Every day the traders at Smart Currency Exchange save their customers hundreds of thousands of pounds by helping them buy and move currency at the right time to suit their financial situation and needs.

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This article interviews one of Smart’s best traders, David Comber, who has been with the company a number of years; he knows everything there is to know about making the most of your money and how you can save money when buying currency or sending money abroad. When asked, David explained how he saved one client a lot of money, and how he did it…

David, you’ve worked for Smart Currency Exchange for a number of years, what is the most money you’ve ever managed to save one of your clients? As far as I’m concerned, any saving is a good saving, after all that’s what I’m here for! But on a serious note, there was one lady who was moving an extremely large amount of money, we’re talking over £1 million, and I managed to save her a huge sum of money when she moved her currency.

What advice did you give the client when she enquired about moving money? My client called and explained she was purchasing a property in France; she needed in total €1,900,000. She explained that the rates were at a good level but as she didn’t need to send the money abroad for a further 6 weeks, she was worried that the rate would have changed. It was then that I suggested she take out a forward contract. This is when the client is happy with a current rate but doesn’t need the money right away. The forward contract allows the client to purchase the currency at the current rate, but use it in the future. So if the rate has taken a fall for the worse, the client still gets to transfer money at the better rate, hence saving money.

And what happened when the client eventually moved her money, did she make a saving? She most definitely did! A few weeks later she called me again, ready to move the funds. I checked the rates for her again there and then and the rates had dropped by around 2 cents. That might not seem like a lot but if you remember she was transferring nearly two million euros. We worked out that if she had not taken the forward contract and had instead purchased that day, then the euros would have cost her around an extra £35,000. That is a lot of money to lose for the sake of 2 cents. Needless to say she was really grateful to have had the option of the forward contract.

It is often thought that the only way to buy currency is by paying for it in full, at the rate given by your high street bank on the day that you go in to buy it. Most buyers have no idea that they have any currency options – they simply buy the currency, let’s  Continue Reading…

Can you afford to lose £4,000? The economic crisis is certainly causing issues for people all over the world, yet in the world of international money transfers there are actions that can be taken to safeguard your money – especially if different currencies are required. International payments include payments between countries for property, the movement  Continue Reading…

What does the increase in the €/£ exchange rate mean to you? The last few months have been good for sterling relative to the euro. At one stage we even exceeded a rate of €1.21/£1 – the last time we saw this was in late 2008. But have you sat down and worked out what  Continue Reading…

A couple of days ago I was asked a very simple question by someone who was thinking of buying property abroad: “How do currency companies differ?” He went on to add: “They all seem the same…they seem to offer the same benefits when I speak to them about transferring money abroad. How do I know  Continue Reading…

By Charles Purdy, Smart Currency Exchange Many British ex-pats overseas send or receive money to or from the UK and in the process they unintentionally lose money. In some cases, losses can be up to tens of thousands! This is part 4 of a special 4-part series that has been written to outline how the  Continue Reading…

By Charles Purdy, Smart Currency Exchange Many British ex-pats overseas send or receive money to or from the UK and in the process they unintentionally lose money. In some cases, losses can be up to tens of thousands! This is part 3 of a special 4-part series that has been written to outline how the  Continue Reading…

Stop Banks from Cashing in on Your Overseas Transfers – Part Two By Charles Purdy, Smart Currency Exchange Many British ex-pats overseas send or receive money to or from the UK and in the process they unintentionally lose money. In some cases, losses can be up to tens of thousands! This is part 2 of  Continue Reading…