Currency Fair

[Boom Boom]

Have fellow members received an email from Currency Fair advising that they have changed bank accounts?
I have replied to them questioning if this is a scam and had a reply stating that it is legitimate.
However requesting further that they forward part of my personal details I have not had a reply yet.
The last thing any of us would want is to make a deposit and see no more of our money.

[RaynSue]

Whenever I get an email like this purporting to be from any company I sign in to their official website and look for messages on there. If the email is legit then you will find the same information on the website.

I received the same email and when I went on to the site and logged in to my account there was a message about the change of bank account so it appears to be all ok

Sue

[Jim]

Looks genuine enough although cannot say I personally understand my email....great service they provide.

[Steve - SJD]

It is genuine - the same question arose on ours and a member called to confirm
and reported back.

I understand that if you log in to your CF account - using your own normal link - then
you will see a message about the changes that should confirm this.

HTH

Cheers

Steve

[J B]

From my e mail .....

Important notice - Our bank accounts have changed.


From today, our bank accounts have changed. You must now use the new bank account details for GBP deposits into your CurrencyFair account.

[Ian@tala]

Yes, got this email as well whilst not logged on yet, nothing to be unduly concerned about, businesses periodically change their bank accounts like individuals do.

[dobber61]

hi I sent a deposit all went ok

[Bo]

Hi All
just to let you know Currency Fair are prensently suffering delays clearing Sterling deposits into their new bank account.
I transferred some money yesterday morning & it has still not cleared.
They admit & are extremely apologetic but if you need to change your funds quickly, do be aware.
I'm sure they will have it sorted soon, but it is a problem at the moment.

[Admin]

Thanks Bo I was about to send for some currency from CF I will wait a few days.


Jim.

[ASHTON]

Excuse my low hi tech but have i got it right? As normal you still transfer STERLING from you UK bank into your Currency Fair account and they then transfer it in euros to your Cypriot bank.But of course into the NEW bank details they have sent you to transfer your sterling.

[Admin]

That sounds about right...

[Bo]

Hi Aston,
yes correct, but having transfered my Sterling into their new bank, it has still not cleared so I am unable to exchange it into euros.
As you will probably know, it normally clears within a couple of hours but at the moment it is in its second day.

[Bo]

Deposit just cleared, but would suggest you call or email them before sending funds.
I cant say if the delay continues or the problem is now fixed.
But I'm ready to exchange now

[Romany]

It gets worse. Having experienced delays in depositing sterling into Currency Fair, I am now experiencing further delays (2 days) transferring funds to the USA. They are obviously having problems

[Bo]

Yes a further update from me. I exchanged my Sterling for Euros yesterday & then carried out the transfer to my Cyprus Bank, which has not yet arrived, but it was late afternoon, so hopeful by tomorrow.

[jackobay]

I wonder if the Banks are getting sh*tty about carrying out transfers for a "competitor"??

[ASHTON]

Does anyone know if Currency Fair are regulated ie the Financial Conduct Authority.

[trevnhil]

If you go to their website this is at the bottom of the page..

" CurrencyFair Ltd is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland. CurrencyFair Ltd is a Corporate Authorised Representative (No.419450) of CurrencyFair Australia Pty Ltd, regulated in Australia by ASIC (AFS License No. 402709). Data on CurrencyFair website(s) (including pricing data) is protected by database rights. All rights reserved Registered Office: Colm House, 91 Pembroke Road, Ballsbridge, Dublin 4, Ireland. CurrencyFair Ltd CRO: 469391 (Incorporated in Ireland) "

Trev..

[ASHTON]

Thanks Trev.

[Jascat]

I am posting this in the general section, in order for it to get maximum exposure.
Four days ago I transferred cash from CF to my account in Cyprus.

Yesterday I also transferred cash into CF to exchange for Euros, also to transfer to Cyprus. This normally takes about two hours to appear in my CF account.

In both cases, the cash has never been seen again.

