Outrageous international Bank Charges- Santander

Whatbigsociety

Tried to tansfer money to a European account today. The amount was paltry (€ 63), the bank account in France. Santander quoted me a whopping fee of £ 25 for a standard transfer which takes up to 5 working days. Luckily I still possess a German account, so I contacted my bank there to make the transfer. It was uncomplicated and quick, and the charge was - nil. Because it's a transfer within Europe. And wasn't that what Europe was supposed to be all about?

This is a blatant example of how British banks (or, as in this case, banks operating in Britain) are ripping off customers, and they should be stopped.

noh

The charge was nil from the German account to the French account because they are both in the Eurozone.
The UK isn't in the Eurozone therefore fees are allowed to be charged.
You are at liberty to open an account at a bank with lower fees or use a currency transfer service such as transferwise.com

opinions4u

I'd be surprised if it takes 5 working days as that would break a law.

But if you don't like the fee, do what you've done - go elsewhere.

I'm fairly sure that the German bank isn't allowed to charge a fee to send the money.

grumbler

Whatbigsociety wrote: »

...they should be stopped.

FYI, in many countries even internal transfers between local banks are nor free.

MSE article: Sending Money Overseas

RetiredInThailand

noh wrote: »

The charge was nil from the German account to the French account because they are both in the Eurozone.
The UK isn't in the Eurozone therefore fees are allowed to be charged.

Incorrect. The UK may not be in the Euro zone but it is part of SEPA http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single_Euro_Payments_Area and as such should respect the SEPA charging structure just like the German and French banks do. There may be some exchange weighting hit for a GBP>EUR transfer, but not an extra fee.

It looks like Santander charged for a SWIFT transfer rather then a SEPA small value transfer. The OP should ask them about this and expect a refund.

grumbler

RetiredInThailand wrote: »

Incorrect. The UK may not be in the Euro zone but it is part of SEPA http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single_Euro_Payments_Area and as such should respect the SEPA charging structure just like the German and French banks do. There may be some exchange weighting hit for a GBP>EUR transfer, but not an extra fee.

Incorrect

There is a misconception that all credit transfers in the SEPA are free to the consumer,I][URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed"]citation needed[/URL][/I either by plan rules or national transposition of the Payments Services Directives. Banks and payment institutions still have the option of charging a credit-transfer fee of their choice if it is charged uniformly to all EEA participants, banks or payment institutions, domestic or foreign.[8] This is relevant for countries which do not use the euro; domestic transfers in euro by consumers are uncommon, and inflated fees might be charged.
In Regulation (EC) 924/2009, the European Parliament mandated that charges in respect of cross-border payments (of up to EUR 50,000) to other Member States shall be the same as the charges for corresponding national payments.

€ transfers within UK are certainly not free.

DragonQ

Seems like using something like PayPal would be better, especially when your account is linked to an overseas credit card with no fees or exchange load.

noh

RetiredInThailand wrote: »

Incorrect. The UK may not be in the Euro zone but it is part of SEPA http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single_Euro_Payments_Area and as such should respect the SEPA charging structure just like the German and French banks do. There may be some exchange weighting hit for a GBP>EUR transfer, but not an extra fee.

It looks like Santander charged for a SWIFT transfer rather then a SEPA small value transfer. The OP should ask them about this and expect a refund.

grumbler has already answered you.
UK banks do conform to the EU regulations on charging for cross border transactions.
More info here http://www.paymentscouncil.org.uk/files/payments_council/regulation_924_2012.pdf
and here http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/payments/docs/reg-924_2009/faq-924-2009_en.pdf

RetiredInThailand

grumbler wrote: »

€ transfers within UK are certainly not free.

Who said they were? And who said that this transfer was within the UK?

What I said was that as part of SEPA UK banks should charge no extra fee for small transfers to the SEPA zone.

All my UK banks charge around GBP6-8 for small SEPA transfers, not GBP25, and Santander is one of my UK banks. Hence my comment.

dano24

to point out the obvious; this is listed in their standard tarrif when you signed to open the account. Unfortunately, you don't have a leg to stand on.

grumbler

RetiredInThailand wrote: »

Who said they were? And who said that this transfer was within the UK?

Nobody. This was merely a comment to the next lines that I unfortunately failed to quote from Wiki (added now):

....charges in respect of cross-border payments .... to other Member States shall be the same as the charges for corresponding national payments.

All my UK banks charge around GBP6-8 for small SEPA transfers, not GBP25, and Santander is one of my UK banks. Hence my comment.

In fact you said that there should be no extra fees on the top of the currency exchange one.