Sending money to student in UK

saltyporridge

My kid started college in England last week. We'd agreed that I'd transfer the equivalent of stg£100 from our AIB account to his AIB bank account each week for him to withdraw over there. We did a test withdrawal of £100 when we were over setting him up the week before and I checked on the online banking to see how much it cost. I rounded the amount up to the nearest tenner and set up a weekly standing order for that amount. He told me tonight that nearly £20 was swallowed up in fees from the past week's transfer. Is there a cheaper (but similarly fast) way to send money over to UK on a weekly basis? BTW He has opened a Nat West account over there.

pjmn

That seems a very high charge - I use BOI's Banking 365 to send money to daughter in UK (account with Lloyds).

I send sterling amount (on a monthly basis) - Lloyds charge her £7 for the incoming payment - no charge from BOI at my end - apart from whatever charge/profit they make within the exchange rate.

slinky2000

£20 seems a bit steep alright.

The post office does money transfer too, looks like it would be 13 euro to transfer 100 pounds. A bit cheaper anyway.

http://www.anpost.ie/AnPost/GeneralTemplates/ProductsAndServices.aspx?NRMODE=Published&NRNODEGUID={FF495B49-C556-42B8-B2CF-C5D45CC58777}&NRORIGINALURL=%2fanpost%2fmaincontent%2fpersonal%2bcustomers%2fmoney%2bmatters%2fmoney%2btransfer%2f&NRCACHEHINT=Guest#SterlingDraft

saltyporridge

slinky2000 wrote: »

£20 seems a bit steep alright.

The post office does money transfer too, looks like it would be 13 euro to transfer 100 pounds. A bit cheaper anyway.

http://www.anpost.ie/AnPost/GeneralTemplates/ProductsAndServices.aspx?NRMODE=Published&NRNODEGUID={FF495B49-C556-42B8-B2CF-C5D45CC58777}&NRORIGINALURL=%2fanpost%2fmaincontent%2fpersonal%2bcustomers%2fmoney%2bmatters%2fmoney%2btransfer%2f&NRCACHEHINT=Guest#SterlingDraft

I've a feeling he might be taking smaller amounts of cash out at ATM's that charge high transaction fees but I'll be following it up tomorrow to find the best way of getting the intended amount through without losing out to over the top charges. I was really surprised that so much was not available for withdrawal (to a very trustworthy student)

saltyporridge

pjmn wrote: »

That seems a very high charge - I use BOI's Banking 365 to send money to daughter in UK (account with Lloyds).

I send sterling amount (on a monthly basis) - Lloyds charge her £7 for the incoming payment - no charge from BOI at my end - apart from whatever charge/profit they make within the exchange rate.

Thank you for the reply - exactly the info I wanted. I'll try a transfer to his UK bank account and see how it works out from his end.

Mucco

Taking money out of the atm can be expensive. It's probably better to transfer it directly to the NatWest account, he can then withdraw it for free. I'm surprised that Lloyd's charge £7 as there should be no charge for transfers within the EU apart from the currency change. Use the IBAN and BIC codes.

I have used xe.com to transfer cash before, you can get good rates, but this might not be worth the hassle for small amounts.

pjmn

Re Lloyds Charge: you are correct there is no charge if it's euro to euro, this doesn't apply in sterling area. See below, which I cut and pasted from their website... In their terms anything from a Euro country is 'abroad'.


Electronic payments received from abroad:
Receiving a payment up to £100 – £2 fee
Receiving a payment of £100 or over – £7 fee

dublin daz

National Irish Bank / Northern Bank - soon to be Danske do not charge for transfers within their own group. You can transfer EUR or GBP between your accounts and there are no fees.

Also, incoming Euro payments to First Trust are free.

Norther Bank and First Trust (AIB Group UK) are in the UK clearing system so operate like any other UK bank account.

If he opens a current account with First Trust you can transfer euro to his account, it will be converted by FT and he will have access to the money via the ATM network in the UK. No fees applied either receiving in the money or using a main back ATM in UK. He can also use that for direct debits and standing orders if he needs to, he can also use that for incoming GBP - say he gets a job and is paid in to a bank account.

Mucco

pjmn wrote: »

Re Lloyds Charge: you are correct there is no charge if it's euro to euro, this doesn't apply in sterling area.

This is incorrect, to clarify:
"You cannot be charged more for transferring money to an account in another EU country than you would be for a transfer between two accounts in your own country."

http://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/shopping/banking/faq/index_en.htm

I have recently made several transfers from Euro to Sterling (HSBC) and paid no fees. However, the bank makes some money on the exchange rate.

pjmn

Mucco wrote: »

This is incorrect, to clarify:
"You cannot be charged more for transferring money to an account in another EU country than you would be for a transfer between two accounts in your own country."

http://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/shopping/banking/faq/index_en.htm

I have recently made several transfers from Euro to Sterling (HSBC) and paid no fees. However, the bank makes some money on the exchange rate.

... are you saying the Lloyds charge is illegal? They don't levy a charge for electronic payments coming from the UK, but as you'll see from their fees and charges schedule online they specifically levy the charge when the payment is coming from abroad.

dublin daz

pjmn wrote: »

... are you saying the Lloyds charge is illegal? They don't levy a charge for electronic payments coming from the UK, but as you'll see from their fees and charges schedule online they specifically levy the charge when the payment is coming from abroad.

I cant find where their terms and conditions define all Euro currency transactions as abroad. However, according to their website:

If you are sending your money in EEA (European Economic Area) currencies* and Swiss Francs to a country in Europe (EU) or the EEA,† Monaco or Switzerland you pay no additional fees.

http://www.lloydstsb.com/travel/sending_money_abroad.asp

pjmn

dublin daz wrote: »

I cant find where their terms and conditions define all Euro currency transactions as abroad. However, according to their website:



http://www.lloydstsb.com/travel/sending_money_abroad.asp

thanks DD, however while they say that for sending money abroad, see page 10 of their fees and charges, and you'll see the piece I cut and pasted earlier where they charge me £7 for the transfer I make to me daughters account with them...

http://www.lloydstsb.com/media/lloydstsb2004/pdfs/banking_charges_brochure.pdf