Need some recommendations for a UK resident

[Catanonia]

Hello everyone.

I have been lurking for a bit now reading up and have a few questions I hope you could help a newbie with.

I am in the UK and have been mining for a few weeks now and steadily reading the ins and outs of Bitcoin.

I have a wallet and an address, but I am somewhat confused as to how to buy and sell BitCoins as well as transfering them out.

I have seen all the usual sites and perhaps I am missing something.

In the UK I am finding that I need

1. A Wallet - Check
2. An account to deposit and withdrawl GBP. This is where I am struggling to find a good recommendation.

All these accounts are effectively a middle man, each of them wanting 4 - 6% or more just for simple transfers of GBP into their middle man accounts.
Ok so it is an exchange, but it is somewhat daunting all of the differing ones, which are true, real and trustworthy and more importantly which are not going to rip me off.

Can someone recommend a good site / exchange that I can use bank transfers from the UK to that is low rate and trustworthy please ?

Just the name will do, I can do the research for myself.

Many thanks

Cat

[Stephen Gornick]

Can someone recommend a good site / exchange that I can use bank transfers from the UK to that is low rate and trustworthy please ?

Bitbargain.co.uk has a few methods:
 - https://bitbargain.co.uk

Bitcoin Fridge re-opens on April 6th:
 - http://www.BitcoinFridge.co.uk

But since UK banks don't like Bitcoin, you should not like UK banks.  Convert your GBPs to EURs through Transferwise or CurrencyFair and then fund your exchange account that way:

Which exchanges allow me to transfer funds from my TransferWise account?
 - http://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/8149
 - http://www.reddit.com/r/BitcoinUK/comments/1b8rug

And then:

Here are few Buying Bitcoins in the UK threads.

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=160181

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=160181

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=162143

[Catanonia]

Thanks Stephen for the speady response.

No wonder it was so difficult if UK banks don't like BitCoins.

I am in the process of setting up a OKPay account for future use.

Cat

[ToWS]

Hm, I feel your pain, funding an account from a British bank does appear to be frustratingly difficult; but, take heart. In reality I found doing it was actually quite simple.

I first tried my local bank where, unbelievably, the information desk didn't know what a SEPA transfer was, and would only offer very expensive options.

My own solution, one of many as Stephen Gornick enumerated, was to use TransferWise to move GBP into EUR and deposit them into an account on Bitcoin-Central. The whole process went very smoothly. It was very much simpler than the terse FAQs make it seem.

TransferWise in particular made the process entirely painless with a very polished modus operandi. I would certainly use them again.

In contrast Bitcoin-Central may seem unpolished, but it worked as described and I could move my BTC into my Bitcoin-QT client within minutes.

Fees were approx 1 Euro with Transfer Wise and 0.5% with Bitcoin-Central.

Unfortunately, Bitcoin-Central have rather spoiled this recommendation by having some seemingly serious problems during the past few days. One of the perils of life on the edge I guess. As our American cousins say, 'Your mileage may vary'.

[Catanonia]

Hm, I feel your pain, funding an account from a British bank does appear to be frustratingly difficult; but, take heart. In reality I found doing it was actually quite simple.

I first tried my local bank where, unbelievably, the information desk didn't know what a SEPA transfer was, and would only offer very expensive options.

My own solution, one of many as Stephen Gornick enumerated, was to use TransferWise to move GBP into EUR and deposit them into an account on Bitcoin-Central. The whole process went very smoothly. It was very much simpler than the terse FAQs make it seem.

TransferWise in particular made the process entirely painless with a very polished modus operandi. I would certainly use them again.

In contrast Bitcoin-Central may seem unpolished, but it worked as described and I could move my BTC into my Bitcoin-QT client within minutes.

Fees were approx 1 Euro with Transfer Wise and 0.5% with Bitcoin-Central.

Unfortunately, Bitcoin-Central have rather spoiled this recommendation by having some seemingly serious problems during the past few days. One of the perils of life on the edge I guess. As our American cousins say, 'Your mileage may vary'.

Looking into TransferWise.

My take on it is that you need a foreign / payee account to put the money into. I take it this is a Bitcoin-Central account that you have created under your own name ?

