Diary of an emigrant

Monday, May 14, 2007

Now we are transportless too.


Well, the BMW was finally sold last night, to a Mr David Doherty from Glengormley, bless him. The car was delivered to him last night and he gave me nearly £8000 in cash. He wanted to give me this on Saturday afternoon, but I didn’t fancy the idea of not getting it to the bank for two days, hence a small deposit had already been received. All the dosh is now sitting next to me in this cafĂ© in a small rucksack, but if you have any ideas about this, you only have 25 minutes before it’s deposited in the building society across the road.

We’ve also managed to cancel a few DDs and SOs and some insurance policies and so forth, so the admin’s getting a bit more organised. Now we’re researching the best way to transfer our dosh to Brazil. I’m sure there’s an obvious solution to this, but am finding it hopelessly complicated. The various options appear to include:

1) use the bank, transfer pounds, leave it to be exchanged in Brazil
2) use the bank, let the bank do the exchange, then transfer to Brazil
3) use a specialist agency in the same manner as for 1
4) use a specialist agency in the same manner as for 2
5) open a sterling account in Brazil and transfer pounds, exchanging in Brazil as required
6) exchange pounds for dollars here, open a dollar account in Brazil & transfer dollars, exchanging in Brazil as required

And of course what complicates it further is how, when and with whom do you negotiate the relevant exchange rates and charges/fees etc?
If anyone knows anyone who’s familiar with all this guff, please let me know!!!