Is this Euro to GBP exchange rate unreasonable?

incesticde

Hi all,

 Am i being unreasonable?

I had a payment from ViaGoGo in Euros to my Nationwide account, the transaction went through as a CHAPS credit VIAGOGO AG at an exchange rate of (£1=) 1.4418 Euros.

Previous transactions paid this way into my account (in the last month or so) were typically around 1.23 euros and this rate seems really high, I realise the exchange rate is fluid and the banks take a cut but the exchange rate has not been above 1.30 since well before the Brexit vote.

I complained about this to Nationwide, and they have said the exchange rate was set by HSBC and as Nationwide have not made a mistake there is nothing they can do.

So am i being unreasonable? If not what recourse do I have with Nationwide or HSBC?

Thanks in advance for any and all help.

eskbanker

Do they actually state that as the exchange rate used or are you calculating it yourself, i.e. is it possible that there are fixed fees (e.g. for use of CHAPS) which are part of the end-to-end route from €x in the supplier's account to £y in yours?

Hoenir

Are you sure the transaction was CHAPS?  As CHAPS is used for settlement of sterling transactions between clearing house banks in the UK. 

incesticde

 CHAPS credit VIAGOGO AG is the exact words used to describe the transaction 

incesticde

eskbanker said:

Do they actually state that as the exchange rate used or are you calculating it yourself, i.e. is it possible that there are fixed fees (e.g. for use of CHAPS) which are part of the end-to-end route from €x in the supplier's account to £y in yours?

Exchange rate given is the one quoted on the line item on my (online) statement, previous payments via this route have no additional fees

eDicky

incesticde said:

Am i being unreasonable?

As most 'traditional' banks, such as HSBC, add a margin of ~3% to the interbank exchange rate for incoming foreign currency, and the GBP/EUR rate has been 1.16 - 1.17 during the past week, I'd say it's not unreasonable to question the use of a rate of 1.44, if that was truly used by Nationwide and doesn't include fees.

I personally can't suggest a recourse, apart from trying to determine what current rates were supposed to be used on the day, but such banks have very little transparency regarding exchange rates,

Have you no other method of receiving euro payments, such as a Wise EUR IBAN to receive them, then convert yourself..?

MeteredOut

incesticde said:

Hi all,

 Am i being unreasonable?

I had a payment from ViaGoGo in Euros to my Nationwide account, the transaction went through as a CHAPS credit VIAGOGO AG at an exchange rate of (£1=) 1.4418 Euros.

Previous transactions paid this way into my account (in the last month or so) were typically around 1.23 euros and this rate seems really high, I realise the exchange rate is fluid and the banks take a cut but the exchange rate has not been above 1.30 since well before the Brexit vote.

I complained about this to Nationwide, and they have said the exchange rate was set by HSBC and as Nationwide have not made a mistake there is nothing they can do.

So am i being unreasonable? If not what recourse do I have with Nationwide or HSBC?

Thanks in advance for any and all help.

Did you complain or did you raise a complaint? They are different. With the former, you could get someone on the call just fobbing you off. With the latter, its official, one one you can take to the financial ombudsman if you're not happy.

Hoenir

incesticde said:

 CHAPS credit VIAGOGO AG is the exact words used to describe the transaction 

UK CHAPS comes at a hefty charge if that's the requested form of payment. VIAGOGO AG is unlikely to cover transactional costs levied by intermediary banks. HSBC handling Nationwide's overseas transactions. 

wmb194

How much money are we talking about? A £15 Chaps fee will heavily affect the effective overall fx rate on a, say, €85 payment.

incesticde

MeteredOut said:

incesticde said:

Hi all,

 Am i being unreasonable?

I had a payment from ViaGoGo in Euros to my Nationwide account, the transaction went through as a CHAPS credit VIAGOGO AG at an exchange rate of (£1=) 1.4418 Euros.

Previous transactions paid this way into my account (in the last month or so) were typically around 1.23 euros and this rate seems really high, I realise the exchange rate is fluid and the banks take a cut but the exchange rate has not been above 1.30 since well before the Brexit vote.

I complained about this to Nationwide, and they have said the exchange rate was set by HSBC and as Nationwide have not made a mistake there is nothing they can do.

So am i being unreasonable? If not what recourse do I have with Nationwide or HSBC?

Thanks in advance for any and all help.

Did you complain or did you raise a complaint? They are different. With the former, you could get someone on the call just fobbing you off. With the latter, it's official, one one you can take to the financial ombudsman if you're not happy.

Official complaint, got an email outing the reasons for the rejection of the complaint

incesticde

wmb194 said:

How much money are we talking about? A £15 Chaps fee will heavily affect the effective overall fx rate on a, say, €85 payment.

180 odd Euros. cost to me was about £40 less than i Expected