Staggering

[The Riff-Raff Element]

I dropped a

letter into the post here in the darkest Vendée last Tuesday to our UK bank

(tired, dowdy, expensive old Lloyds) requesting a transfer to our French  account (incompetent, expensive Crédit

Agricole).

 Examining

our accounts today via the Marvels of Technology, I note with interest that the

money was debited in the UK

on Friday….and credited in France

on the same day. I do not appear to have paid any extra over the usual charges for

the privilege of this extremely fast transaction (if anything it looks a few

quid cheaper than last time) and the rate isn’t bad (almost 1.52, which looks

very much like the spot rate, not some derisory banking rate).

 Perhaps the

presence of Moneybrokers et al in the

markets (and of course the rake-off that they are taking away from the banks’

coffers) is bearing some fruit…

[verviale]

If it was done first thing Friday morning it has every chance of reaching the bank the same day, incidently the bank you mentioned uses Credit Lyonais and Credit Agricole  (who are in the same group) as there coresponding bank and if you transfer money to an account with Credit Lyonais there is no charge for receiving it.The charges are £10.00. for 4500 euros and below £20.00. for over that amount.The transfering of money abroad is getting more efficient., about time.

[Gardian]

I don't believe it - this is a wind-up.

In fact, I know that when I next look on here, this post will never have existed.

[Teamedup]

I did a transfer from our french account mid afternoon one day and was in the UK at lunch time the following day. I was very very impressed and called my french bank and thanked them. They were equally as pleased and surprised as I was.

[Gardian]

This is all the more staggering when you realise that Jon's letter probably wouldn't have been received by Lloyds till the Thursday at the earliest and the transaction instigated the same day or possibly not even till the Friday.

If I ring Lloyds phonebank to make a credit transfer to another UK clearing bank a/c, the money doesn't 'hit' for a further 4 days (if it's to another Lloyds a/c, it's instantaneous).  I've never been able to understand why, but a friend who works for them says that the person on the other end of the phone writes out a piece of paper for someone else to key in.

I hope that this is a new initiative and that they publicise it's availability.  However, I'll bet that it was an accident.

[Will]

I have to say that transfers between our banks (NatWest and SocGen) can sometimes be as efficient as that, but it can't be relied on, sometimes nothing appears for 2-3 days. It seems to be a bit of a lottery. When all the factors work in your favour, it's almost instantaneous, but there can be slight delays when things don't quite slot together.

[Sunday Driver]

Whenever I phone First Direct and ask them to transfer any money, they always trot out the mantra "it'll take between 2 - 5 days for the money to arrive".  Invariably, it's in my CA account the following morning without fail.  The house purchase funds even arrived with the notaire five days early - drat!!

 

[Loiseau]

Also, the money can sometimes show up on screen as having arrived, but the French receiving bank might not count it until the following day.  This happened to me, and caused me to be overdrawn by about 20 euros at the Credit Lyonnais for 24  hours (and you can imagine the trouble that that unleashed).
In answer to my protests, the Credit Lyonnais bank clerk showed me their print-out
Me: "But, look, it clearly shows the money DID arrive on that day!";
Her: "Ah yes, but it doesn't mean we actually recognise it as being in the account on that date."   [8-)]

Angela

 

[The Riff-Raff Element]

Couple of things:

1) I always write to the branch, not (as I have been repeatedly instructed) to the "service" centre. The branch told me that the procedure is different: in the branch they actually have a file with previous letters for comparison purposes and a general history to which they can refer. Below a certain level, they can make transfers without further checks, provided all the boxes are ticked. The service centre does not hold this information in an easily usable form and have to go through all kinds of verifications (including phoning me to check) before sending an e-mail to the branch to instruct them to make the payment. Service centres, of course, are supposed to be a step up in efficiency, though for whom is not always clear...

2) For the first time, the bank of England does not appear in the chain of transaction on the sheet I got in the post today confirming the event - in the past they have always been the "paying bank". This time the paying bank was Credit Agricole SA of Paris and the BoE have disappeared from the chain. One less link has to help things a little.

Anyway, I am very pleased.

[verviale]

I work for the dreaded bank mentioned and I have sent money to France and it has arrived the next day, but never the same day.Over the years I have not been really impressed with international money movers from any U.K. bank my O.H. banks with hsbc and we have tried their service and they sent it twice, when we complained we had two lots of charges, they would not reimburse us.It is all still a bit of a lottery, no matter who you bank with in the U.K. and whoever you bank with in France.