Conversion Charges

[Gardian]

I’m definitely getting grumpier, the older I get !!!

We bank in the UK with a high street bank and with Credit Agricole here in France.  We buy our Euro needs monthly through a broker and that works fine.  Every now and then though, you have an expensive month and need a cash top-up.

Some time back, CA introduced a €6 charge for withdrawals from a ‘foreign’ bank.  I normally refuse to incur this extra charge and deal with it in some other way since some banks don’t make this charge.

What I’d really like to know, perhaps from somebody who works or previously worked in banking, is whether this is a legitimate charge.  What I mean is that I have always thought that a transaction is a transaction and the worldwide banking system doesn’t really recognise country borders, particularly within Europe.  The charge goes against the debiting account wherever it is - it’s not as though there’s somebody sitting there allocating the debit.

I just think that it’s a ‘fast-one’ to boost profits for no additional work.  Am I wrong?

[DaveLister]

What exactly do you mean by 'withdrawls from a foreign bank'? What are you asking CA to do?

[Gardian]

Sorry.  Simply a cash withdrawal from an ATM over here, using a UK high street bank debit card.

[DaveLister]

That's a new one on me. Usually I only pay the issuing bank's charges when using a card overseas. How do you know CA are levying this charge?

Have you tried using another ATM from a different bank?

[menthe]

Some ATMs do charge a fee for using them.  Did the screen have a message to say you will be charged a fee?

[Gardian]

As I said above, some banks don’t make this charge and in this case I was able to use Banque Populaire.

And yes, you do get told by the ATM and can continue or abandon the transaction.

[Lori]

6€ fee seems outrageous.  I think ours charges 3€ if we use our SG bank card at a non-SG ATM.  We get up to 3 free withdrawals per month from a non-SG ATM.  After that the fee kicks in. 

I guess the fee structure differs when using a UK card at a CA ATM.  Still seems high to me.

 

 

Edited April 4 by Lori

[DaveLister]

Well I suppose technically CA can charge what they like for the use of their ATM's but I agree it sounds outrageous. One to avoid I think.

I don't know whether or not this would help but I recently set up a Wise account. I've set it up with two 'pots' one in euros and one in sterling. I can transfer funds online and then decide which pot I want it to go into. I then use the debit card to pay for goods or withdraw cash. I think I used a CA ATM to activate the card and I certainly wasn't charged 6 euros for the privilege.

[Gardian]

Thanks for that DL, but my original question was not so much about ‘What are the best banking arrangements?’.

It was just to get confirmation of my long-held belief that there’s no extra work involved in processing a transaction from France to the UK or just about anywhere in the world.

[Lehaut]

I think its just another way of making money for the Bank.  Look at  "Le virement instantané" .  For quite sometime Revolut and BoursoBank (for example)  have had these available for free (Revolut do country to country free).  Its only recently that a change in European rules have forced banks to offer this service without the charges they were levying on  clients. Some were charging up to 10€ for the service, whist others, at the same time, offered it free.

Its always about the money.