Gatehouse Estates

Currency Rates

EurosSterling Euro exchange rates

Currency Exchange and Currency transfers for your Property Purchase Abroad.

The Foreign Currency Exchange market is the world’s largest financial market, in excess of 1.5 trillion US dollars are being exchanged daily.

The process of Foreign currency exchange transfers couldn’t be easier. and as most services – money transfer is a free service with our Foreign Exchange partner.

However, be aware that some companies make charges for transfering money abroad.

Here is a simple 3 step guide:

Step 1. Open an account

Complete an application form and ensure you have usually two forms of ID: (1) photographic (2) proof of residence.

Step 2. Buy your currency

Speak to a currency dealer and they will give you the current market rate. If you are happy with the quotation they will buy the currency on your behalf. This trade is usually confirmed in writing by way of a deal receipt and usually provides instructions on how, when, and where to make payment for your currency.

Step 3. Get your currency

Once cleared funds are received by your dealer, they will promptly transfer your exchanged currency to any bank account of your choice, worldwide, the same day.

Other than just choosing any particular day to exchange your money, you could choose other dates to make the currency exchange. It may be that you have decided to buy a new property that won’t need the final balance to be paid until 18 month’s time. In this case, it may suit you to do a ’spot deal’ today for the deposit and arrange for a ‘forward deal’ for the final balance. By doing this, you will have just ‘fixed’ the purchase price to your home currency and will have ensured that you don’t get caught out by a weakening home currency, or a strengthening one in the country of your purchase. This can save people thousands.

Here are 4 basic types of transaction:

Spot Contract
A spot contract is undertaken when you buy currency at the prevailing exchange rate at the time of the transaction and make payment within two working days. This transaction is typically used for deposit payments on property or for full payment if the funds to pay for the transaction are available.

Forward Currency Contracts
A forward contract is undertaken when you fix the exchange rate now for a specific date from one to 24 months in the future. As an example, your final payment for a home abroad may be the equivalent of £100,000. You could fix that exchange rate today with a small deposit, and pay for the bulk of that transaction at the completion of the forward contract. To guarantee the exchange rate, private clients will have to pay for at least 10% of the value straight away (a margin deposit) and the balance on or before the maturity of the contract.

Time-Option Forward Contracts
You may also reserve a time-option forward contract. This contract allows greater flexibility in paying. For example, a property developer may give you a date of December 2008 as an approximate completion date but may tell you it could take a bit longer. Your dealer may recommend that you set a date for your forward contract of February 2009 and you are free to settle that contract anytime before the maturity date with no penalty.

Limit Order
Limit Orders allow a client to set the rate at that which they would like to exchange their currency. Our foreign Exchange partner will monitor the market for you and if the rate can be achieved, we will purchase the currency on your behalf. We would then notify you of the due date for your payment. This is particularly important for contracts of substantial value where a small currency fluctuation may have huge implications.
Getting Started

If you would like further information please call our Private Client Desk on 01480 458400. You may also register online with us. We will contact you to activate your account. In order to complete the registration process, we require two forms of identification. Please also provide us with a copy of your passport or driving licence and a utility bill, council tax bill or landline telephone bill with your address.

currency conversion by professionals

The value of your foreign currency can be fixed for a given period ahead. If you don’t wish to transfer your money now, you can book the rate of exchange now, for a date ahead.

To discuss how best to make a currency exchange into euros at the best rate, talk to a foreign currency exchange specialist. visit fx-foreignexchange,

Rush to Place Deposits in Irish Banks

The recent announcement by the Irish Government that they will make a public guarantee to all customers of all six Irish banks with their headquarters in Ireland, has rocked other countries.

It now appears that the inducement of a safe haven of an Irish bank offering a guarantee backed by the Irish government has started a stampede of investment transfers. This is not surprising when the financial world is currently a very uncertain environment and other governments offer much lower thresholds as guarantee levels for investors, should a bank foreclose.

With the British government now talking of raising it’s public guarantee to £50,000, the unlimited guarantee looks very attractive to high net worth individuals. Foreign exchange specialists have been exceedingly busy in the last few days, exchanging pounds sterling for euros and transferring the funds to Ireland.

The 6 Irish banks benefitting from this are: Allied Irish bank, Bank of Ireland, Anglo Irish bank, Irish Nationwide Building society, the Educational Building Society (EBS), Irish Life & permanent combined with the Permanent TSB.

currency conversion by professionals

The value of the euro against the pound can be fixed for a given period ahead. If you don’t wish to transfer your deposit money now, you can book the rate of exchange now, for a date ahead.

