Sending money to Euro account - Charges Help

izzysmum

We have needed to send some money to a bank account in Bulgaria as we owed some money. I phoned our usual bank Halifax and asked to send 6645 Euros they told me the charge for this would be £12 and we went ahead, however the receiving bank only received 6390 Euros (-255E) I phoned halifax and after half an hour being on the phone and on hold they said the payment had gone through 2 other banks to reach its destination and the 255 Euros was bank charges which the 2 other banks had taken. I said this was unfair as I was not told that it would go through any other banks or that I would have additional charges taken from the money. she said they was alowed to do this.
Halifax said they could investigate but each bank would charge between £12 and £20 to investigate why the charge was so much and it might not get me anywhere apart from giving the banks more money. and I now still owe 255 Euros to the original receiver. Any advice on this matter would be greatly received.

natweststaffmember

izzysmum wrote: »

We have needed to send some money to a bank account in Bulgaria as we owed some money. I phoned our usual bank Halifax and asked to send 6645 Euros they told me the charge for this would be £12 and we went ahead, however the receiving bank only received 6390 Euros (-255E) I phoned halifax and after half an hour being on the phone and on hold they said the payment had gone through 2 other banks to reach its destination and the 255 Euros was bank charges which the 2 other banks had taken. I said this was unfair as I was not told that it would go through any other banks or that I would have additional charges taken from the money. she said they was alowed to do this.
Halifax said they could investigate but each bank would charge between £12 and £20 to investigate why the charge was so much and it might not get me anywhere apart from giving the banks more money. and I now still owe 255 Euros to the original receiver. Any advice on this matter would be greatly received.

I think your argument should be based on the fact that they did not inform you that you could pay any additional charges levied by the receiving bank or banks in this case, and therefore had no chance to change your mind and look for an alternative method of transfer that would allow you to cover the charges.

euronorris

I believe that recent changes in EU legislation means that most foreign transfers are subject to costs by both the sending and receiving bank. You used to be able to request that all costs were either paid for by the sender or recipient.

Either way, your bank should have notified you of a) charges that they would impose and b) the possibility of charges being imposed by the receiving bank (they cannot tell you how much as they do not always have access to this information). So I would complain to them about this.

Also, I would query why it needed to be routed through any other banks at all?

The difference, I suspect, is not all charges. If it has indeed been routed through several other banks, then you have probably lost the majority of the money in exchange rates.

As you still have some money to pay in Bulgaria, I would suggest looking into something like the 'Western Union'. Ask them to confirm all costs upfront and it may work out cheaper than trying to send it via your bank again.

Good luck!