Random RCBO Trip...What Next?

[evadgib]

Hi All,

A routine online transaction for a purchase valued @ 140 euros from a company in mainland europe has attracted the usual GBP 1.50 purchase fee, followed by a further GBP 3.03 transfer fee. I seem to attract quite a few of these hidden extras of late. Is it me or is the latter normal?

[yoshiwara]

Worth being agitated about?

Edited October 17, 2013 by yoshiwara

[evadgib]

Asking a question in an appropriate forum is hardly agitation.

Edited October 17, 2013 by evadgib

[SunsetT]

What you should be paying with whatever UK card you are using should be listed here:

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/travel/overseas-card-charges

[Bpuumike]

Sounds very normal and reasonable to me.

You want it for free?

[sustento]

It's not really clear what method you used to pay for the goods. Online transfer from a current account? Credit card?

[Jiu-Jitsu]

Very poorly written OP. Worse still, it appears to have nothing to do with Thailand at all.

If the OP is referring to an online purchase using a Halifax Debit card, then it's time to change to a better debit card, such as Metro Bank's offering or to obtain the Halifax Clarity Credit card.

[Jiu-Jitsu]

Halifax Debit Card:
Spending penalty: £1.50. Load fee: 2.75%. Cash withdrawal fee: £1.50

You should certainly know better than to use such a poor Debit card for overseas transactions in the first place. Especially with the wealth of information open to you.

In addition, I tend to use only CCs for online transactions with DCs for cash withdrawals and for the shops that don't accept CCs.

[sustento]

The Halifax Clarity is one of the cheapest methods of drawing cash in Thailand (or anywhere) as long as you do it inside a bank and top your Clarity account up with the amount you've drawn a day or so later.

[paulmw]

Sounds very normal and reasonable to me. You want it for free?

Giving advice like that you must be an ex Lehman Brothers employee.

Edited October 20, 2013 by paulmw

[KittenKong]

Sounds very normal and reasonable to me. You want it for free?

Not for free, but at the same time nor do I want to pay an extra ~3% for the privilege of using a card abroad when all the cost is already factored into the exchange rate applied by Visa/MC (so making a total of perhaps 4%).

These extra exchange weighting fees are a rip-off, pure and simple. All of the extra exchange fee is profit for the card issuing bank.

[paulmw]

I think you will find this has to do with the merger with Lloyds TSB, and the greed mind set returning of the UK banks again after being bailed out by the UK tax payer.

These took place in September so I understand; no mention of the increases was made before they took effect.

Just seen my Lloyds TSB offshore bank statement the NON-STG CASH FEE 2 UKP increased to 3 UKP, a new fee brought in NON-STG TRANS FEE 2.99%.

So to transfer 10,000 baht 200.51UKP cost me 445 from the UK bank, AON no charge, Thai Bank 180.

All this from 2UKP standard charge + max Thai Charge 180 Baht.

Also another thing came up this account doesn’t pay interest, if you fall below 2500 UKP you will be charged 20 UKP per month bank charges, accepted.

They don’t tell you are that even if only 1UKP over for 1 day you will be charged Not 1 month’s bank fees but 2 months. How! mystery remains, got some bank double Dutch excuse from them.

Need to find a new way to get my pension sent here bloody enough of these UK banks, thought they had got the message in 2008.

Paul

[brit1984]

Sounds very normal and reasonable to me. You want it for free?

Not for free, but at the same time nor do I want to pay an extra ~3% for the privilege of using a card abroad when all the cost is already factored into the exchange rate applied by Visa/MC (so making a total of perhaps 4%).

These extra exchange weighting fees are a rip-off, pure and simple. All of the extra exchange fee is profit for the card issuing bank.

^ banks are businesses like any others - they charge prices for the services they provide and have costs to bear before they make any profit

much of the profits from card processing actually accrue to the card processing companies (e.g. Worldpay) and credit card companies (e.g. Mastercard)

if you really think the fees are a rip-off, maybe you can build and maintain a global system connecting the world's banks, credit card companies and businesses together, to process transactions instantaneously all day every day all around the world, and charge lower fees

[evadgib]

Thanks all:)

To those that didn't 'get it', I was trying to establish why new fees were cropping up where previously there were none except the GBP 1.50.

@jiu Jitsu

Very poorly written OP. Worse still, it appears to have nothing to do with Thailand at all.

1. I received the answers I was looking for.

2. I live in T-T-T.............. , along with several thousand other customers of Halifax plc.

Edited October 20, 2013 by evadgib

[KittenKong]

^ banks are businesses like any others - they charge prices for the services they provide and have costs to bear before they make any profit

much of the profits from card processing actually accrue to the card processing companies (e.g. Worldpay) and credit card companies (e.g. Mastercard)

if you really think the fees are a rip-off, maybe you can build and maintain a global system connecting the world's banks, credit card companies and businesses together, to process transactions instantaneously all day every day all around the world, and charge lower fees

All the costs involved in international transactions are covered by the exchange weighting applied directly by Visa/MC and this is applied to such transactions without exception. Any extra exchange weighting applied by individual issuing banks is 100% profit for those banks as those transactions cost them nothing at all to provide.

This is why some banks can easily afford not to charge this weighting, and do so.

Of course on top of that the issuing banks make a lot of money from merchant commission and interest, and indeed this is what pays for the card system.