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Don´t bank on low charges

By John Hayward
This article is published on: 19th January 2016

Wouldn’t it be great if every time you were paid your pension or other income, you were paid a commission for receiving it? Then, each time you pay a bill, you receive a commission for paying it? You could make commission twice on the same money! Of course, this is not possible for us. It is for the banks though.

Let’s take an example based on real charges of a well-known Spanish bank and a couple selling a property in Spain for €300,000 and then re-purchasing a smaller property for €200,000 and investing €100,000 in an income paying bond.

On sale, their purchaser pays them €300,000 through a transfer to their bank. The bank charges 0.2% for receiving the money (€600). They then transfer the money to buy the next property and get charged 0.4% on €200,000 (€800). Finally, they transfer €100,000 to a Spanish compliant company based in another part of Europe for their investment. They are charged a further €400.

In total they will have paid €1,800 in bank charges for transactions other banks may not have charged anything for. The main aim is to choose a bank that does not charge. If high charges are the default, perhaps one should move to another bank. We can recommend a bank with no, or low, transfer charges along with no annual account fees.

One must also be aware that banks will probably earn a healthy chunk on currency exchange, selling the benefit that they do not charge a fee. With GBP falling back against the Euro, it is even more important to obtain a competitive rate. Whether it is for regular income payments, or one off lump sums, we can help you get the best deal.

Article by John Hayward

If you are based in the Costa Blanca area you can contact John at: john.hayward@spectrum-ifa.com for more information. If you are based in another area within Europe, please complete the form below and we will put a local adviser in touch with you.

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