to them. It is their profession which they specialise in and one we highly recommend.