Santander Overseas Fees

metalhead41

Sorry for the long post, I hope someone could help me with this question
I've been working in France since July so have had to rely on my Santander debit card for cash withdrawals and paying for meals.
I've been trying to work out their fees and think I am being overcharged by them on the "exchange fee".

I've finally managed to find out that Santander place an exchange fee of 2.75% when exchanging money. This appears on my statement thrown in with the initial transaction. They then charge a further £1.25 for paying by debit card or 1.5% or £1.99 minimum for cash withdrawals which appears on my statement as a seperate transaction.

If someone could check my workings out I would be very greatful
I withdrew €100 from an ATM machine (no chargee from the machine) at an exhange rate of 0.87p to €1. On my bank statement Santander have taken £90.14 out of my account.

When I work this out, it looks like this:
€100 x 0.87 = £87
£87 x 1.0275 = £89.3925

By my reckoning, there is a difference of 0.7475 (lets call it 75p ). Now, I know 75p isn't a lot of money, but I'v gone through all of my transactions, and it appears every single one is out with my calculations. So, from July until now I have been overcharged the sum of £5.77 by Santander.

I phoned Santander up, to be told I should go into branch (coincidently, why does the branch always tell me to phone them up and telephone banking tell me to go into branch?) to sort this out.

So, before I head back to the UK and go into a branch, do my calculations look right? I wouldn't want to go in and make a fool of myself

Cheers,

Dan

pmduk

metalhead41 wrote: »

coincidently, why does the branch always tell me to phone them up and telephone banking tell me to go into branch?

Dan

It's because they're unable/unwilling to train their staff properly.

dzug1

At the ATM were you asking for your account to be charged in ££ or €€?? If the former it could be DCC at work.

Looks very odd though. I doubt if the branch will have a clue. You'll probably end up by having to put it in writing

metalhead41

After a lot more searching around, my statements only show the exchange rate to 2 decimal places. When I check the exchange rate for each day it is a lot more accurate, so when I put this in my calculation it seems to work out right.
Why Santander don't provide the full exchange rate I do not know...

jamieps

Slightly OT - but you could ask for the Santander Zero credit card, which is free for spending abroad and uses the MasterCard exchange rate on the day.

hermante

jamieps wrote: »

Slightly OT - but you could ask for the Santander Zero credit card, which is free for spending abroad and uses the MasterCard exchange rate on the day.

You can't apply for the Zero CC any more.


The debit card should use the Visa rates, which can be found at http://corporate.visa.com/pd/consumer_services/consumer_ex_rates.jsp?src=ex_rez

Redbillie

We use our Santander debit card in Spain and have been told by our branch in the UK that providing our current account is deposited with at least £1000 per month (which it is) and providing we use a Santander ATM, there is no commission or fees charged. We have been doing this for some time and haven't had a problem. Apparently, you only get this deal at the ATM, not if you went into the branch and withdrew cash.