Co-Op £162 Bank charges for withdrawing from account abroad

JimmyTheWig

bitemebankers wrote: »

We're not really being ripped off...we just don't understand that it's the bank's god-given right to extract as much money as they can from the consumer by any means necessary.

In some ways you are right. Not a god-given right, obviously, but it is their job to do that.
It is our job, as consumers, to make sure that they don't.

But despite being oposed to them taking our money, it's sometimes hard to blame them for it.

Would be like blaming the oposing team for scoring a goal in football. Yes, be annoyed that they have scored, but you can't blame them for trying!


In this instance, the way to avoid the banks taking our money is to withdraw it in the best way. The OP didn't do this, so is on the back-foot from the start.

antrobus

The OP is an "overseas student" who "needed to access funds" in their account whilst studying abroad, and used their debit card (presumably by ATM) to do so and "over the year incurred about £162 worth of charges".

OP doesn't mention the country concerned, the number of the withdrawals, the value of the withdrawals, or the amounts involved, or indeed what kind of charges their talking about. So who can say whether the OP is being ripped off or not?

bitemebankers

meer53 wrote: »

Charges are clearly detailed in terms and conditions, it's the customers choice if they choose to use their account in a way that incurs charges.

Ahh the "it's in the small print" defence. Classic. Door-to-door salesmen who rip off old people use the same line.

OP doesn't mention the country concerned, the number of the withdrawals, the value of the withdrawals, or the amounts involved, or indeed what kind of charges their talking about. So who can say whether the OP is being ripped off or not?

Anyone who hasn't been living in a cave for the last 30 years will know that money transfers, including international transfers, are all electronic these days and cost the banks next to nothing. The charges they make on these services are almost entirely profit. I'm pretty comfortable stating that their charges are a rip off.

In this instance, the way to avoid the banks taking our money is to withdraw it in the best way. The OP didn't do this, so is on the back-foot from the start.

From a practical standpoint, you're right. The OP has possibly been a bit naive and ideally would have started out with the assumption that his bank would try to rip him off and planned accordingly. If I'm guilty of anything here, it's being insufficiently jaded to believe everyone should *have* to start out with that assumption.

YoYoY

pooch wrote: »

You been speaking with Julie Goodyear, bitemebankers?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMvdXTD3VT4

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

Couldn't have put it better myself :eek: :T:T:T

bitemebankers

Bless you, posting references to stuff you've seen on your idiot-box.

meer53

We're not talking about door to door salesmen though are we ? We're talking about something else entirely, something that can be read and digested at your leisure, then it's up to you whether you accept the t & c's. No one forces anyone to open a bank account or use a card.

We're also NOT talking about electronic transfers. We're talking about someone who is asking about fees, at present we have no idea what the fees were for.

Cephalon

I'm planning to write a letter to my bank asking for a refund as a gesture of good will. Hopefully it'll work and i'll keep you all updated on my progress.

Looksguywalker

Cephalon wrote: »

I'm planning to write a letter to my bank asking for a refund as a gesture of good will. Hopefully it'll work and i'll keep you all updated on my progress.

How many transactions did you make? Did you accidently withdraw money 81 times at £2 a transaction? On what grounds are you wanting a refund as a gesture of goodwill? Should everyone who withdraws money whilst abroad be looking to get the charges refunded or are you a special case?

Cephalon

Looksguywalker wrote: »

How many transactions did you make? Did you accidently withdraw money 81 times at £2 a transaction? On what grounds are you wanting a refund as a gesture of goodwill? Should everyone who withdraws money whilst abroad be looking to get the charges refunded or are you a special case?

Something like that. There were a lot of transactions on my statements. Obviously looking back there were loads of different methods I could have used but unfortunately what's done is done.

Hopefully i'll be a special case, as I have been banking with them a while. Also before going I enquired about a Visa Credit Card which I planned to pay off with a direct debit from my current account because theres no fees on them but they never got back to me and I was quite pre-occupied with packing and getting stuff sorted.

Maybe I should mention that too

noh

Cephalon wrote: »

........................................... Also before going I enquired about a Visa Credit Card which I planned to pay off with a direct debit from my current account because theres no fees on them but they never got back to me and I was quite pre-occupied with packing and getting stuff sorted.

Maybe I should mention that too

Maybe you should re-read their credit card account charges if you think there is no fee on overseas transactions.
http://www.co-operativebank.co.uk/cfscombi/pdf/credit_card_account_charges.pdf