The prospect of Sterling weakening further against the EURO is freaking me out.
I am financing my Jucu apartment with cash and am considering buying EUROs now. Would love to hear any thoughts/advice about this.
Also, can anyone recommend a good EURO account?
Thanks, Eleanor.

Hi Eleanor

I think you would be wise to secure your Euro value now - and not wait - just in case the value of the pound falls significantly further - which a number of commentators believe is possible.

You can normally arrange a Euro account with most UK Banks - I use First Direct and they can set up a Euro account on the phone.

You then convert your pounds to euros and they can sit in your Euro account (based in the UK) until you are ready to transfer the money abroad.

The downside is that the Euro acccount is likely to pay little or no interest - but if you are going to paying money out soon - this won't make much difference anyway.

Cheers
Neil

Hi Eleanor

I am in a similar position and having the same thoughts.

When the Jucu spreadsheet was used, a rate of 1.46 was used!

I was surprised at the extent of the fall when I paid the first instalment securing a rate of 1.39...this made a difference of about £590 compared to original forecasts.

The next payment due around March is greater than the first payment so the currency movements could have a significant impact.

If the rate fell by 5% say to 1.25 say then the difference on 20,000 euros is
£1,000....ouch.

The alternative could be to start drawing a 70% mortgage from March.

Regards

Neil, Sanj, thanks.
I am going to buy Euros to cover the March payment now.

Eleanor.

I also use First Direct and have a Euro and Dollar account with them. Make sure there's no minimum balance reequirement if you wish to keep open longer term.

As to whether you should or not it's really down to whether you can afford to take the risk of it going lower. Personally I don't see much of a downside now and the rate has edged back up in the last few days.