I have just made my 1st purchase of a property abroad and will soon be needing to send my deposit in Euros. Can anyone give me any advise for who to use that will offer good exchange rates and commission?

I'm sure this topic has been dealt with before but I use First Direct. Very easy and very good commercial rates if you have an account with them. Charge is £21 per transaction.

I use First Direct too. I do all my day-to-day banking with them. I can instruct them to transfer funds to Czech or Poland using their secure email service. I get message back when its done and I never have to talk to to anyone!!

Huw, How do first directs exchange rates compare with the specialist FX companies like Currencies Direct or Caxtons. Alan

Hi I pulled funds over to Canada using Hi Fx heres the link with some info. They offered me rates above the bank rate, and you can set a rate at which to make the transfer. http: / /www .homesonsale .co .uk /finance /foreign _exchange/

I use HIFX as well. They give better rates than banks and they guarantee to refund any charges at the receivers end. I have tested this guarantee twice and no problems. I usually find that you can negotiate the rate with them if you have shopped around and got a good rate elsewhere, but I don't think this is unique to HIFX

I thoroughly recommend FCD, they beat HIFX everytime for pln, euros and huf. Can't recommend them enough. They do charge a £27 fee, but even with this HIFX have never bettered them on a deal in the last 12 months.

Thank you to everyone who has replied to this post. I am extremely grateful. All suggestions are welcome.

Paul you recommended FCD, do you have a link to their website or phone no. What does FCD stand for is it Foreign Currency Direct. I did a search and can't find them. Thanks Again

Hi Alan - I used to use Currencies4Less but FD are better than them and have always matched the others when I've checked.

Yes sorry for belated response it is indeed Foreign Currency Direct at www.currencies.co.uk. As I say don't forget the £27 charge. I found them to be excellent on pln (I normally have FCD on one line, and two others on the phone at the same time so you can strike the best deal in the live market) By the way, one thing to be aware of even though you have paid your £27 the receiving bank may also want a few zloty, and the Polish Developer in my case insists I add this to my payment (it's only £4 odd on about a £15k trade), but of course differs from Bank to Bank. Also use www.xe.com as your point of reference, you can see live mid market rates.