Later, I received a letter from the owners of the cottage. Out of the 202.27 pounds I’d sent them, they were minus seven pounds of it. Why? Well, it seems their bank, Lloyds, charged them a fee to receive the money on top of the fees I had already paid. And guess who is going to make up that difference? Me, of course, because I owe a total of ₤200 GBP – that was our agreement. I intend to pay it. Needless to say, I’m not wiring the difference at such high prices, but rather will give the remainder to them upon my arrival there.

Invoice of Lloyds Bank Wire Transfer Costs

The owners were just as angry with their own bank, as I was with mine! So it seems no matter which bank, we’re all in the same “hidden fees” canoe, traveling up that proverbial creek together. Trust me; it’s not a journey I personally want to often make.

Here’s the breakdown:

Wired: £202.27 (GBP). (At three percent higher than the daily exchange rate at Currate.com of 1.649)

Cost: $345 (USD)

Extra Cost: $10.35 (Fee to B of A Bank – three percent above Currate.com posted daily rate.)

Wiring Fee: $35 (Would have been $45 if I wanted it sent in USD dollars instead of GBP pounds.)

Reimbursement Fee to Cottage Owners Still Due: ₤4.73 for Lloyds’ charges, ($8.041 US at bank’s exchange rate of USD to GBP).

Total Cost of sending £202.27 (GBP pounds) = $53.39 (USD dollars) above the actual amount sent.

That’s a whopping fee of $53.39 to me, to send $345.00 to England! For wiring money, banks are no bargain, it seems. Think about it. I did a great deal of the bank’s work for them, practically guided the representative through the whole lengthy process, since he wasn’t even sure if the British used pounds or euros, and my father and I combined, lost a total of at least three hours in the process – not counting the lengthy phone call I’d earlier made to Bank of America. For the privilege of all the work I did, all that time squandered, I had to pay them!

Actual Bank of America Funds Transfer Request and Authorization Form

And from now on, we Bank of America customers have to do it ourselves, online, and on our own. That means we do all the work and still have to pay them – a lot! When I pointed out that if their own bank representative took that long and had that much trouble accomplishing the wiring of the money, just how long did they think it would take the average customer to do it themselves online, if at all? What about customers who don’t have a computer, or can’t use one, as with my father because of his sight problems? You see, their reason, as “they” told me for this switch to us customers doing it on the Internet, was as a “customer convenience.” It’s faster and easier if we do it that way, according to them. All I can say to that is: What a crock! There was nothing easy, fast, or convenient about any of this! It was a truly painful experience.

If I sound incensed, it is because I am. I went through half a day trying to accomplish what should have been a simple, quick, and relatively cheap procedure. After all, companies have been wiring money for at least the better part of a century now. It should have been a simple thing. It wasn’t. My own bank, which readily accepts my money in the form of accounts, increasingly charges me fees and hidden fees for that rather dubious “privilege.”

If it hadn’t been for my knowledge of Currate.com, the fact that it posts reliable daily exchange rates for currency, I wouldn’t even have been aware of the three percent hidden part of the fee. That’s the absolute truth. So do yourself a favor; whenever you are dealing with currency exchanges, check out Currate.com. Unlike my recent dealings with the Bank of America, you will find that Currate.com is fast, easy to use, and truly is user friendly. The have actual images of  over 180 currencies, an online currency conversion calculator, and a Google-style world map you can use to just point and click to your country of destination. Currate.com even has a mobile phone feature for those whose mobiles have Internet browser capability. Just go to http://currate.com/m.php. If your mobile phone has enhanced features, then why not try http://currate.com/e.php, instead. As a side note, the bank officer wrote down the web address of Currate.com, which can only make one think he found it a good place to go, as well. We certainly needed it that day!

Please remember this; these days, for the average consumer, it is truly a time of Caveat Emptor, “Let The Buyer Beware” when it comes to hidden fees. It isn’t just currency exchange services doing this, or even banks. It’s just about everybody! So, it’s up to you to take charge of your finances. You must research to find those hidden fees. I can’t stress this enough. Remember, as stated earlier, CNN says that the average consumer annually spends about $1,000 in such hidden fees. So be on your guard – always! And use Currate.com. If I hadn’t, even I wouldn’t have been aware of just how much my bank was charging me, and I consider myself very experienced in these matters. And good luck! In today’s financial world, one rife with hidden fees, it seems we’re all going to need lots of that luck.

Rob Shelsky, Currate.com Contributing Editor
Robert Rademacher, Currate.com Editor-in-Chief

References:

How to Avoid Hidden Hotel Fees
http://www.cnn.com/2009/TRAVEL/traveltips/06/15/hidden.hotel.fees/index.html

GAO Report: Hidden Bank Fees Rising
http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2008/03/03/meaw_adv_gao_banks/

Bank Of America Frequently Asked Questions
http://www.bankofamerica.com/deposits/checksave/index.cfm?template=lc_faq_wire&context=&statecheck=NC&cd_bag=&sa_bag=&ch_bag=#question5

Sending Money To An International Country
http://thefinancebuff.com/2008/08/sending-money-to-an-international-country.html

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