cartref Posted January 18, 2008 Share Posted January 18, 2008 Does anyone on here have their State Pension paid directly into a French bank account? According to the Pension Service website they do it at NO CHARGE. However, do the banks charge for receiving the moneyin France? Any details gratefully received[:)].cartref Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cooperlola Posted January 18, 2008 Share Posted January 18, 2008 Not a state pension, but a railway one. I get commercial rate, sans problemes, no charges at the French end. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Logan Posted January 18, 2008 Share Posted January 18, 2008 The DWP send it to France in Euros via Citibank Ireland changed at the spot market rate of the day. There are no charges to have it credited to your French bank because it's sent in Euros from Ireland. Under the Eurozone rules that would be illegal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cartref Posted January 18, 2008 Author Share Posted January 18, 2008 Logan,When you say spot market rate of the day, would that be the same as my Nationwide account (I usually get the commercial rate) or the tourist rate?cartref Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gardian Posted January 18, 2008 Share Posted January 18, 2008 [quote user="Logan"]There are no charges to have it credited to your French bank because it's sent in Euros from Ireland. Under the Eurozone rules that would be illegal.[/quote]Logan ............Digressing slightly from the original question, would an Irish euro cheque paid in to a French bank a/c attract any charges? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
allanb Posted January 18, 2008 Share Posted January 18, 2008 Logan : I don't think any European directive prevents banks from charging for transfers. EU directive 2560/2001 says that banks must not charge more for an international transfer within the euro zone than they charge for a domestic transfer. But it doesn't say that they must charge nothing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Logan Posted January 19, 2008 Share Posted January 19, 2008 Spot market just means the commercial value rate at any given moment.An Irish cheque paid into a French bank in Euros should not attract a charge.Banks within Eurozone countries are prohibited from imposing charges on interbank transactions between those countries. I don't know where you will find the particular law related to this, probably the EU Commission site. Technically Allenb's meaning is correct in that domestic banks don't charge for transaction between each other therefore Ezone banks should not either. I personally do several such transactions each month between eurozone states and my bank does not impose a charge.ATM machines also come under the same rule. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrissie Posted January 19, 2008 Share Posted January 19, 2008 I understand that because the state pension amounts are converted to euros in huge quantities, they are usually able to get quite a good rate - certainly better than individuals can.Chrissie (81) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ams Posted January 19, 2008 Share Posted January 19, 2008 We have no problems with lodging irish cheques into our french bank account, however they take 3 weeks to clear. They attract no additional charge.ams Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Georgina Posted January 19, 2008 Share Posted January 19, 2008 I paid a German euro cheque into our business account, it took weeks to clear and they charged about E38 - as a foreign cheque my nice bank manager told me.Georgina Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Logan Posted January 19, 2008 Share Posted January 19, 2008 [quote user="Georgina"] I paid a German euro cheque into our business account, it took weeks to clear and they charged about E38 - as a foreign cheque my nice bank manager told me.Georgina[/quote]They charged you incorrectly, however there is always a long delay of about 2-3 weeks before you will see a credit. Challenge them and demand a refund. If they don't pay change your bank letting them know why. I often question my account charges and in almost every case the money is put back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cartref Posted January 23, 2008 Author Share Posted January 23, 2008 Just to let you know that I contacted my HSBC bank who will receive my DWP Pension and no, they don't charge for receiving the money. All being well it should be in my French account in 3 weeks time.cartref Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gastines Posted January 23, 2008 Share Posted January 23, 2008 I used to have my UK pension paid direct via Citibank but noticed due to the fall in Sterling,the amount received monthly, dropped 47 euros in 4 months. I have now arranged to have it paid into a UK.Hsbc account. I will say that it is easy to change ,either by phone or letter and a confirmation was quickly sent. The most efficient UK Government Dept.,I have ever dealt with!!Regards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cartref Posted January 23, 2008 Author Share Posted January 23, 2008 Had I been paid into a french bank in September (when I moved to france) I would have been 51€ better off than I am now using a Nationwide account to withdraw money in France. So it doesn't appear to be anything to do with transfers via Citibank but the very great problem of the drop in exchange rates.cartref Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