To discuss how best to make a currency exchange into euros at the best rate, talk to a foreign currency exchange specialist. visit fx-foreignexchange, or call 01480 458400.

Specialist Currency Converters

Use a specialist business to make your currency exchange and save a great deal of money. Using a bank to transfer your money abroad can be a costly, as they tend to charge commission and a transfer charge, whereas most specialist currency exchange companies rarely make these charges.

In addition, a high street bank is likely to give you a worse rate of exchange than a currency broker can.

However, currency exchange brokers differ wildly, both in terms of service and value. Like all service providers, they offer services that are similar, but the differences appear subtle yet make a vast difference to your pocket.

Choose a currency broker that is interested in you, or your business. Most foreign exchange businesses will simply take your instructions to make the currency exchange, then transfer your money to the destination account. You need a currency broker who will take a bit more interest in your needs and will then advise on the best way to maximise the net amount from the exchange.

Here are some of the services that you could take advantage of by choosing a currency dealer carefully:

Regular payments:

If you have to make regular payments overseas such as a pension transfer, or maybe a mortgage payment, or payments to overseas suppliers, business partners, franchise operations for example, you could fix the exchange rate for as much as 2 years ahead. You could then set up the payments so that you can concentrate on other matters. The alternative is to use a dedicated currency exchange dealer, who can pick and choose when would be best for you to change your money. Neither of these services have a charge attached when you use fx-foreignexchange.

Stop loss currency exchange:

A “stop loss” contract lets you decide on a rate that you would be happy to make a currency exchange. We can arrange for the money to be exchanged as soon as a particular rate has been achieved. The money is bought automatically.

We can add to this service by placing your details with an individual dealer. That dealer will then contact you as soon as the agreed rate is achieved and you can then decide whether you wish to make the exchange. To take advantage of this particular service, you need to register with us first though as currency rates can change quickly and it takes a few minutes to register. Registration is free.

Fixed currency exchange rates:

For businesses, or individuals, that have to make a money transfer overseas sometime within a few months, it is possible to pay a small deposit and fix the rate of exchange, then pay the final balance nearer the time of the actual transfer.

This is great for cashflow and takes the stress out of situation because you will have already fixed the rate of exchange and have ruled out the possibility of losing a great deal of money if the rate becomes unfavourable. For example, just a few months ago, the rate between the US Dollar and the GB Pound was around 2.04 Dollars to 1 Pound. The rate today is about 1.78 Dollars to the Pound. This is fine if you have dollars to sell and pounds to buy, but imagine you wanted to buy 100,000 Pounds worth of Dollars. If you had fixed the rate in advance, you would have bought $204,000. However, at if you hadn´t fixed the rate and went to change the money today, you would have received $178,000.

The difference in the exchange rate would have resulted in a loss of $26,000 !

currency conversion by professionals

currency conversion by professionals

Why take the risk? If you are in business, contact us and we will be pleased to allocate you a specific dealer who will take care of all of your foreign currency transactions.

Our UK number is : 0044(0)1480 458400, or just go to CONTACT US.

For more information, please visit fx-foreignexchange.com

Buying Australian Dollars when Emigrating

Emigrating to Australia on your own steam
The first step in emigrating, is to find out if you are eligible to live in Australia. You can do this by contacting your nearest Australia High commission who will be able to assist. They will send you the relevant information regarding your application process.
You should allow a minimum of 12 months for a successful application to be processed. It is absolutely crucial that any paperwork submitted to Australia House is done so correctly or your application will be returned to you, and you will, unfortunately, have to re apply. Fees will also vary dramatically depending upon the visa category you are applying under. With police checks, medical records, government fees, and more, the cost of the application can sometimes be a considerable expense.
Use an emigration specialist consultancy
A migration agent is like using a lawyer to represent you in court. They will initially give you a free consultation and will let you know straight away if you are eligible for migration. If you are, they will begin to advise on the fees and time limits involved. They will then advise you of all relevant forms, references and documents that you will need to obtain for them to submit the application on your behalf.
If you choose to use an agent your migration process can be a lot quicker. In some cases, they may even save you money as you can be certain that your application will be submitted correctly the first time. It certainly will take a lot of unnecessary stress away from the migration process. For that reason alone, we would strongly recommend to anyone who is considering emigrating, to use a Migration Agent.
Buying your Australian Dollars.
Whether you are buying your Australian Dollars with British Pounds, American Dollars, Euros or any other foreign currency, it pays to shop around.
The standard route, involved beating a path loyally to your local bank and asking them to make the money transfer on your behalf to Australia. This generally involves a few costs that you won’t have to bear elsewhere. You are likely to be charged extra for making the currency transfer, and for your Australian bank to receive the funds. In addition, a high street bank doesn’t necessarily give the best foreign exchange rate which is the biggest difference between the bank and a foreign currency exchange specialist.
Consider this:
Your bank offers you a rate of 2.10 Australian Dollars to £1. You buy £150,000 worth at that rate, believing that it’s the same everywhere and you end up with 315,000 Australian Dollars, before they have taken their commission!

