Tenerife Property Owners Ripped off by Banks

Suspicions that banks are clawing in every penny they can are confirmed by recent statistics which indicate that British overseas property buyers were ripped off by banks and other currency providers, such as bureaux de change offices, to the tune of over £242million last year, by not being transparent enough with how their foreign exchange charges are calculated, according to estimates.
 
The chief culprits are banks, many of whom are not complying with UK Consumer Protection Regulations introduced in May 2008, which require companies to openly tell buyers how a price will be calculated and thinks the problem will grow in 2009 as poor economic conditions force more Brits to buy abroad.

Banks tend not to give the most competitive currency rates and specialist currency providers can often save about 1% of the value of the transaction.  Banks often wrap up these transactions in apparently commission free exchanges, but make their money back again by offering a worse rate of exchange.

Paresh Davdra of Rational FX commented, “In some cases, we are managing to save clients literally thousands of pounds.  Its tragic to think that so many people still use the traditional banks to move currencies.”

Further investigation by the Office of fair Trading is likely, but until then anyone moving currencies abroad, whether is smaller regular sums for mortgage repayments or larger sums for the sale or purchase of a property should consider using a currency company.

“Although anyone buying a property today through Tenerife Property Shop will be advised to use a currency company,” said Mary Spencer, a Director, “There are thousands of people who are still paying their mortgages every month and losing money in the transaction”.

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