allanb Posted January 23, 2008 Share Posted January 23, 2008 [quote user="Logan"]Spot market just means the commercial value rate at any given moment.[/quote]No, it doesn't."Spot" means any transaction for settlement on the second following business day. It doesn't tell you whether it's a buy rate or a sell rate, and it doesn't tell you whether it's the rate for a large transaction or a small one. On any given day, thousands of spot deals are done at different rates, so if someone talks about "the" spot rate I'm not sure what he's telling you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Logan Posted January 24, 2008 Share Posted January 24, 2008 I should have given a better explanation but as always you use a term in a post and end up having to further explain.Spot Market:The spot market or cash market is a commodities or securities market in which goods are sold for cash and delivered immediately. Contracts bought and sold on these markets are immediately effective. Spot markets can operate wherever the infrastructure exists to conduct the transaction. The spot market for most securities exists primarily on the internet.Spot Forex:The spot foreign exchange market has a 2 day delivery date, originally due to the time it would take to move cash from one bank to another. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
allanb Posted January 24, 2008 Share Posted January 24, 2008 [quote user="Logan"]Spot Forex:The spot foreign exchange market has a 2 day delivery date...[/quote]No disagreement about that. I'm sorry if I gave the impression of nitpicking. My point was that in these discussions of exchange rates, a lot of people talk about "the market rate" as if it was a definite number. In fact it's quite imprecise, and I don't think the addition of the word "spot" adds much value to it.I admit to being sceptical. I think that banks will tell the customer that he is getting the "market rate" and hope that he won't think too deeply about what that really means. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Logan Posted January 25, 2008 Share Posted January 25, 2008 Absolutely Allan. All financial institutions have a practice of 'hiding' any evidence of how they rip you off in exchange rate transactions. For example if you use a French credit card in UK. The rate your bank/Visa/MasterCard applies the transaction to your account often bears no relationship to the money market rate; you can apply that rule in almost any other transfer of money. Swift interbank transactions are particularly bad. With poor rates and huge fees. Of course money is just a commodity like everything else. There is a wholesale and retail price but trying to establish what that is when you move money is sometimes difficult. However shopping around as always saves a bundle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cartref Posted January 25, 2008 Author Share Posted January 25, 2008 As the OP of this thread, I just needed to know if it would be more advantageous to go via the payment from DWP rather than having to travel into town to take money out of one bank (via Nationwide card) to put into another. I know there are no charges from either sending or receiving the money, just wondered about the rate used. I am still confused with the different replies I have received. [8-)]cartref Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cooperlola Posted January 25, 2008 Share Posted January 25, 2008 Poor o/p!!!I get money transferred direct, and I take money from my UK account via Nationwide. Every single time the Nationwide rate is far better. This is so when compared to every other method I have tried. If you can stand the fiddly nature of it, I say Nationwide every time! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benjamin Posted January 25, 2008 Share Posted January 25, 2008 Is the money that you are transferring a UK State Pension since I'm always curious about how the rate that these are transferred at compares to any other rates on the same day? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Logan Posted January 25, 2008 Share Posted January 25, 2008 State pensions are changed in bulk by Citibank Ireland and are done at the best 'commercial rate' of the day.(close to wholesale). Your Nationwide account will be changed at a lower 'retail' rate, all be it that it might be slighty better than normal. Although you may think there is no fee involved it's hidden in the retail rate you receive. If you do this on a regular basis rather than have Euros on tap in France, over say a year it will cost. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cooperlola Posted January 25, 2008 Share Posted January 25, 2008 Hmm. 17th Jan - Cash got direct from hole in wall using Nationwide debit card (pension paid to UK direct). Rate : 1.322. Pension transferred direct to French bank account from my pension provider (whose bank is RBS) Rate 1.312.Go figure.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benjamin Posted January 25, 2008 Share Posted January 25, 2008 Thanks for both of your replies.You've probably guessed that I'm looking for a comparative exchange rate between, say something like Nationwide who I think we all agree gives as good a "commercial" rate as any bank, and what Citibank actually achieve.Our decision is whether to accumulate Sterling funds in the UK and then transfer when we choose and try to smooth out any rate fluctuations or to accept the four weekly transfer of the UK State Pension. When we do transfer I know that we could never better the rate from Citibank on the same day and we also, probably, don't achieve the rate that is available from Nationwide.Decisions, decisions.....................[8-)] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cartref Posted January 25, 2008 Author Share Posted January 25, 2008 BenjaminYou are quite right decisions, decisions ( and yes it is my state pension that I would like transferred). My recent hole-in-the-wall transaction this week gave me 1.337€ using my Nationwide card. But for me it would be just so much easier to have the money paid direct to my French bank, as that account is only used to cover standing orders/direct debits. My other pensions will still be paid direct into Nationwide. Best of both worlds????cartref Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Please sign in to comment
You will be able to leave a comment after signing in
Sign In Now