Santander foreign transaction charges

loobiloo

I wonder if anyone could advise me of my rights, if any, in this situation:

I recently used my Santander debit visa card online to pay 469.80 euros to a Dublin hotel. This should have cost me £386. However, on my Santander bill I see that the cost was £401.54.

When querying this at my local Santander branch, I was told that they charge £25 transaction fee, which makes no sense and is in fact wrong. I rang the 'help line' and was told that the difference in the amounts is due to the exchange rate put in place by Visa. I didnt pay by Visa but that doesn't matter to them.

If I cancel this booking and rebook it via another bank account, I will still have to pay for the original transaction plus the euro to pounds exchange rate will be crummy I imagine. So it'd end up costing me more I presume.

I'm guessing I should just bite the bullet and forget about the extra money this has cost me, but if anyone has any better ideas, or can tell me how to take this further, I'd appreciate it please.

Thank you

ManAtHome

They charge 2.75% for non-Sterling transactions, so they should convert the euros to pounds at the prevailing Visa rate, then add on 2.75% to get the final charge. Something amiss though - if it should have been £386 ish, adding the 2.75% brings it up to £397 - should be shown in more detail on your statement (maybe difference in exchange rates).

Charges and stuff here http://www.santander.co.uk/csgs/StaticBS?ssbinary=true&blobkey=id&SSURIsscontext=Satellite+Server&blobcol=urldata&blobheadervalue1=application%2Fpdf&blobwhere=1314015790795&SSURIsession=false&blobheadervalue2=inline%3Bfilename%3D59\869\BANK0455MAR14HT_100314.pdf&SSURIapptype=BlobServer&blobtable=MungoBlobs&SSURIcontainer=Default&blobheadername1=content-type&blobheadername2=Content-Disposition#satellitefragment&maxage=3600

Somebody at the call centre obviously mixed up about the £25 charge - this is for CHAPS or International payments (ie pushing cash at an overseas bank).

loobiloo

Thank you very much indeed. I shall complain further!

much appreciated

Counter

loobiloo wrote: »

Thank you very much indeed. I shall complain further!

much appreciated

I'm not sure you have any grounds for complaint. Fluctuations in exchange rates can account for it costing slightly more than the £386 you were expecting. Your statement will show the Visa rate that was applied to the transaction on the day. The 2.75% foreign exchange fee will be made clear in your card's terms and conditions.

NFH

Counter wrote: »

The 2.75% foreign exchange fee will be made clear in your card's terms and conditions.

It's not a foreign exchange fee. The FX is carried out by the card network (e.g. Visa or MasterCard), whereas the fee is levied by the card issuer. No service is provided for this fee. It is added only because many consumers are less sensitive to or observant of fees when the transaction currency and billing currency are different.

Like my Halfiax Clarity Card, my Santander Zero MasterCard adds no such fee, and I always use this card for purchases in currencies in which I don't have a bank account.

Counter

NFH wrote: »

It's not a foreign exchange fee.

[...]

Like my Halfiax Clarity Card, my Santander Zero MasterCard adds no such fee, and I always use this card for purchases in currencies in which I don't have a bank account.

You are correct. I meant non-sterling transaction fee, but did not type this for some reason.

I presume that the Santander card used by the OP is not the Zero card as they have been charged the fee.

NFH

Counter wrote: »

I presume that the Santander card used by the OP is not the Zero card as they have been charged the fee.

Of course, but my point is that Santander waves its unreasonable fee for some customers but not for others. The fee should not be charged at all, given that Santander provides no service for it.

PeacefulWaters

NFH wrote: »

The fee should not be charged at all, given that Santander provides no service for it.

Is the ability to transact overseas not a service?

NFH

PeacefulWaters wrote: »

Is the ability to transact overseas not a service?

Yes, but it is no different from transacting in the UK, except for a currency conversion which is not carried out by the card issuer. There is no rationale for card issuers to add such a fee; it is a fee for nothing.

There is no more justification for Santander to add such a fee for transacting in Ireland or France than for transacting in Wales or Scotland. National borders are irrelevant.

loobiloo

Counter wrote: »

I'm not sure you have any grounds for complaint. Fluctuations in exchange rates can account for it costing slightly more than the £386 you were expecting. Your statement will show the Visa rate that was applied to the transaction on the day. The 2.75% foreign exchange fee will be made clear in your card's terms and conditions.

I may not have any grounds for complaint, but that doesn't mean I shouldn't complain. My statement simply shows £401, no mention of any visa rate

loobiloo

NFH wrote: »

Yes, but it is no different from transacting in the UK, except for a currency conversion which is not carried out by the card issuer. There is no rationale for card issuers to add such a fee; it is a fee for nothing.

There is no more justification for Santander to add such a fee for transacting in Ireland or France than for transacting in Wales or Scotland. National borders are irrelevant.

Yes, I'd agree with that. Though it's questionable whether I was in fact charged a fee - as the bank teller and helpline 'advisor' gave different answers to my question. According to them, I was charged either £250 or £1.50. They really should train their staff a little bit better..