European Banking / Direct Debits paid in Spain

colsten

dahj said:

colsten said:

dahj said:

colsten said:

There should be no change since the UK is still part of SEPA.

What problems are you encountering with payments from Starling (GBxxxx IBAN)? Have you tried Transferwise (BExxxxx IBAN)?

The UK is no longer part of the EEA/Single Market.
EEA banks are no longer required to treat UK transactions like domestic transactions.
Bienvenido poco Inglaterra

Nothing to do with the Single Market or EEA.

As I posted earlier, the UK remains in SEPA. Therefore there should be no charges over and beyond any exchange charges.

That's not correct - as the UK is now a non EU/EEA member of SEPA , the Spanish bank doesn't have to apply domestic pricing. It can if it so chooses but it's not obligated to do so.

I know it is not illegal, but that still doesn't alter the fact that there should be no charges as long as the sending bank sends the payment in a SEPA-compliant manner. 

phillw

colsten said:
I know it is not illegal, but that still doesn't alter the fact that there should be no charges as long as the sending bank sends the payment in a SEPA-compliant manner. 

It depends on whether they were forced to eat a cost when we were in the EU that they no longer have to, doesn't it?

colsten

phillw said:

colsten said:
I know it is not illegal, but that still doesn't alter the fact that there should be no charges as long as the sending bank sends the payment in a SEPA-compliant manner. 

It depends on whether they were forced to eat a cost when we were in the EU that they no longer have to, doesn't it?

Not sure what that cost would be. SEPA is SEPA. The only extra bit the sending UK bank must now provide with each payment is the address of the sender. The receiving bank would always have been able to receive the address. So if anyone could say they have extra costs it's the sending bank. All the complaints we have seen are, however, about the receiving bank - - - and only if they are Spanish banks. Banks in France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Austria have not been seen to charge, or at least there have been no reports that I have seen.

Anyway, as has been commented various times, people who want to avoid the Spanish charges could check whether they'd be happy to use Transferwise Borderless accounts (no FSCS protection) for their regular payments, as this will definitely not incur penalties at the Spanish end.

[Deleted User]

phillw said:

colsten said:
I know it is not illegal, but that still doesn't alter the fact that there should be no charges as long as the sending bank sends the payment in a SEPA-compliant manner. 

It depends on whether they were forced to eat a cost when we were in the EU that they no longer have to, doesn't it?

They were previously obligated to charge the same for international (EEA) transactions as domestic transactions. They can now charge on a wholly commercial basis and have opted for that. 

I'm not sure where Colsen's should be comes into it. It suggests some kind of obligation on their part. 

Thrugelmir

dahj said:

phillw said:

colsten said:
I know it is not illegal, but that still doesn't alter the fact that there should be no charges as long as the sending bank sends the payment in a SEPA-compliant manner. 

It depends on whether they were forced to eat a cost when we were in the EU that they no longer have to, doesn't it?

They were previously obligated to charge the same for international (EEA) transactions as domestic transactions. They can now charge on a wholly commercial basis and have opted for that. 

I'm not sure where Colsen's should be comes into it. It suggests some kind of obligation on their part. 

Spanish bank branches are very old fashioned in comparison to those in the UK. Hardly surprising they'll grab at the opportunity to generate commercial revenue. Particularly at the current time with many second home owners absent. 

colsten

dahj said:

phillw said:

colsten said:
I know it is not illegal, but that still doesn't alter the fact that there should be no charges as long as the sending bank sends the payment in a SEPA-compliant manner. 

It depends on whether they were forced to eat a cost when we were in the EU that they no longer have to, doesn't it?

They were previously obligated to charge the same for international (EEA) transactions as domestic transactions. They can now charge on a wholly commercial basis and have opted for that. 

I'm not sure where Colsen's should be comes into it. It suggests some kind of obligation on their part. 

The should be comes into it from the fact that it is SEPA transactions, in 99% the same way as we used SEPA before Brexit cut us off. There is minimal additional data to be provided by the sending bank, and the receiving banks have always been able to receive that additional data as non-EU SEPA members always needed to provide them. As I said, it seems that only Spanish banks somehow feel they now need to charge pretty steep fees for transactions they process in the same way as before. Hopefully a Brexiter will pop along before long and explain it all to us, as they kept assuring us that they knew exactly what they were voting for, so it shouldn't be hard for them to fully explain why SEPA payments from IBAN accounts starting with GBxx incur an 18 Euros charge in Spain, whilst a SEPA payment from an IBAN account starting BExx, held by the exact same account holder, is free of charge. Better still, those who want to avoid the 18 Euros should get themselves that BExx IBAN......after all, it takes a few minutes to apply for a Transferwise account.

LobsterMemory

I have Starling direct debits ro the Channel Islands being rejected presumably because of the GB prefix.
Paying direct is still free though

colsten

I wonder whether Starling are actually sending to additional bits of data with Direct Debits. Did you reconfirm with them that they do?

colsten

Some help for Starling customers if their Euro payments get rejected in their entirely. No mention of the charges issue.
https://www.finextra.com/newsarticle/37403/uk-customers-facing-iban-discrimination-on-eu-payments

I maintain that it would be more expedient for people to use Transferwise if their payments get rejected, or if they get charged for them. They can still use Starling as their bank account, but send their payments to Spain via Transferwise.