Banks...

[watervole]

I was feeling pretty low anyway and to add to it, I'm in the middle of one of those horrendous bank experiences where they tell you to do one thing and it's wrong and they tell you to do another, etc.  Today, I shall cycle into Broadstone for the third day in a row to try yet again to send some money to America.

I've written a letter of complaint to the bank already, but I shan't mail it yet in case today adds another episode to the horror story.

Comments

[emmzzi.livejournal.com]

Anytime I need to send to the US, I use Paypal - it's slightly evil on exchange rates, but it is generally more efficient.

[watervole.livejournal.com]

For the amount I want to send, Paypal costs around £60. They charge nearly 4% for payments across currencies. And that's before you consider the actual exchange rate.

[steverogerson.livejournal.com]

Banks are evil, I try to avoid dealing with them as much as possible.

[vicarage.livejournal.com]

If you get stuck, I can send some real American money to people over here.

[watervole.livejournal.com]

I doubt you could manage $3000 which is what I need to send every few months. I have small amounts of dollars in cash, but they aren't much help.

[vicarage.livejournal.com]

Well I've lots of US money I want to transfer back to the UK, but not at the current exchange rate, which is very much in your favour.

[watervole.livejournal.com]

Is it in a US bank? If it is, I'll happily do you a swop any time you like and I'll pay into a UK bank for you. I do currency transfers roughly every other month.

[vicarage.livejournal.com]

It is, but not at less than 50p a dollar! I've checked and I can leave the current and savings accounts open once I've left the US, so there is no hurry getting the money back. I might even search for a tax haven!

[kremmen.livejournal.com]

Given the numerous charges (sending bank/intermediate bank/receiving bank), one of the best ways to send money to the US from Australia is to get Amex travellers cheques online (which can be paid for by credit card) and physically carry them to the US! Given the actual costs of electronic transfer versus the costs of printing and administering TCs, this demonstrates how wildly ludicrous the charges for international transfers are.

Citibank has among the lowest fees for international transfers. (Sadly, while they used to have free global transfers between Citibank accounts, they've suspended that service without notice and without reasons.)