Taking money out of Spain

[nsa]

A friend of mine recently took a six figure sum out of the sale of a house in Spain to bring back to the UK and even though the mid GBP/EUR exchange rate was 1.15 and his bank agreed to match this, the transaction had to go through the Bank of Spain's system for money laundering checks, where they charged a 1.17 rate, which is nearer the tourist rate. It's cost him a few thousand pounds. Is there any way around this?

[Kneetrembler]

Send it back at less than 10000€ a time and you would not as a rule have any problems but once it goes any higher the eyes ar on it.

[fareaster]

I put this to a friendly official at one of the big Spanish banks, this is his response:-

"this makes absolutely no sense to me.

All transfers over 50 grand have to be justified with a statistic code, money laundry departments are able to request documentation....etc. but changing the rate ?

What benefit would Bank of Spain have changing the rate of exchange ?

I have never heard / seen anything like this."

Could be a con...

[nsa]

Much appreciated. I'll ask. Heard something about the bank would reinstate the forex loss, but I don't remember the specifics.

[greenm]

Sounds like a typical bank scam the Spanish Bank know were the money has come from reference the sale of your house maybe the UK banking system will do money laundering checks but do not charge for it?? I have the same problem from the Caribbean but never have a charge from this end??

[The jiffle king]

I use UKforex for any currency exchange which has worked very well for me in the past