Barclays transfers (euros to pounds)

Epsi · 7 January 2009 at 1:47AM

Hi there,

Does anybody know how the money exchange via transfer works and what is legal to charge from the bank?

I have been receiving money from my family for my studies in the UK for three years now. Today I just realised about the amount of commission they have charged on the last transference I received:

Barclays bank gave me 848.66 pounds for 900 euros on the 29th of December 2008
Therefore the exchange rate they gave me was 1.0605 pounds per euro

Checking on here: http://www.gatehouseinternational.com/currency-exchange-rates-for-the-british-pound-vs-euro-dollar-canadian-dollar-dirham-aed-euro-usd-dollar
I found out that the official exchange rate for the day at 8.30am was 1.0389 (and the next day even lower, so it went down during the following hours). This means they should have given me as follows:

for 900 euros, 866.30 pounds.

The difference between what it should have been and what they actually gave me is :

17.64 pounds!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Isn't that a lot of commission to take???? I would call that theft and would like to contact my bank about it but I am not sure what the legalities of this are. Does anyone know? Is this charge really legal for receiving money IN every single month for many years????

Should I contact the financial ombudsman?

Thanks a lot and happy new year,

Epsi

rae1202 · 7 January 2009 at 2:16AM

sorry i used to work for barclays in international banking.... it is quite complex on charges and rates if your family have sent the money to be delivered in sterling and pay all charges at their end then you should get whatever they send... if they send x amount in other currencys then it will under a certain amount go on a blanket rate for the day (unless alot of change in market then they can be revised) this rate is different for personal accounts and business accounts.. it will be less the charges at both ends if they send amount and leave all charges to be deducted then the banks in country to which the money is going also charges a handling fee....

i hope this helps any more questions let me know but if you want to get so £x your family really need to send it in sterling and to pay all charges at their end it also can depend on the type of transaction if it classed as priority or if they have a special deal with the bank... if this is a regular accurance they should ask and negotiate some special charges

dzug1 · 7 January 2009 at 10:04AM

A loading of under 2% on the exchange rate sounds quite low to me. Most BdeC charge at least 5%. I would say it's entirely legal.

The financial ombudsman won't listen to you until you have exhausted the bank's own complaints procedure.

Barclays transfers (euros to pounds)

Comments

Categories

Get our FREE Weekly email full of deals & guides - and it’s spam-free