So you are affectively moving money via Transferwise middle man to a Bitcoin-Central account ?

[NABiT]

I too found the bank desk pretty flaky about SEPA but I soon realised it was going to cost.

In the end it was no big deal to set up via transferwise, a great site, very easy to use and quite a saving on fees and exchange rates + you can pay by bank transfer or debit card.

I was also thinking about giving Bitcoin-Central a go and I might still do so when they are back up and running

[funkimon]

Yeah I've used transferwise. You transfer money from your account to the bitcoin exchange of choice. I used bitstamp. Takes a few days for them to receive funds in there account.

[martynw2000]

I'm in the UK too. My method is to pay bitcoins into my OKPay account, which automatically converts into GBP at whatever the rate is. Then you can get a physical pre-pay debit card from OKPay and pay the funds into that. Then you go to an ATM, withdraw the money.

As for charges, there's a 3.5% charge to pay in Bitcoin, and then a 2.5% charge to send to the debit card. I think there's also a small charge to use the ATM. You tend to take a hit at every step these days, but overall I don't think it's any more expensive than doing a wire transfer to a UK bank.

[Catanonia]

Yeah I've used transferwise. You transfer money from your account to the bitcoin exchange of choice. I used bitstamp. Takes a few days for them to receive funds in there account.

ahhh, you load up your transferwise account with euros and then connect your bits exchange of choice to it ?  Is this correct ?

[NABiT]

Yeah I've used transferwise. You transfer money from your account to the bitcoin exchange of choice. I used bitstamp. Takes a few days for them to receive funds in there account.

ahhh, you load up your transferwise account with euros and then connect your bits exchange of choice to it ?  Is this correct ?

You load up transferwise with GBP - they convert to Euros at a cheaper rate than your bank would - they send by SEPA to your chosen exchange at a much cheaper rate than your bank would. Check out their home page, you can try their calc before signing up.

[AlexM]

Hi

Im in the UK

I would use local bitcoins or MTgox.

Personally I used Bitmarket.eu and Mtgox. I lost all the money in invested in Bitmarket as the site owner was just a 1 man band who did not follow the best practice in terms of securing people bitcoins on his site. I have not lost any money on MTgox.

However MTgox is slow. When I purchase I bought from Bitmarket at £3.6o per coin. By the time my money arrived at MTGox the price had increased to £11.50 per coin.  Massively increasing my cost (although I transfered through xe.com to get a better exchange rate so the money took 3 weeks to arrive) .  This is why I like local bitcoins as you can do a deal on the day even if you end up paying a little more.

Either way there is not a good place to purchase Bitcoins for £ from.

[funkimon]

Yeah I've used transferwise. You transfer money from your account to the bitcoin exchange of choice. I used bitstamp. Takes a few days for them to receive funds in there account.

ahhh, you load up your transferwise account with euros and then connect your bits exchange of choice to it ?  Is this correct ?

You load up transferwise with GBP - they convert to Euros at a cheaper rate than your bank would - they send by SEPA to your chosen exchange at a much cheaper rate than your bank would. Check out their home page, you can try their calc before signing up.

Yes this is correct. I saved £30 in fees on my first transfer, Took less than a day from start to finish. Although I am still waiting my 2nd deposit to ggo in, This is probaably due to the easter break though.

[ToWS]

So you are affectively moving money via Transferwise middle man to a Bitcoin-Central account ?

Exactly so. Set up an account on Bitcoin-Central (obviously not during the current problem!) and you get details of a bank account in Poland into which you need to pay Euros. Any Euros you deposit into that account appear on the currency side of your online account. You can then trade your deposited Euros for Bitcoins.

I haven't used Mt.Gox, but their process seems to be very similar, albeit slightly more costly as they charge a receiving fee, and with a time delay.

Important: the Polish bank you are paying into is receiving money for many different users' accounts, so you must ensure that you pass forward your account number. TransferWise have a comments field where you can list your number, they then pass it on to the receiving exchange so they know which user has deposited the funds.

[John Self]

Very helpful thread, thanks.

[WikileaksDude]

Made this guide: www.bitcoinuk.blogspot.com

So far the cheapest way that I found to buy btc from UK..

Hope it helps.