Avoiding excessive money transfer costs

My wife and I moved to France last year. Two of our children will be attending universities in the UK; how can I avoid paying too much on transfers to help with their living expenses? G.J.

If you need to move money from France to the UK to pay for university tuition fees or your children’s living expenses, you could make significant annual savings by using a specialist currency broker to manage your transfers rather than a bank.

A specialist broker will help you avoid the transfer fees charged by most banks and enable you to secure a more competitive exchange rate, helping you get more for your money.

Additionally, a good currency specialist will simplify the process and give you flexibility over your transfers, whether you want to talk things through with a currency expert or would prefer to make 24/7 transfers online or through an app, your requirements will be handled swiftly and securely.

The possibility of on-the-go transfers with an app could also come in handy if your children go through their living funds more quickly than you expected...

You also have the option of setting a rate alert to target a specific exchange rate.

Simply tell your broker what exchange rate you would like to achieve, and they will let you know by text or email as soon as the market reaches that level.

They will also keep you up to date with the latest currency news so you can work out the best time to make a transfer.

There is not much you can do about high UK tuition fees or your children going on more nights out than they should but you can make sure you get the most for your money when transferring money overseas – you just need the help of the right provider.

Question answered by Pippa Maile of Currencies Direct. For more information on international money transfers with Currencies Direct see www.currenciesdirect.com/france or call +33 (0)4 22 32 62 40. If you have a query on this topic send it to news@connexionfrance.com