I have bank accounts both in Euros and Pounds, and regularly transfer small amouts (less than 500 pounds) between them.
For thouse amounts I have discovered that by far the cheapest currency exchange option is to withdraw cash from a UK cash machine using the Mastro card from my Euro account, and then depositing the cash in my local UK bank branch. This ends up costing roughly 1.5% + £1-2 total per transaction, depending on the banks on both sides.
Strangly enough, EU bank transfers are terrible deals in comparison, even if they incur lower costs to the recieving bank (no usage of cash machines or branch staff). Once I ended up paying 8% total for a £1000 transfer. Changing cash at the bank branch, either in the UK or in the Eurozone, is a worse deal still.
Can anybody here share their experiences? Do you know a better or more convenient way? Which banks offer the best percentage + fixed charge at the cash machine? How do I know this information in advance? Are the daily cash machine exchange rates published somewhere?
Your help would be appreciated.
------------------- Timo Jeranko