What follows is a simple 'day in the life' of an estate or search agent who has a friendly and responsive currency broker on speed dial.
Whether you've been retained to find that UK house for your buyer, or they walk in to your branch cold, it is not too early to introduce a service like ours and there are various touch points during the UK buying process which could be appropriate times to reaffirm the benefits of our work.
If we assume that your foreign buyer is already living or working, or living and working, in the UK then they may well be moving money to and from their UK current account already!
You have a London based service partner who caters for private client currency exchanges!
Or, they suggest they want to submit an offer on a house you've sourced for them.
Regardless of whether or not your first thought is of Prime Cap, it is perfectly fair to speculate that the one of your questions would be to confirm whether they are bringing in any amount of foreign currency for the purchase and, if so, do they want some advice and help exchanging that currency for sterling?
You know someone. A trusted, personal, boutique outfit that only works with private clients. They're a reputable firm and you know them personally.
Would they like you to connect them by email? If so, then, please do.
Alternatively|simultaneously, you message the team at Prime Cap noting the name of the buyer, a short overview of their brief and whether they have Ok'd us to call and introduce ourselves or that we should simply keep and eye out for their approach to us.
First and foremost we are fabulously useful to your buyer when they're calculating how many pounds their foreign currency can be exchanged for against the live, real-time foreign exchange market. This is useful even before any offer has been accepted and our rates are often incorporated right into the very calcualtions done by buyers when they're working out what they can afford to offer.
Remember, we can usually improve a rate of exchange by between 2 and 5%. That is a percentage that could go straight into the amount your buyer can offer...so, using us not only helps your vendor get a higher offer, but it is tantamount to a discount for the buyer - it's a helpful tip that could help you up their offer.
From initial introduction|discussion to being in a position to exchange currency through us can be as little as a few hours; hence, the first thing to dispel is the myth that it takes ages to set up with a company like us.
Some of our referrers will even help their buyers submit an application to become a client online and complement that by emailing us the client's brief at the same time.
We're based in central london, a stone's throw from the West End and on the edge of the legal district. Our brokers have been known to sit in on meetings with a buyers solicitor, or schedule an appointment to follow it at our referrers offices.
This is an excellent way for you to add flesh to your accumen. If you can time the buyer in with us, then you're basically making yourselves more 'sticky' too.
+ We can have your clients funds in the UK as GBP within the day.
+ We can pay the initial 10% directly to their nominated solicitor
+ We can keep them and you informed of the movement of those funds with near pin- point accuracy so that both solicitors, client, you and your vendor have eyes on progression of the matter.
We will explain to the client the difference between just bringing in enough money for their initial deposit and the scope for them to secure one single rate of exchange for both the deposit amount and the balance, even though that balance might not be payable for a number of weeks or months.
A number of the contracts and terms we have access to simply aren't available on the high street. They enable private clients to remove the risk of the rate changing on them even if they have more than one payment to execute over a certain time frame.
They are excellent tools for those paying a deposit and then a balance, or those who want to quantify their sterling budget before finding a house to buy. Our brokers will happily elaborate.
If the client is yet to firm up their own UK banking arrangements we can hold funds for them until they want them paid to the appropriate party. Hence, objections like 'we haven't got things in place' or 'we need to bring funds in to the UK' can be fielded with confidence and pro-activity rather than the unknowing on your part as to if and when the buyer might be proceedable.
As you might imagine, we also have longstanding working relationships with a number of UK banks, both private and high street. We'd be very happy to make a recommendation if your buyer were as yet undecided.
Likewise, we enjoy some exclusive|preferential terms and tie ins with insurers, school search specialists and resettling specialists should you want to truly guild the lily.
If, for some reason, the purchase stalls, falls through or the buyer finds something else, your introduction to us means the client is vicariously but indelibly linked to you; so, if you have chosen to formally partner with us, we are still in a position to honour any reciprocal referral arrangement.
Supposing things proceed and the buyer's offer is accepted, we agree the bespoke terms of the currency exchange, lock in the rate of exchange and simply ask the buyer to electronically transmit the foreign currency amount to our secure, segregated, client trust accounts.
Our footprint is global. We work with Tier 1 UK institutions which means that regardless of the bank your buyer uses to send funds to the UK, funds will arrive here as quickly as they can and our brokers are on the telephone and communicating with the buyer pre-emptively to make sure there are no hold ups, they have all the information they require and they have an appropriate understanding of how to fulfill their side of the exchange.
The buyer might elect to make use of our 'Fully Managed' service wrapper. This means that their only action is to authorise their bank to electronically transmit funds to us.
If they are familiar with using a currency company then do still emphasise the benefit of enquiring with us. For partners we know we will tailor our margins to specifically undercut other brokers already on the scene. Any good will we can generate for you and for us by offering your client more is done so diligently and forms an important part of how we market ourselves.
We will equip ourselves with the relevant details for the UK recipient and push through the booking and the payment the moment the foreign currency amount arrives with us. The client simply sits back and waits for you and|or their solicitor to confirm arrival of funds and completion of the purchase.
Give our brokers a call if you would like to know more or discuss how our services might be best aligned with your work in this area.
02031728193