Revolut

[elsie]

As rabbit wrote above, with Revolut it is a two-stage process. You can hold different currency accounts (I have euro and dollar as well as sterling). I keep small, but useful, balances in all accounts. You transfer your money from your bank into the same Revolut currency account (e.g. from the French euro bank). You then need to decide how much you want to exchange and to do a currency exchange in Revolut into the outgoing currency account (e.g. sterling). Then you need to do a transfer to the receiving bank.

The whole process is very quick. If you don't dally waiting for the very best exchange rate (which changes every second with the market and even if you do click on your choice you may find it have moved slightly) Routinely I can transfer from my UK bank savings account to my French bank in less than five minutes. Revolut do not batch exchange requests between clients to try to match them so there is no delay.

As the market rate is changing all the time, I do not see how it is possible to compare rates from different organisations. You should be aware Revolut charge 1% extra for exchanges during the weekend to cover themselves as there isn't a market. They also have a fair usage limit, depending on your plan for exchange without any additional charges (I think it is 1000€/30 days?) They also have automatic exchange options so you can set a rate at which you want a buy or sell and it will only action the exchange at that rate.

I would agree the app can be confusing as there is so much squeezed in to it but once you've found and used the parts you want a few times you can ignore most of the other parts.

[manonthemoon2]

Is this the bank Wilbro mentions?

https://www.optimumbank.com/

[Wilbro]

That's the one motm2
Edit: No it Isn't, my mistake.

[glazedallover]

I'm getting confused although it is easily done.....this is what I am trying to sign up to.

https://optimalcurrency.co.uk

[Headers]

The bank is based in the US. The currency one is based in the UK

[glazedallover]

There is no way that it is Optimum Bank in the US for FX transfers......

[Wilbro]

Bedfellows has given the correct link and it's all British.

[Headers]

Bedfellows has given the correct link and it's all British.

is that meant to be me!? I like it.

[Wilbro]

@Headers
damned spellchecker, no it's not you Headers! It was supposed to be glazedallover although your comment was spot on.

[A.N.Other]

We have switched to Optimal. Better rates than Wise and a very fast transfer of funds. Also without a lot of hassle when registering.

I find all of those hard to believe!

Do you have actual examples if Optimal giving better rates?

Speed of transfer will be down to multiple factors not just the company you employ.