Banking incompetence
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You should try doing a Wire Transfer into the Philippines.
Not only does the money always get routed from Europe via a US bank for no apparent reason when SWIFT codes are internationally recognized (which of course takes 3 days processing), but then even though the SWIFT code, branch name and account number are clearly marked, all transfers will arrive at "head office" and sit there for a week or more before actually being credited and made available on my account. And then they have the gall to mark the transaction date as "7 days ago" as if the money had been in my account all along AND to cap it all, charge me a $25 tax on all foreign currency entering the country, even though all charges are supposedly paid at source.
And during that 10 or more "working days" period (apparently computers don't work Saturday or Sunday anywhere in the banking world), who gets the benefit of the interest on my money ? The bank, of course.
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@ASheridan said:
HSBC WTFery
@PJH said:
Visa WTFery
I'm with both - well, Visa was done through Egg that are now Barclays - but I've experienced this level of fuckwittery.
So.. changing to a different Limey bank. What's on the "shit, NO!" list? What's on people's "could be" list? Heard First Direct have good customer service, but it seems there's some quite stringent conditions that come with their accounts.
@dhromed said:
I went to deposit 600 in cash one day, and put it in the teller machine, then went to get a haircut and I had it on my account
Your haircut cost 600? I know they shaved you bald (your avatar glints) but that's still somewhat steep.
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Just in the process of getting money over to Canada to pay for a weekend at the Oktoberfest.
Seems most of the electronic transfer methods incur a charge of some description, some of which are worse than Paypal's
topskimcommission.The easiest - and cheapest - way is for me to write out a cheque (yes, write) and put it in this folded paper thing that's labelled with his geographic location. Apparently down the road there's an outlet that will take this item and - for a nominal amount of money - get it delivered to the stated foreign coordinates. They handle DNS, routing, gateway and firewall issues along the way, so reception could be delayed.
Brilliant service! Dunno why more people don't use it.
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@Cassidy said:
Santander.@Cassidy said:@ASheridan said:
HSBC WTFery
@PJH said:
Visa WTFery
I'm with both - well, Visa was done through Egg that are now Barclays - but I've experienced this level of fuckwittery.
So.. changing to a different Limey bank. What's on the "shit, NO!" list?
What's on people's "could be" list?
I have had few problems with Nationwide and Lloyds (still use both) - never had to use customer service with Nationwide, and the one time Lloyds did fuck up, went in-branch and they sorted it quickly.
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@Cassidy said:
Just in the process of getting money over to Canada to pay for a weekend at the Oktoberfest.
Wouldn't Germany be a closer and more sensible destination?
@Cassidy said:
Seems most of the electronic transfer methods incur a charge of some description, some of which are worse than Paypal's
topskimcommission.I use Paypal to transfer money all the time. They don't charge anything as long as you're transferring less than, like, $1500 /mo.
@Cassidy said:
The easiest - and cheapest - way is for me to write out a cheque (yes, write) and put it in this folded paper thing that's labelled with his geographic location. Apparently down the road there's an outlet that will take this item and - for a nominal amount of money - get it delivered to the stated foreign coordinates. They handle DNS, routing, gateway and firewall issues along the way, so reception could be delayed.
Aren't they going to charge a currency conversion fee to do this? I mean, electronic transfers probably will too, but it seems like electronic transfers really would be faster and safer, if not cheaper.
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@Cassidy said:
@dhromed said:
I went to deposit 600 in cash one day, and put it
in the teller machine, then went to get a haircut and I had it on my
accountYour haircut cost 600? I know they shaved you bald (your avatar glints) but that's still somewhat steep.
I think he lives in one of those countries where the currency is shiny pebbles. 600 pebbles seems reasonable for a haircut.
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@morbiuswilters said:
@Cassidy said:
...Oktoberfest.
Wouldn't Germany be a closer and more sensible destination?
That's the final destination, yup - but the guy booking it all is Canuckian, so I've thrown our half over to him and his wife's sorting out the hotel etc for us.
@morbiuswilters said:
I use Paypal to transfer money all the time. They don't charge anything as long as you're transferring less than, like, $1500 /mo.
You're not the only person to have pointed this out to me, but (a) I don't have PP, and (b) SWMBO couldn't see any way of doing it without incurring some charge. Granted, it's more likely something she's missed, but others that are PP users couldn't see ways of doing it either.
@morbiuswilters said:
Aren't they going to charge a currency conversion fee to do this? I mean, electronic transfers probably will too, but it seems like electronic transfers really would be faster and safer, if not cheaper.
According to the beaver-lurvin hockey-playing lumberjack over yonder... no, there's no fee involved with taking my cor-limey cheque and depositing it into the Bank of Maple Syrup. I may get a lower exchange rate, I dunno - but as it seemed easier for him to do it that way, I'll go with the flow. I've dropped a bit more on the cheque to cover him in case he's out of pocket as a result, but I'm gonna root out any Euros from various drawers before my trip over this time.
I don't do enough international travel/exchange to really investigate the ins and outs of swapping wonga over.
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@Cassidy said:
According to the beaver-lurvin hockey-playing lumberjack over yonder... no, there's no fee involved with taking my cor-limey cheque and depositing it into the Bank of Maple Syrup. I may get a lower exchange rate, I dunno - but as it seemed easier for him to do it that way, I'll go with the flow. I've dropped a bit more on the cheque to cover him in case he's out of pocket as a result, but I'm gonna root out any Euros from various drawers before my trip over this time.
I don't do enough international travel/exchange to really investigate the ins and outs of swapping wonga over.
I rarely do. My philosophy is thus: USD are like English, shove enough of 'em at the foreign mud people and they'll eventually do what you want.
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@morbiuswilters said:
I rarely do. My philosophy is thus: USD are like English, shove enough of 'em at the foreign mud people and they'll eventually do what you want.
So THAT'S your secret, Mister "Two Cheeseburgers Plus Forty Dollah Tip"!
