International money transfer

TedXL1200

I have recently had to transfer money from a British bank account into a sterling bank account in Poland. The transfer went through and I paid the Lloyds standard transfer fee of £9.50. However, the recipient did not receive the full amount. I understand that their bank may also place a charge on transfers but this was way above any reasonable bank charge. I transferred £1940 and the recipient received £1815 !! Can anyone shed any light on this sort of charge ? Thanks.

agrinnall

What do the Polish bank's T&Cs say?


My own guess is that the transfer was't end to end in Sterling, at some point it was converted to another currency, perhaps at a correspondent bank, and then back to Sterling at the receiving account. But it's only aguess.

robatwork

Sterling bank account in Poland sounds interesting. Care to give more details?

I suspect agrinnall is correct in that a dual exchange has taken place into zloty then back to sterling. From what I know of foreign banks (although not Poland specifically) although you can have an account in Euros for example, it's generally better transferring money from here to the native currency.

You could try something like xendpay, transferwise or revolut for your next transfer as these tend to get much more of your money into the destination account.

Florida648

I'm looking to use a currency broker to convert US dollars back to UK Sterling from a property sale. They claim 'no cost', so how do they make their money on the deal? And any pitfalls?

eskbanker

Florida648 wrote: »

I'm looking to use a currency broker to convert US dollars back to UK Sterling from a property sale. They claim 'no cost', so how do they make their money on the deal? And any pitfalls?

'No cost' will mean 'no separately-identifiable lump sum commission payment' but will also doubtless mean that the exchange rate used delivers the margin for the broker.

And yes, of course there can be pitfalls and risks - worth reading through https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/banking/foreign-currency-exchange for safeguards to look out for and some specific broker recommendations....