Absolute peace of mind with a forward contract

“Without a forward contract we would have had sleepless nights. We might have had to find another £8,000!”

Last September, Debbie from England agreed to buy a property in France with Beaux Villages Immobilier.

During the course of the property purchase, Debbie watched as the cost of the €197,000 property in the Dordogne that she was committed to changed by as much as £13,000 due to exchange rate movements.

Was she worried she could still afford it? Not at all, because her Beaux Villages agent had recommended a forward contract with Smart Currency Exchange. Debbie explains:

“My agent from Beaux Villages, Su Ickringill, recommended Smart Currency Exchange and explained about forward contracts. Otherwise I wouldn’t have known what a forward contract was or that such a thing even existed.

But we were committed to the purchase and needed to know that we could afford it, so we agreed to fix €230,000 on a forward contract.

Over the next few months, at one time if we had not taken out the forward contract the house would have cost us £8,000 more and another time we would have been £5,000 better off.
Had we not used the forward contract, however, we would have had some sleepless nights. But even when the pound was weak, that didn’t matter because we had the peace of mind of knowing what we would be paying and that’s that.

We were very pleased both with Beaux Villages and Smart Currency Exchange. When I rang Smart the account manager explained how it all worked and it worked exactly as he explained it. So it was fine.

The only surprise was how easy it all was and we got a good exchange rate as well."

Beaux Village Immobilier’s dedicated Account Manager, David Newson explains the vital importance of locking in a rate when you’re making a significant transaction such as for a property abroad:

“Ideally you should talk to a currency specialist as soon as you decide to buy abroad, even at the early planning stage. That way we can help you set a budget for your purchase, assign you a dedicated account manager who will explain it all, discuss when you want to make the exchange and how to protect yourself from exchange rate movements. It’s all about putting you in charge of your money.”

To speak with Smart, just fill in the form on this page or call us on 0808 163 0102.