If you are looking for a bank that can help you exchange your foreign currency, these are our top five best UK banks for foreign currency exchange. With this list, you know which banks will meet all of your needs. Let’s look at the criteria we used to create this list and see which bank is the Best bank in UK for foreign currency exchange.
Criteria
1) Customer service support – İt is important that there is someone on call to answer any questions or concerns you might have about the transaction when exchanging money. If there aren’t any people to help you, you may miss out on getting the best exchange rates. We were looking for banks with people on call 24/7, so our top picks had this feature.
2) Exchange Rates – You want to exchange money at the best rate around. Some of these banks have tweaked their rates on a regular basis, so they are always competitive. Check out our list of UK Rate Charts to see if any of the banks listed below have made changes to their exchange rates in recent months. We also had fractions of an inch fraction in mind when looking at the change rates that differed among banks, so we gave more weight to our assessment from a wider variety of smaller numbers.
3) Customer Service – It would be nice if the customer service representatives spoke a little English, but that isn’t a deal-breaker. We looked for banks that offered phone support and had multiple agents that you could reach one call to get help. If you have to make one call, it’s better to have several people who can answer you back in a timely manner.
4) Availability of banking services – Some of these banks don’t offer all of the services we wanted, so we did not include them on our list below. Some banks will only allow money transfers and currency exchange at certain hours, so we also factored that into our assessment. We know you need to exchange money on demand, so we factored these considerations into the final rankings below.
5) Fees and Exchange Rate Add-Ons – We looked at the fees that each of the five best UK banks for foreign currency exchange charged. Most banks don’t charge anything to exchange money, but many of them do not quote you the percentage rate until after they put in your request. If you can predict how much you will be exchanging, check out which banks will give you a better rate by providing their accurate exchange rates before they process your request. Also, make sure any bank fees are disclosed in full before sending in a request if they aren’t going to be added to your overall change rate.
Let’s Find Out the Best bank in UK for foreign currency exchange.
1) HSBC Bank – They don’t charge any fees when you exchange your money. You can reach them at 00800 50 50 30 30 between 08:00 and 22:00 on weekdays. They charge a fee of £4 per transaction when they use the SWIFT (Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication) transfer system in addition to your exchange rate costs. They can process transfers in around 3 hours in most parts of the day through their online banking system or by phone with a customer service representative. If you have an HSBC account, you can transfer money from your checking accounts to your savings accounts for free if the money is transferred in the same location.
2) Barclays Bank – Another bank does not charge a fee on your exchange rate. They also don’t add any fees on top of their exchange rates either. Like HSBC, they use SWIFT for international transfers, but they will charge a flat rate of £9 per transaction when using this system, in addition to the processing costs and exchange rate costs that may apply to your transfer amount. You can reach them by phone at 0800 912 3444 between 08:00 and 21:00 on weekdays and at weekends from 09:00 to 18:00. Their online banking system allows you to request foreign currency transactions on demand. Their ATMs are available at airports and international travel centers, but you cannot use their ATMs to withdraw money overseas.
3) The Royal Bank of Scotland – This bank also does not charge additional fees for exchanging your money. They will not charge fees on top of the exchange rate, but they may charge other fees depending on what services you take advantage of with this bank. They use SWIFT for transfers, so the flat fee of £9 per transaction is added to your total cost, in addition to other costs that may apply to your transfer amount. You can reach them by phone at 0800 028 2848, but the phone lines are only open during UK business days between 08:00 and 19:00. You can access your account 24/7 with their online banking system. If you need to withdraw money or use an ATM overseas, you will need to open an International Access Account.
4) NatWest – They also do not charge for exchanging your money, but they do charge a fee for using SWIFT (Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication) transfers. If you use this method, the flat rate of £10 per transaction is added to your exchange rate costs, in addition to any transfer fees that might apply to your transfer amount. They are available by phone at 0800 056 0110 between 09:00 and 18:00. Their online banking system has the same features as the Royal Bank of Scotland, so you should be able to access them to transfer money 24/7.
5) Caxton FX – This is a UK-based currency exchange company that does not charge any fees for exchanging your money. They give their customers a better rate than most banks, and they don’t charge any additional fees on top of their exchange rates either. You can reach them by phone at 1900 954 854 between 08:00 and 20:30. They allow you to request funds online 24/7 as long as you set up an account with them. You can also visit their branch office to exchange money on demand.
I think this article will help you make the right decision to find the Best bank in UK for foreign currency exchange.
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