Spot Contracts
The simplest way to exchange and send your funds.
A ‘Spot’ contract is the simplest type of currency contract and involves agreeing a price that you are happy with, before you transfer your selling currency (usually Pound Sterling) to the A Place in the Sun Currency‘s client account, immediately after which we will transfer your buying currency (eg Euros) to the account of your choice.
The buying currency can be sent to any bank account, whether it is your own currency account, or directly to your solicitor, property agent, or other third party involved in your property purchase.
We can also split funds for you and send the exact amount for a deposit or completion to your solicitor and the balance to your own account abroad, for example. Or of course, you can buy the exact amount needed for a particular payment and send it directly to the beneficiary.
Spot contracts are agreed by phone or email, and once you have given instruction to us to buy your currency at an agreed exchange rate, we ask you to send us the agreed selling currency within a couple of working days – the rate won’t change in that time, as we have already secured it at the time of your order.
Are there any risks?
Once you agree a rate with us, we buy your currency at the same time – so if exchange rates improve between then and you paying us, your rate won’t improve. However, the reverse is also true – it can’t get worse either! This way, you only ever exchange funds at a rate you have agreed with us in advance, staying in control of the transaction.
In addition, once you’ve placed your order, you are entering into a legally binding contract with us. So it’s best to ensure you are definitely happy with our exchange rate before you go ahead – we are operating in a volatile financial market and are usually unable to adjust exchange rates once agreed, even if you are later offered a different rate elsewhere.
What if I don’t settle?
If for any reason you place an order with us and then don’t pay for it, we will need to sell the currency you ordered back to the market. Depending on market movement, that could create a loss, which you would be liable for, so it’s best not to place an order if you aren’t sure you want to go ahead for any reason. Please see our terms and conditions or call us for more information.
How long will my money take to arrive?
International payments take longer than domestic payments in the UK. There are a number of variables, and the absolute maximum time it can take is set out in our terms and conditions. We also have to complete internal compliance, anti-fraud and anti-money laundering checks before payments are released, which we will do our best to advise you of in advance in complex cases. Once you have paid us for your currency and these checks are completed, typical payment times are shown below in working days, although we can’t guarantee these because we are relying on a chain of banks to process your payment through to its destination.
The receiving bank may not credit your funds instantly, but we can confirm the date on which they received them.
For Euro payments to the EEA, we use banking facilities in Germany to send your payment, to help reduce or avoid any bank charges at the receiving account. This does not add any extra time to payment processing.
- Euro payments: same day if sent before midday, otherwise next day
- US Dollar payments: same day if sent before 5pm, otherwise next day
- Sterling payments: same day if over £30,000, otherwise next day
- Other currencies: 1-4 working days depending on currency and destination