Red Eric

I notice from the Spain forum that at least one Spanish bank has started levying a charge for receiving funds from the UK (this despite the fact that the money has already been converted to euros and that the UK maintains participation in SEPA). In this particular case I believe the charge amounts to 0.35% or a flat fee of 18€, depending on which is the greater.

Has anybody here who has regular payments from the UK deposited direct into a Portuguese account noticed anything of this nature here since the beginning of last month?

Rambling archer

Regular payments come from UK transferred in euros to Millennium bank showing no commissions or charges this month.

RichardHenshall

TransferWise has just announced reduced fees for transfers to EUR so I would suspect that it's just the Spanish bank taking advantage

sagalaut

REVOLUT No charges top exchange rate.

Red Eric

Thanks for the responses so far.

I have a couple of pensions from the UK which become due shortly. To keep life simple, I'd much prefer to have them deposited direct into my PT account and not faff about making other arrangements, so I just wanted reassurance that no fees apply if I do it that way. I'm with BPI, which happens to be have recently been acquired by a Spanish bank although that's probably irrelevant (but they did hike some of their charges up quite significantly a year or so back). I've had a look at their table of prices, where I could have sworn I'd previously seen something about non EU / EEA transactions but I can't locate it at the moment. Maybe it only applies to spends outside the area and not deposits from

Both my pension providers tell me they use Western Union for the conversion and transfer when it comes to overseas payments. I assume WU would have a method of routing payments from the UK via an EU-based arm so that when the payment hits my bank it doesn't look as though it comes direct from the UK if it were significant. That's just a guess, though and I don't know whether that's what they currently do in practice.

As I'm not WU's client, I've put a question back to my pension providers about that - I presume they have contacts at WU they could ask. One of them responded with "you'll have to ask your bank" They're not very helpful - on a previous occasion there was a sheaf of forms to fill and documents to supply about which I had various queries, they put me into a loop of "you need to fill in and return x,y,z" / "I can't fill in and return x,y,z until you give me the answers to questions asked in my email of dd/mm" ..... very long pause ...... "we note you still haven't completed and returned x,y,z" etc.

I'm rambling - I'll stop now. I'm semi-reassured about absence of charges for deposits, especially as it hasn't arisen on here, although I know a lot of people have money paid into UK accounts and transfer as and when through TransferWise or whoever.

wellinever

Open a sterling account to run alongside your euro account, then move money from UK in Sterling and transfer it when ever you want (online) into euros.
I have always enjoyed better rates doing that than any money transfer company.
You can of course move it the other way if the xchange rates start to go up and down as they did some years ago.

EU.flag

I think people here are confusing few things about money transfers.

In any money transfer there are at least two or more parties involved.
Yes, you might have UK bank that apply no charges and gives near exchange rate but that doesnt guaranties that receiving bank wont apply charges,
even if it receives funds in Euro. That's what's happening in Spain. This is due to banks in EU allowed to apply transfer fees for non-EU transfers, irrelevant of currency.

It is possible that PT banks might eventually catchup on this little earner and start applying transfer fee. Yes, they can do that if money is arriving from outside EU.
Only fix then would be to use UK bank that operates transfer clearing with EU IBAN, by using its proxy bank in EU.

coleio

This may or may not be of any use to yourself.
Presently Starling Bank in the UK - online only (I believe) do a fee free (T+C apply) GBP current account they then allow a UK fee free (T+C apply) Euro current account (up to 50,000) which allow free SEPSA transfers. You may use their GBP to Euro exchange rates or If you also have an FX account then can do the two transfers and exchange there. I've just done 3 Euro transfers in the past week and no issues except it took 1 or 2 working days to appear in the account.

To try and join it all up I'm looking at Activo - the online only partner bank to Millennium BCP but haven't found anyone who has experience of it??

Red Eric

Thanks for the responses and suggestions.

It's what EU.flag said that's the nub of it.

