Lay My Hat

Hi

I and my guests are being hit by exchange rate fluctuations when I refund security deposits to foreign banks/cards. Anyone got any bright ideas to avoid this? Some of the security deposits are large amounts and losing £50 on return.
Thanks

Just a thought, who are you using for the Exchange and transfer? Some companies apply horrible FX rates whereby you have a built-in loss.
I use Currencyfair, whose rate is within half a percent of interbank rate, and they charge a fee of only €3.

Beyond that it's a case of practicalities - FX rates do move over time, sometimes quite sharply and there's not much you can do about it except maybe take the damage deposit upon arrival, to minimise the scope for movement, but as we have seen here, that gives rise to other problems. However you could try demanding the deposit money, say, one week before arrival, which would at least minimise the time factor in exchange movements.

I refund in the currency the client paid in, euros or gbp. Transfer costs me c 1e max online for euros, free in gbp.

I always give deposits back in the same currency I received them - i.e. Euros or £UK (I don't accept any other currency) then I don't have to worry about any exchange rate changes.

Try using the TransferWise Borderless account which would allow you to hold the deposit in the currency it's paid in. There would be a small fee for returning it (€0.60 ??) but low cost exchange if you need to keep it.

RichardHenshall wrote:Try using the TransferWise Borderless account which would allow you to hold the deposit in the currency it's paid in. There would be a small fee for returning it (€0.60 ??) but low cost exchange if you need to keep it.

I already use this company for money transfers but cannot find any reference to borderless accounts on their website!

RichardHenshall wrote:https://transferwise.com/gb/borderless/

Brill - thanks