International XACH Payments - Cheapest way to receive small, regular ones in the UK?

sa_06

Every few weeks I get a small amount of cash transferred into my main current account with the Royal Bank of Scotland via International Direct Deposit (XACH). It actually shows as a BAC payment in my account.

When I first set this up I thought it would only be a few payments, but this has turned into a regular thing, and so I queried the charges for the service at the bank - the lady didn't explain much and suggested I look online on the website for the latest fee details or wait until one of her colleagues was free to discuss in detail (as she had no idea). Looking online, I still can't find a clear table which shows me how I end up getting the money in £s and how much (if any) has been a bank fee.

I'll give you an example of my statement:
Received $23.55 so I got £14.61 7 Jul 2011 BAC Payment
Recived $17.43 so I got £10.85 21 Jul 2011 BAC Payment
Recived $20.75 so I got £12.56 4 Aug 2011 BAC Payment
Recived $52.56 so I got £32.30 18 Aug 2011 BAC Payment

1) Does anyone know where the rates (if any) for this sort of account are available online? (less important)

2) Does anyone have any suggestions for the cheapest way to continue to receive these payments, from America, into the UK? :beer:

RBS counter staff cluelessness about international transfers makes me wonder if I should be looking around for some "best buy"-type tables, but I can't find information on this sort of thing for a "XACH" payment type

agrinnall

I don't think you're being charged anything for those transactions, the USD spot rate on 18 August was around 1.65, which means $52.56 would get you £31.85 - as you've actually received £32.30 you've done pretty well. I've never heard of the service that you're using but I doubt if you'll do any better than that (I'm also surprised that you're not being charged but I wouldn't rock the boat in case they decide you should be!).

PS There's some info on XACH here, don't know how reliable it is though. http://www.clickbank.com/help/account-help/account-tools/enabling-direct-deposit/

sa_06

I'd never heard of this payment type either - from googling, it also seems to be referred to as "ACH" (no X). But there isn't too much info around on it, for sure.

agrinnall wrote: »

the USD spot rate on 18 August was around 1.65, which means $52.56 would get you £31.85 - as you've actually received £32.30 you've done pretty well

Good point, I hadn't bothered to look at the historical rates and work it out because I assume that if there's a bank and a logical reason to charge a fee, the bank would :rotfl:Cynical, me

agrinnall wrote: »

I'm also surprised that you're not being charged but I wouldn't rock the boat in case they decide you should be!)

That's what worries me actually, in case they try and reclaim some if I should be. I did find it surprising that the woman on the desk that I enquired at was utterly clueless about this. Doesn't fill me with confidence here

agrinnall

I think that ACH stands for Automated Clearing House (from a vague memory when I used to be involved with payment processing systems) and from the link I gave the X means it's an international payment.

I'm not surprised that branch staff don't know anything about it, it's a pretty esoteric thing that they wouldn't come across very often and should probably pass it on to a back office payments department to deal with.

I doubt very much if they could levy a charge on any payments already completed, and in fact as the receiving bank it's quite likely that RBS don't have any charges for this type of service. Charges for transfers are much more likely to be applied by the sender, do you know if the USD amount you are advised of is the full amount you should be getting, or might it be a higher amount with the charge taken off before it's sent? If that is the case then you would be better to ask the sender to accumulate the funds and send them a lot less frequently - if it was sent annualy you'd only get 1 charge rather than 26.