Just had to get this rant and rave off my chest. Last Monday I tried to transfer some money from my Barclays bank account to my Wespac (Australian) bank account. I called up their international banking department to make the transfer and gave them all the necessary details, then double checked the details to be sure. The transfer of funds costs me £20 for each transfer.
I've been checking my Westpac account online to see whether the funds had arrived all this week but nothing had turned up. Upon checking my Barclays account today it appears as if the funds have been returned to my UK bank account, less another £28!
I called Barclays 24 hour banking this morning (Aus time) and they said they didn't know why the funds had been returned, but the £28 deduction was probably due to the poor exchange rate that I would be getting. They recommended that I call back at 9am (UK time) to get though to the international transfers department which might have a better idea as to what went wrong.
So my money has been on holiday to Australia and back and cost me £48 in the process!
I'll have to call them tonight to see what's up and try to get some of this lost £48 back in the process. Right now I'll be happy to change bank accounts as Barclays have hardly made it easy for me to handle my money over here, with this and the problems in withdrawing money over the weekend.
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3 comments:
Best bank: First Direct. 24 hour telephone service anyway, so never a problem with time zones (hell, they even got my birthday right when I was in Aus, despite the time-zones difference AND the fact that I hadn't told them I was in Australia - they worked that out from transaction records!) - AND, big advantage, they're part of HSBC so you can access your account from the HSBC bank in donwtown Sydney without incurring ANY banking charges....
This isn't advertising space for you Jase. :-)
I would worry that your bank was so accepting that you were out in Sydney though, especially without you telling them at all.
I accept (and understand) that Barclays blocked my card when over two weeks of transactions occured in Australia and Hong Kong, but I was annoyed that they blocked my card despite me telling them that I would be out here and not to block it.
I can withdraw money out here from Barclays at Westpac cashpoints without additional charges, just a not very competitive exchange rate. That's how banks make their money in other ways.
I don't own or work for HSBC (wish I did own them...but then I'd be lifing the life of riley, following the England cricket team around the world instead of being chained to a desk)!!
My bank knew that I travelled a lot (back in the dim and distant pre-kid days!)... and I'd probably bought the holiday through them so their systems could put 2 and 2 together...
Any-hoo... my main point was that they were 24-hour with specialists on call whatever time zone you happen to be in, which was your beef with Buh-clays?
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