Charges for an international money transaction were taken out of the amount I was transferring, so my payment fell short
I lost my laptop at Sydney airport and it was only found after I had departed for the UK. I made an international transfer of A$232 via Santander to pay a company for its return. I was informed that Santander would charge £25 for this transaction, and there may be charges from a "middle bank" handling international payments.
Five days later I received an email from the Australian company to say it could not send my laptop as it had only received A$212. Santander had omitted to tell me that any charges levied by the middle bank would be taken from the amount I owed the delivery company. This appears to be a greatly inefficient way of conducting international transfers. I had made a request for A$232 to be sent; that request was not carried out. MF Churchdown, Gloucestershire
Santander explains that all international payments are handled by a correspondent bank appointed by the beneficiary bank, and that both may deduct a charge. "Santander has no control over the amount these banks may charge," a spokeswoman says.
Bizarrely, customers are expected to contact the recipient bank for details of any charges before making the transfer, and factor that in to their payment. Since you were not told that any fees would be deducted without warning, Santander has refunded the £25 transfer fee and given you an additional £25 to cover the costs incurred.
According to the Payments Council it is wise to shop around before making an international payment in order to compare differing fees and procedures.
No comments:
Post a Comment