CF are not responding to e-mails & do not answer the phone.
Others are also having problems. Here is one example from another expat site.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

We used the new bank details and last Thursday 28th January we placed a money transfer of £500 to Currency Fair who we have been dealing with for several years- on Friday 29thJanuary at 08:00 am we exchanged the £500 for 654€ - 657€ less 3€ transfer charge, and requested an immediate transfer to our French bank; this historically takes a couple of hours (and at the worst arrives in our bank the next day). To put this into context £500 is just over 3 weeks of my pension

On Monday 1st February I rang Currency Fair (at about midday) to see where the money was, I was told there were a few teething troubles with their new bank and it may take a little longer; on Tuesday afternoon 2nd February I rang again to see where the funds were and was informed (by Geoff) that their Bank had failed to make the requested transfer, and that they would sort it out immediately and then discuss “compensation” with me.

I waited until today - and this morning 4th February and checked my account again – there being no transfer I again rang Currency fair, this time they said that they would have to contact the bank to see what was happening, we have been fobbed off, by which feels like every operator in the company, with every excuse under the sun, and OUR money is still in their system somewhere; an hour later I rang them again only to be told that their bank had NOT made the promised second transfer; and that they would investigate using another bank to transfer the funds and let me know within a few minutes.

TWO hours later I was still waiting for the information; in that time I have been making calls to their offices and am constantly on hold; I have so far answered their telephone survey – part of the on hold process twice (guess what my responses have been?) and left 2 messages for them to call me back, so far they have not.

At 12:53 (French time) I called again and spoke to Geoff who explained that the transfer was being undertaken by another bank and would be in our account today; he also said that he would ring me back at 6:00pm (French time) to check the situation.



Am I hopeful - I think there is more chance of me swimming the channel

The other half has just told me that French Entree are listing lots of problems with Currency fair as well

[trevnhil]

This is not good to hear. I feel sure that after your warning there will be many liker me who will have doubts about using them and look elsewhere to see what other options there are.

Trev..

[Jim]

Currency Fair offered a great service to many of us, I live in hope this is a short term problem, a good friend of CL did a test transfer a few days ago with the new bank details, all went well then.

Trev/or any member, if you find a service that we can use without any problems then please let us all know..


Jim

[Jascat]

I phoned CF this morning & the call was answered. I was surprised there was someone there (must be burning the midnight oil).
The story I was told was, Bank of America CF's old bank, was not happy with the amount of money going through the account & were closing it, giving CF thirty days to find a new bank.
A rushed change to Barclays has caused teething troubles, but CF were working through them.
Hopefully this is not a line they are spinning & things get back to normal quickly.
In the meantime it will cause difficulties for people relying on the cash.

[Jascat]

Quick update. The transfer of funds from CF to my Bank of Cyprus account came through this morning. It has taken five days instead of the normal one.
The sterling deposit into CF has still not shown up in my CF account.
At least the system is still working, albeit slowly at the moment.

[Romany]

CF allegedly transferred funds to my USA bank account Monday. It has not arrived and they will not answer the phone or call me back. Numerous emails have met with a standard email to check the web site (eventually). It is evident that they are in trouble and cannot cope. Be warned!

[Ian@tala]

My experience today.
- Transfer to CF sterling account completed at 14:15 (Cyprus time) today.
- CF confirmed receipt at 16:50
- Exchange and transfer of euros completed at 17:14

Will let you know how long it takes for the euros to arrive in our Cyprus account.

Ian

[ASHTON]

I must get some funds transfered to my Cyprus bank next week,and it is a four figure sum.What would you do.....take a chance

[Happy in Cyprus]

There are other companies about. Over the past year I've used Transferwise on dozens of occasions. Transactions are usually completed in a matter of hours. Great company and hard to fault. See: https://transferwise.com

[Pam & Chris]

We always use Currency Solutions. Arrange the transfer from UK bank in morning and funds in our Cyprus account by early afternoon.

[Aargent]

Does anyone have an update on the CF situation ?

[Jim]

I would also like any updates, would prefer to stay with CF if all is well..I'm sure it probably is, I may try a small test transfer this week.

[Romany]

Update

After seven days I am still waiting for the completion of an alleged electronic transfer of funds from Currency Fair to my USA account. I have tried to seek an explanation from the company but I cannot get them to answer the phone nor will they call me back. My emails were ignored for some considerable time and then answered with automated replies telling me to refer to the Web Site regarding processing times. Finally, sixteen hours ago, I received an email from a named person who apologized and said they would sort it out and let me know. Nothing since. Very disappointing!

