Sending Money Overseas article discussion

unbelievable

ashleyingle wrote: »

In my experience as a currency broker, Santander payments ... have been the most troublesome. Firstly, always takes 2-3 days due to not being part of the faster payments (currently).

Are there two tracks for payments ... or is it just an internal system problem?

I discovered their intermediary bank is Citibank Japan Ltd and the reason given is "Payment cancelled by Citibank. Cannot send payments to Post Banks in Japan".

Now, it is not impossible to send money to Japan.

a) Surely it is Santander's or their agent's responsibility to know how and use an intermediary who can, or
b) If it really is impossible to send money to "Post Office Banks in Japan" (and I find it hard to believe), then surely they or their agent's should also know in advance of attempting ... or check before they do send? Surely their system should warn then.

It is their "expertise" in such matters which we are choosing and paying them for ... not just to "press buttons and see what happens" ... especially when you highlight that there are now FX systems with which one can do the same as no expense at all.

It seems to be the exchange rate in and out where we "lost" the money.

6 July 2011 Exchange rate 127.3461

8 July 2011 Exchange rate 132.4870845

The Post Office informed us specifically that we CAN send the money.



To make the con even clearer, the JP Post Office bank even has a webpage making it clear that;

a) it can accept transfers
b) how to make such transfers

www: jp-bank.japanpost.jp/en/djp/en_djp_index.html

unbelievable

This is an update, the telephone assistant admitted that Santander are having problems making transfers to Post Office banks all over the world since Santander took over A&L, Abbey etc.

Of course, they did not warn us. They made the transfer without knowing if it would work or not expecting to pass the buck, and loss on exchange rates, to us.

Definite warning.

West_Cumbrian

I realise this goes against the thread title but where else could I ask this question?
My son has returned from studying in the Netherlands. He opened a bank account there to pay his monthly accommodation fees. Now he's back in the UK with money left in the Dutch account and his accommodation deposit likely to be paid into it too. Its a few hundred Euros, but it's a lot of money to a student. He's been advised by the bank that the only way to get it back to a UK account is to return to the Netherlands and make the arrangements from there. Is there any other way that's cheaper than a Ryanair flight? Can money transfers back to the UK be set up with any of the organisations mentioned in earlier discussions?

[Deleted User]

I was going to send some euros to an account in Portugal but was shocked when Barclays offered a rate of only 1.0950:eek:
That same day, a pound would buy me 1.1260 in Waterloo Station.:cool:

dekkard

unbelievable wrote: »

This is an update, the telephone assistant admitted that Santander are having problems making transfers to Post Office banks all over the world since Santander took over A&L, Abbey etc.

Of course, they did not warn us. They made the transfer without knowing if it would work or not expecting to pass the buck, and loss on exchange rates, to us.

Definite warning.

Hi, sorry to hear about your problems.

Out of curiosity, was the payment made using the Eurogiro system? i.e. the money transfer system that both Santander and the Japan Post Bank are members of? I ask as I currently work in Japan and was considering using this system. Your comments have made me think twice though...

stella-blue

This is about receiving rather than sending. My husband has recently received a large cheque in euros (the bank, or possibly the sender, refused to make an electronic payment) We had opened a euro account in anticipation. The cheque reached our bank who now tell us it will take 4-6 weeks to clear - on our first enquiry we were told '4 working days' which seemed a long time now banks have 'instant payments'. I have looked around on-line and discovered that 4-6 weeks is common, even universal. What is even worse is that our bank alluded to charges which will be made against our account.

Despite many questions being asked by us to the bank to try to find out WHY this happens, we are none the wiser.

Is there anything that MSE can do to put pressure on the banks to try to alleviate this situation?

stella-blue

Thanks for the reply ashleyingle. We're now reluctantly having to accept this delay. I now have another question - we will have to eventually convert to sterling and a currency exchange firm we registered with has mentioned using 'EUR CHAPS / Same Day Telegraphic' to transfer the money to them (before converting)

I looked this up on Google where it said this has now been discontinued. Our bank's brochure says they charge £25 for one of these transfers.
So do they still exist? I am really getting bamboozled with this! Help!!

dekkard

dekkard wrote: »

Hi, sorry to hear about your problems.

Out of curiosity, was the payment made using the Eurogiro system? i.e. the money transfer system that both Santander and the Japan Post Bank are members of? I ask as I currently work in Japan and was considering using this system. Your comments have made me think twice though...

Replying to my own comment ... Santander confirmed to me that they are no longer members of the Eurogiro network.

looptip

I've been using them on a monthly basis for over a year now, after being referred by other expats.

rickybean

I have just been doing some research in to sending money from the UK to Australia. I have made 2 transfers already but they both cost me a fair bit in transfer fees with my bank. Im only sending very small amounts (sometimes less than £100), so for me, a £10 or £20 charge each time mounts up to a lot. One problem i have when being quoted is that though the transfers are frequent, they are not in regular patterns, so i cant book a forward contract. Does anyone make a regular payment like this themselves and have a way to avoid transfer fees? I have had a quote from so many comparison sites and brokers!