LLoyds exchange fee

born_again

anapiu said:

It was today, doesn't have an hour but it was there at 7am already.
I have transferred 28,000 euros and got £23,650.65.
Details only say f/ flow and my name.

When was it sent?

anapiu

born_again said:

anapiu said:

It was today, doesn't have an hour but it was there at 7am already.
I have transferred 28,000 euros and got £23,650.65.
Details only say f/ flow and my name.

When was it sent?

Yesterday afternoon

eDicky

If it's any consolation, your mistake cost you more like £650 rather than 750, compared to the cheapest means of making the transfer that were available to you. There's always a cost in currency conversion but you can get much closer to the mid-market rate shown on XE and with minimal fee, let's say that cost would have been about £100 if you'd known better that to make a straight bank-to-bank transfer.

Also you can console yourself that you did reliably receive the funds without any major problems by involving only mainstream banks, other services are less certain to be free of mishaps that aren't easily resolved.

If there is a next time, don't go to the bank and ask any such questions - staff there are not willing or able to reveal costs that are deliberately not transparent and far in excess of the many alternatives, which exist for those reasons.

adindas

anapiu said:

Grrr! Next time I'll ask them fees, costs or rates then... If I don't know what to ask, I think fees or costs covers everything, apparently it doesn't.

There are reasonable number of threads covering this topics. Also other things that could have been done is to try to exchange a small amount before going big and do analysts if you do not get what you are expecting. Try small before going big is applicable in almost every aspect in life.

Next time ask in this forum. There are reasonable number of people have personally done that so have reasonable knowledge how to send or to receive foreign currency.

Making profit from exchange rate, yes. it is their business. It is highly unlikely Lloyds staff misled people for the sake of £750. Also do not forget it is not uncommon the sending bank took their cut.

Also clearly your assumption that you lost £750 is based on the wrong premises as you are using xe.com, the interbank (mid-market) exchange rate as a point of reference.

But if you have a record of what they said.and you have evidence that you have been misled you could always complain.

Sensory

Bank staff are not there to educate you on the basics of foreign exchange. It's a topic far more complicated than simply looking up an exchange rate on xe.com and expecting to receive the converted amount as displayed. Very rarely will any random worker have your best financial interests in mind or volunteer assistance beyond the questions you ask, especially when they cannot know your prior knowledge or expectations.

There is plenty of advice on the main website and this forum (and the rest of the internet) on how to appropriately approach almost any conceivable financial decision before you make it. It will save you a lot of pain and anger in the future not having to complain about mistakes in hindsight. This may require unlearning assumptions and asking less specific questions, so you start with, "what's the cheapest method to send EUR from my foreign account to my UK GBP account?", and follow up with additional details if requested. This is better than just asking bank staff about fees/costs and then assuming you will receive the full amount as converted by xe.com.