Bank transfer to an EU country

schiff

Can anyone help with this, I'm baffled!
Made a bank transfer online of 100 euros from my Santander account, via a bank in Malta to a company in Malta (Malta being in the EU and in the SEPA system - Single Euro Payments Area). First question - I read that most such payments go by SWIFT but in the Santander T&Cs it is stated that payments to SEPA countries cost £15 as opposed to the £25 Santander charged me. Does the fact that we have left the EU cloud the issue?
Second question - my 100 euros was converted to £88.88 (about what I expected) and that was charged to my Santander account (so £88.88 plus £25). The credit to my account at the Malta company shows that they received 88 euros - which means that 12 euro of mine has disappeared along the line. Could the Malta bank (as opposed to the Malta company) have charged 12 euros to process the 100 euros from me to the company?
The Malta company insists I speak to my bank (they obviously believe it's not their problem) but I couldn't handle such a complex matter on the phone (and I don't think Santander have any email or secure message system), so it will have to be by letter.
TIA

colsten

The problem is that you chose to use a traditional bank, who are known to

1. give you a terrible exchange rate, and
2. slap high charges on top of it

Had you used one of the currency transfer firms, you could have saved a lot of money. Below a selection of them. There are others, such as Starling Bank, who give you a better deal than Santander or other traditional bank. Even Santander's own currency transfer service, PagoFX, would have given you a better deal. FWIW, I use Starling or Transferwise [soon to be named Wise] for my foreign currency transactions.

You live and learn.

There is no point complaining to Santander but if you do, don't expect to get any money back.

eDicky

Unfortunately you chose the worst way to send your money, in future use a service such as Wise (previously TransferWise), or deal with a company that takes card payment.

You can ask your bank about the fee, but several years ago while I was in Santander at the ATM I overheard a young man at the service desk being told that he would be charged £25 to send a few euros. The Maltese bank may have taken a fee to receive it, Spanish banks have begun doing so since brexit. As for the exchange rate Santander have imposed 1.125 when the mid rate is around 1.6 lately, that's normal outrage for a main UK bank.

colsten

eDicky said:

, or deal with a company that takes card payment.

Whilst not as bad as traditional banks, CC charges can also be high, and exchange rates equally bad. Also, Mastercard will slap on a higher fee for EU web purchases from later this year.

eDicky said:

 As for the exchange rate Santander have imposed 1.125 when the mid rate is around 1.6 lately

I think you meant 1.16.

schiff

Thank you both. I don't normally make such bank transfers abroad, luckily! I do make US dollar deposits to a different EU company but I can do it by debit card and they convert it to £ and that is what Santander take. 
The perils of matched betting!

colsten

Oh dear, there's a dent in your profits! I used to use Skrill when I was still doing matched betting, as virtually all the bookies and casinos accept Skrill. Not sure how competitive or otherwise they are these days.

You would certainly get a better deal through a currency transfer service for USD, too. Though it is possible that not all of them allow gambling transactions. Check out Quidco/TopCashback for any introductory deals, too.

PS. Good luck with your Malta bookie. Hopefully they are not one of the corrupt ones who won't pay up if you are unfortunate enough to win with them.

2021BJ

schiff said:

Can anyone help with this, I'm baffled!
Made a bank transfer online of 100 euros from my Santander account, via a bank in Malta to a company in Malta (Malta being in the EU and in the SEPA system - Single Euro Payments Area). First question - I read that most such payments go by SWIFT but in the Santander T&Cs it is stated that payments to SEPA countries cost £15 as opposed to the £25 Santander charged me. Does the fact that we have left the EU cloud the issue?
Second question - my 100 euros was converted to £88.88 (about what I expected) and that was charged to my Santander account (so £88.88 plus £25). The credit to my account at the Malta company shows that they received 88 euros - which means that 12 euro of mine has disappeared along the line. Could the Malta bank (as opposed to the Malta company) have charged 12 euros to process the 100 euros from me to the company?
The Malta company insists I speak to my bank (they obviously believe it's not their problem) but I couldn't handle such a complex matter on the phone (and I don't think Santander have any email or secure message system), so it will have to be by letter.
TIA

https://www.santander.co.uk/personal/support/current-accounts/making-international-payments shows the most up to date charges for Santander.  There is no £15 SEPA option (although there is a free non-urgent SEPA option but you'd need to be sending from a Euro account I beleive)

Regarding the 12 EUR going missing, the same page says

Now that the UK has left the European Economic Area (EEA), European banks are allowed to take bank fees out of payments you make to accounts in the EEA. 

eDicky

colsten

eDicky said:

 As for the exchange rate Santander have imposed 1.125 when the mid rate is around 1.6 lately

I think you meant 1.16.

Yes I did mean 1.16..! Whoops..!

schiff

Thanks everybody. I've abandoned taking further steps to get to more facts. I'm pretty sure that the Malta bank charged the missing 12 euros out of my 100. My overall loss is modest and I can make that back easily in the time honoured fashion (the way I discovered years ago via GIOL).  

Armorica

As the SanUK site states, now the UK has left the EU, receiving banks can charge fees on the receiving side  - this isn't permitted for a transaction fully within the EU.

[Deleted User]

schiff said:

Thanks everybody. I've abandoned taking further steps to get to more facts. I'm pretty sure that the Malta bank charged the missing 12 euros out of my 100. My overall loss is modest and I can make that back easily in the time honoured fashion (the way I discovered years ago via GIOL).  

I would complain to Santander as they should have sent it as a SEPA payment but based on the the £25 they sent it as a SWIFT payment. This is the cause of the £25 charge for sending and the £12 charge for receipt as a SEPA payment payment would be free to send and likely receive bar Santander's poor GBP/EUR conversion rate.