currency conversion by professionals

currency conversion by professionals

OR, you use a global currency exchange specialist and they give you a better rate of 2.1549 Australian Dollars (as it is today) to £1, giving you net proceeds of 323,235 Australian Dollars for your £150,000.
Net result, you have saved yourself £3,821 ( or 8235 dollars) to spend on something else when you get to Australia like a second hand car, tax and insurance! No effort was required. It didn’t take any longer. You just end up with more money.
Save money when emigrating, buy your Australian Dollars here, or just visit the site to view the latest rate.

Information on the Euro

The euro has been the single currency of the European Union since the 1st of January,1999. It was adopted by 11 European States and other Countries have followed since.The currency exchange rates were fixed for the Euro, along with the last day for the individual currencies of each of the Member States and they were:

Fixed currency conversion rate

Last day

1 EUR

=

40.3399 BEF

 

Feb. 28, 2002

 

=

1.95583 DEM

 

Dec 31, 2001

 

=

166.386 ESP

 

Feb. 28, 2002

 

=

6.55957 FRF

 

Feb. 17, 2002

 

=

0.787564 IEP

 

Feb. 09, 2002

 

=

1936.27 ITL

 

Feb. 28, 2002

 

=

40.3399 LUF

 

Feb. 28, 2002

 

=

2.20371 NLG

 

Jan. 28, 2002

 

=

13.7603 ATS

 

Feb. 28, 2002

 

=

200.482 PTE

 

Feb. 28, 2002

 

=

5.94573 FIM

 

Feb. 28, 2002

As of January 1, 2001:

 

 

=

340.750 GRD

 

Feb. 28, 2002

As of January 1, 2007:

 

 

=

239.640 SIT

 

Jan. 14, 2007

As of January 1, 2008:

 

 

=

0.585274 CYP

 

Jan. 31, 2008

 

=

0.429300 MTL

 

Jan. 31, 2008

Euro Banknotes and Coins Calendar:
· Mid December, 2001: introduction of notes and coins.
· January 1, 2002: new currency becomes legal tender. Old currency can no longer be used for non-cash transactions, such as bank transfers and checks. The individual currencies will remain as legal tender until the dates listed below:

Country

Currency Name

Convert by

Germany

German mark

Dec. 31, 2001

The Netherlands

Dutch guilder

Jan. 28, 2002

Ireland

Irish punt

Feb. 9, 2002

France

French franc

Feb. 17, 2002

Austria

Austrian schilling

Feb. 28, 2002

Belgium

Belgian Franc

Feb. 28, 2002

Finland

Finnish markka

Feb. 28, 2002

Greece

Greek drachma

Feb. 28, 2002

Italy

Italian Lira

Feb. 28, 2002

Luxembourg

Luxembourg franc

Feb. 28, 2002

Portugal

Portuguese escudo

Feb. 28, 2002

Spain

Spanish peseta

Feb. 28, 2002

Slovenia

Slovenian tolar

Jan. 14, 2007

Cyprus

Cypriot Pound

Jan. 31, 2008

Malta

Maltese Lira

Jan. 31, 2008

currency conversion by professionals

currency conversion by professionals

June 30, 2002 was the last day for changing old currency to Euro at any bank for the original twelve member states. Thereafter: old currency can be exchanged at national central banks and some specially designated banks.
Euro Denominations:
Notes: 500, 200, 100, 50, 20, 10, 5
Coins: 2, 1, 50, 20, 10, 5, 2, 1

To buy, or sell, Euros at the best rates, without commission or transfer charges, contact us here:

Quote me the best currency exchange rate
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