How to get a spot contract

Open an account with us. It’s free and there’s no obligation to transfer money

Give us a call to find out the kind of rate we can secure for you

When you’re ready to go ahead, instruct us to secure the rate, for immediate payment

Make payment to us, then we’ll get your money to
where it needs to be!

Spot contracts

What’s the process for getting a spot contract?

A ‘spot’ contract is the simplest type of currency contract and involves agreeing an exchange rate that you are happy with, before you transfer your selling currency (usually Pounds) to the A Place in the Sun Currency‘s client account, after which we will go through our internal compliance checks and then transfer your buying currency (eg Euros) to the account of your choice.

The buying currency can be sent to any bank account (subject to internal compliance checks), 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 overseas account, 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.

Euro payments to the EEA or UK: same day if sent before midday, otherwise next day
US Dollar payments to the USA or UK: same day if sent before 5pm, otherwise next day
Sterling payments to the UK: same day if over £30,000, otherwise next day
Other currencies & destinations: 1-4 working days depending on currency and destination

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 here in working days, although we can’t guarantee these because we are sometimes 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.