Coincidentally, one of my pension providers did get back to me this morning :
So I toddle off to the email containing the Western Union mandate form to see whereabouts I specify the type of payment method and see that there is no such option, which means that either WU or the pension fund's accounts department has total control over that, and so I have to respond yet again pointing out the bleedin' obvious and asking a now necessary subsidiary question and wait another 3 weeks for a response. Clucking hilarious.

I love the way all these unhelpful responses are signed off with a cheery "If you have any further queries, please do not hesitate in contacting us"

peterfc

Hi All
I have just had an email from Revolut about charges from the 23rd April.We've been working hard to improve your Revolut experience and have made some updates to our features. As a result, we’ve also made some changes to our Terms that we’d like to share with you. These changes will take effect on April 23, 2021.

ATM Withdrawals

If you're on a Standard plan

As a reminder, there is currently a GBP 200 limit on free monthly ATM withdrawals on our Standard plan. After this, you begin paying a 2% fee. We are changing this, by adding a limit on the total number of ATM withdrawals as well, and by setting a minimum fee once your free allowance runs out.

Going forward:

• Your GBP 200 free monthly limit will remain the same, and once you hit it you will still begin paying a fee.
• We are also introducing a limit of five ATM withdrawals as well. Once you hit this, you will also begin paying a fee.
• Both of these limits apply independently. You will start paying a fee as soon as you hit one, even if you don’t hit the other.
• The fee is still 2%, but we are adding a minimum fee of GBP 1. This means you will pay the greater of GBP 1 or 2% of the withdrawal.

If you're on a Plus, Premium or Metal plan

Our free ATM withdrawal limits for Plus, Premium and Metal customers will remain the same, and we are not limiting the number of withdrawals you can make fee-free on these plans. Fees on ATM withdrawals above these limits will stay the same, at 2%, but we are also introducing a minimum fee of GBP 1 per withdrawal.

International Money Transfers

Our most popular payment types, used by over 90% of our customers, will remain fee-free. These include:

• Free local bank transfers in your home currency
• Free local and international transfers in Euros to any country within SEPA (which includes EU/EEA countries, the UK, Switzerland)
• Free transfers to other Revolut customers (peer-to-peer) in any country in the world

The following fee changes will only affect customers sending money outside the SEPA area (which includes EU/EEA countries, and the UK, Switzerland), or if you are making a cross-border transfer in a currency other than Euros.

Currently, Revolut offers two types of international transfer: “cross-border” transfers and “SWIFT” payments. They each have two separate allowances:

• Standard and Plus customers get one free cross border transfer per month, then pay GBP 0.5 per transfer. SWIFT transfers cost either GBP 3 or GBP 5, depending on currency.
• Premium and Metal customers do not pay fees for cross-border transfers and get one free SWIFT transfer per month, and then pay GBP 3 or GBP 5, depending on currency.

What’s changing

We are combining “cross-border” and “SWIFT” into one simple and transparent category we call “international payments”.

International transfer fees will range between GBP 0.3 and GBP 5, depending on how much you transfer and where. Our Premium and Metal customers will still benefit from an allowance of payments for free.

• Standard and Plus. No fee-free allowance. These plans are best suited for those who only occasionally send international transfers.
• Premium. One fee-free international payment per month. Best for people who make international transfers on a monthly basis.
• Metal. Three fee-free international payments per month. Best for those who frequently send international transfers.

You can see more details about our new pricing with examples here.

Delivery Charge for Revolut Cards

Up until now, our terms have confirmed that customers on the Standard plan would be charged 4.99 GBP or currency equivalent for standard delivery of a Revolut card and EUR 19.99 or currency equivalent for express delivery. The delivery charge could be more depending on where you asked us to send your card.

From April 23rd, we will show you what fee applies for standard or express delivery before you order your card in the Revolut app. As always, the delivery charge may vary depending on where you are sending the card.
If you’d like to close your account because of these changes, you can do so without charge, but we’ll be sad to see you go.



If you have any questions, you can read our FAQ here.

Thanks,

Team Revolut