[Rigsby]

I did a deal this morning at 9am with Currency Fair. I did an immediate transfer (a standard one for €3) to Bank of Cyprus Paphos. The Euro were in my account as cleared funds by 5pm. That is 8 hours.

I think a lot of Currency Fair and I am sure these problems are none of their making or due to any insolvency. As is so often reported in the press banks suddenly decide they no longer want individuals or company accounts, usually at very short notice. The normal excuse is because of "compliance". This is keeping the regulators happy that everything possible is being done to avoid being fined for money laundering or other prohibited activities.

Currency Fair have moved to Barclays and we know how they treat customers. If it is a compliance issue with the clearing bank it is not really fair to blame CF.

[Admin]

Rigsby.

I agree, as most of us use the company for euro fund transfers from the UK to Cy I hope all is well, and the change over banks gets sorted, I will try a test transfer very soon.

[Ian@tala]

Update: euros in our account this morning, so transfer time was in line with our previous experiences over the 3 years or so.

Ian

[lion]

Just logged into CF and got this message

Important notice - Our bank accounts have changed.

From today (9/2/16), our bank accounts have changed. You must now use the below bank account details for all USD deposits into your CurrencyFair account.

Bank Name: AIB
Account Name: CURRENCYFAIR LIMITED client account
Account Number: 26741031
Sort Code 930067
IBAN: IE20AIBK93006726741031
SWIFT: AIBKIE2D
Intermediary bank: Deutsche bank
Intermediary swift: BKTRUS33
Reference: CF4004751
If you deposit in any other currency you will need to check if the bank details have changed and update the details with your bank. Check CurrencyFair Bank Account details for all affected currencies.

Rest assured that you can still expect the same great savings and reliable service from CurrencyFair. Process times for Deposits and Transfers should not be affected, however there will be some minor changes to transfer cut-off times.

With the transition to our new banking partner we are experiencing higher than expected volume of calls. We are working very hard to respond quickly to everyone and apologize if you experience a delay.

[lion]

Just sent some money to our UK account and got the following message

With the transition to our new banking partner we are experiencing some delays in processing times. We’re working very hard to resolve this and apologise if you experience a delay.

[christinem]

I did a transfer Sterling to Australian dollars yesterday morning and it has arrived already. I also had to email CF with an unrelated question and they replied very quickly.

[Jeffbinin]

I must say I'm surprised that seeing continuing comments regarding problems at CF, people are clearly still taking chances and using them. Why?

Why not wait until the issue is sorted and the dust settles (and pay a £ or two extra in commission by using alternative routes).

[Jim]

I am waiting!!

[lincoln]

I am a wait and see person. If it all appears IK. I will do the transfer. Ciga Ciga.

[el tel]

I transferred some funds to CF at 8am this morning , they confirmed receipt four hours later and it is on its way to Cyprus , so it looks as if service is getting back to normal.

Terry

[lincoln]

I transferred some funds to CF at 8am this morning , they confirmed receipt four hours later and it is on its way to Cyprus , so it looks as if service is getting back to normal.

Terry

That sounds good Terry, can you let us know when the funds are into your Cyprus account.

Many thanks.

[el tel]

Will do , just checked my BOC account and it is not yet in but normally its in by the following day.

Terry

[Rigsby]

I did a deal this morning at 9am with Currency Fair. I did an immediate transfer (a standard one for €3) to Bank of Cyprus Paphos. The Euro were in my account as cleared funds by 5pm. That is 8 hours.

Did everyone read yesterdays posts. Transfer just 8 hours Uk to BOC yesterday . I also got 50cents better than the interbank rate.

[el tel]

Good for you.

[Rigsby]

Good for you.

Now that is not a helpful comment, is it?

[el tel]

do not understand your response , I was merely commenting on how lucky you were in the speed of your transaction , perhaps you can clarify what you are implying ?

Terry

[explodingaardvark]

El Tel,

I think that your "Good for you" comment inferred that, as opposed to Rigsby's experience of a good service by Currency Fair, you had experienced problems and he was interested in knowing what that problem might have been. As would the rest of us.

[Admin]

They "CF" seem to be getting back to their usual great service, I should know myself very soon.