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Beware of potential charges for payments made via UK bank account (even if Euros)

Posted: Wed Jan 13, 2021 12:56pm
77 replies4095 views15 members subscribed
Leafy211

Leafy211

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Ive just found out, to my cost, that my UK Starling Euro account (GB IBAN) transfer has incurred €15 euro charges for the recipient. This is due to UK leaving EU and even though no currency change, Spanish banks can charge for this.
The recipient (ANGAR accounting) were extremely adamant that i had to pay those charges even though they had not included them in their invoice, nor advised me of them in advance.  Clearly they are liable for all their own bank charges, but as they werent going to process my tax return, nor return my money without me paying for the charges to send it back, I negotiated with them to pay 50% of the charges.  Very unprofessional to say the least.

Agamed have advised there should be no charges for direct debits to them with a UK Euro account, but if that changes then they will advise in advance.  I havent heard back from Curenergia yet. 

My solution will be for the time being, to use my Transferwise Euro account, which is actually a Belgian IBAN, so theoretically should be acceptable. I believe Transferwise charge 50 cents to move euro to euro, which is more than the zero charged by Starling, but a heck of a lot less than €15! :-)


Handbag1

Posted: Wed Jan 13, 2021 1:47pm

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Posted: Wed Jan 13, 2021 1:47pm

Sent this email to Starling and await response.       

I have a Starling Euro account and transfer €700 every month. This month I got charged by Sabadell in Spain for receiving this. They responded with asked with the following. 

 "This commission is when you receive a bank transfer from a country where is out of the European Union, it is 0.35% of the amount of the transfer with a minimum of 18€. It is since UK is out of the EU”

There is much discussion on various forums regarding this. Some are saying they are being charged to send Euros from Starling to Sabadell and others are saying they are not. 

What information do Starling have on this and are you looking at a way of resolving, by being able to send on our behalf via a Euro IBAN?

So many of us are very happy using Starling, but are now having to look at other alternatives for our banking unless this is resolved. 



Leafy211

Posted: Wed Jan 13, 2021 2:05pm

Leafy211

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Posted: Wed Jan 13, 2021 2:05pm

Handbag1 wrote on Wed Jan 13, 2021 1:47pm:

Sent this email to Starling and await response.       

I have a Starling Euro account and transfer €700 every month. This month I got charged by Sabadell in Spain for receiving this. They responded with asked with the following. 

 "This commission is when you receive a bank transfer from a country where is out of the European Union, it is 0.35% of the amount of the transfer with a minimum of 18€. It is since UK is out of the EU”

There is much discussion on various forums regarding this. Some are saying they are being charged to send Euros from Starling to Sabadell and others are saying they are not. 

What information do Starling have on this and are you looking at a way of resolving, by being able to send on our behalf via a Euro IBAN?

So many of us are very happy using Starling, but are now having to look at other alternatives for our banking unless this is resolved. 



Oooh I didnt spot the conversations on other forums when i did a quick search - apologies!

I have asked Starling the exact same thing .. are they planning on arranging to have an EU IBAN made available, otherwise one simply cant take the risk of these ridiculously high charges being imposed (especially as in my case where ANGAR hadnt done its homework and instead of taking it on the chin, and putting it down as a lesson learned, they insisted I pay for their failure!  I fear other Spanish companies will behave in exactly the same way).

Lancelot

Posted: Wed Jan 13, 2021 2:11pm

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Posted: Wed Jan 13, 2021 2:11pm

I've just transferred my first monthly Euro remittance of the year to Sabadell using Revolut - it will be interesting to see if there is a charge applied when it hits the account.

One plus is the rate is up a bit today.

Lancelot

Posted: Wed Jan 13, 2021 2:14pm

Lancelot

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Posted: Wed Jan 13, 2021 2:14pm

Just checked and it's in my account and I've a charge of 18 euro showing - ffs. It's an otherwise free of charges resident account.

Do we just accept this or challenge it with our service providers?

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Leafy211

Posted: Wed Jan 13, 2021 2:40pm

Leafy211

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Posted: Wed Jan 13, 2021 2:40pm

Lancelot wrote on Wed Jan 13, 2021 2:11pm:

I've just transferred my first monthly Euro remittance of the year to Sabadell using Revolut - it will be interesting to see if there is a charge applied when it hits the account.

One plus is the rate is up a bit today.

please keep us informed! :-)

Leafy211

Posted: Wed Jan 13, 2021 2:43pm

Leafy211

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Posted: Wed Jan 13, 2021 2:43pm

Leafy211 wrote on Wed Jan 13, 2021 2:40pm:

please keep us informed! :-)

Do Revolut use a GB or EU IBAN number i wonder?

Lancelot

Posted: Wed Jan 13, 2021 2:48pm

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Posted: Wed Jan 13, 2021 2:48pm

I might take it up with revolut - my account with them is domiciled in the UK - with client monies held with Barclays I think.

If I can ask they re-domicile it to Spain then payments I make in future might be free of charges if they originate in the EU? I'll drop them a line.

Portet

Posted: Wed Jan 13, 2021 3:49pm

Portet

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Posted: Wed Jan 13, 2021 3:49pm

Lancelot wrote on Wed Jan 13, 2021 2:14pm:

Just checked and it's in my account and I've a charge of 18 euro showing - ffs. It's an otherwise free of charges resident account.

Do we just accept this or challenge it with our service providers?

Sounds like another Brexit bonus we may have to work around.

Lancelot

Posted: Wed Jan 13, 2021 3:53pm

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Posted: Wed Jan 13, 2021 3:53pm

Portet wrote on Wed Jan 13, 2021 3:49pm:

Sounds like another Brexit bonus we may have to work around.

I think work around is key - I'm either going to open an account with a CCY company like Transferwise or see if I can open a new or domicile my existing Revolut account to Spain given that's where I will mostly reside.

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