Overseas payment not fully arrived
Discussion
gotoPzero said:
Its not a big sum, about a grand.
Hmm. Never had a mainland CN or HK supplier complain of a short USD receipt over the past 20 years, regardless of transfer method. As an aside, more and more CN/HK suppliers in our sector (professional broadcast AV equipment) are now billing in EUR rather than USD.
So it seems Halifax use a processing chain which moves the money from Bank A to B to C to D that eventually after they have all taken $10-15 each the end user gets the sum much lower than expected.
I am not sure how this is legal as when we set the payment up the screen clearly said Corp ABC will receive (for example) $500 and the cost to us would be £450 + £10. (again just example numbers) Then corp ABC actually get $420 5 days later.
So we have opened a complaint.
On the plus side we took screen shots at each stage.
I am not sure how this is legal as when we set the payment up the screen clearly said Corp ABC will receive (for example) $500 and the cost to us would be £450 + £10. (again just example numbers) Then corp ABC actually get $420 5 days later.
So we have opened a complaint.
On the plus side we took screen shots at each stage.
gotoPzero said:
So it seems Halifax use a processing chain which moves the money from Bank A to B to C to D that eventually after they have all taken $10-15 each the end user gets the sum much lower than expected.
I am not sure how this is legal as when we set the payment up the screen clearly said Corp ABC will receive (for example) $500 and the cost to us would be £450 + £10. (again just example numbers) Then corp ABC actually get $420 5 days later.
So we have opened a complaint.
On the plus side we took screen shots at each stage.
It sounds like in this instance, you've opted to pay charges on your end (£10) and not "All charges" which would be remitter and beneficiary, hence why it's been taken out of the total funds sent. Had you opted to pay all charges those additional fees would have come back to your account. Still doesn't explain why so many banks are involved though. I am not sure how this is legal as when we set the payment up the screen clearly said Corp ABC will receive (for example) $500 and the cost to us would be £450 + £10. (again just example numbers) Then corp ABC actually get $420 5 days later.
So we have opened a complaint.
On the plus side we took screen shots at each stage.
For some reason, Halifax sent this via a correspondent bank who then had to send it on to other correspondent banks to get to the account of the beneficiary. There could be a number of reasons for this, but for a transfer to a USD account in China I would have thought Halifax had one correspondent bank they use that onward credit direct to China in USD. Wait and see what they say.
I've seen it before for smaller banks in the Caribbean where you'll need to send funds via a specific correspondent bank to credit a client account in a certain currency for further credit to the ultimate beneficiary for example but for USD to China, does seem strange.
C5_Steve said:
For some reason, Halifax sent this via a correspondent bank who then had to send it on to other correspondent banks to get to the account of the beneficiary. There could be a number of reasons for this, but for a transfer to a USD account in China I would have thought Halifax had one correspondent bank they use that onward credit direct to China in USD.
Isn't it just an historic anomaly due to them being a Building Society originally and they didn't do any in house forex?Ean218 said:
C5_Steve said:
For some reason, Halifax sent this via a correspondent bank who then had to send it on to other correspondent banks to get to the account of the beneficiary. There could be a number of reasons for this, but for a transfer to a USD account in China I would have thought Halifax had one correspondent bank they use that onward credit direct to China in USD.
Isn't it just an historic anomaly due to them being a Building Society originally and they didn't do any in house forex?Ean218 said:
C5_Steve said:
No I don't think so, they'll clear through Lloyds I'd imagine so no issues there.
That's what I meant, Halifax as a subsidiary of Lloyds would use Lloyds as their correspondent.Halifax have given us a break down of the charges, they basically bounced the payment around 3 banks between them and the destination. UK>UK>USA>HK>CN.
There was no mention of this when we did the transfer and the screen we sent the money from (which we have screens shots) clearly says they will receive the sum of $600USD. (for example.) In the end they got closer to $550 (for example)
The exchange rate they offered was terrible, and I presumed this was where they were making their money plus of course the £10 fee.
There was no options for fees or charges or anything, it was type in the sum you want to send in USD. Then here is what it will cost you. Press here to send.
So as far as I am concerned they need to get their system sorted out to clearly state what the end cost will be, if they don't know what it will be it also needs to say that.
Thankfully the company we have been dealing with have been understanding and have told us we can just send the extra with the final balance.
I now need to find somewhere that I can do this with and know 100% for sure they will get the full payment, its about a grand if anyone got any suggestions.
There was no mention of this when we did the transfer and the screen we sent the money from (which we have screens shots) clearly says they will receive the sum of $600USD. (for example.) In the end they got closer to $550 (for example)
The exchange rate they offered was terrible, and I presumed this was where they were making their money plus of course the £10 fee.
There was no options for fees or charges or anything, it was type in the sum you want to send in USD. Then here is what it will cost you. Press here to send.
So as far as I am concerned they need to get their system sorted out to clearly state what the end cost will be, if they don't know what it will be it also needs to say that.
Thankfully the company we have been dealing with have been understanding and have told us we can just send the extra with the final balance.
I now need to find somewhere that I can do this with and know 100% for sure they will get the full payment, its about a grand if anyone got any suggestions.
gotoPzero said:
They have not said yet but its a good question.
The end bank is a very well known large bank.
The company we used only takes payment in USD.
Yeah USD is the most common currency due to the restrictions on RMB, it doesn't add up. There are some specific requirements for payments to China so something could have also been missing but I would imagine the payment would have just been rejected if it was anything essential. The end bank is a very well known large bank.
The company we used only takes payment in USD.
It should be very easy for Halifax to tell you where and why the charges have accumulated as it will all be in the payment chain, wait and see what they say and then pop back.
gotoPzero said:
They have not said yet but its a good question.
The end bank is a very well known large bank.
The company we used only takes payment in USD.
Just seen this thread now but sounds to me like Halifax charged you £10 simply for the privilege of doing a foreign currency payment through them and didn't cover the receiving charges for you as part of that £10.The end bank is a very well known large bank.
The company we used only takes payment in USD.
It also sounds like their giving you the option of covering the receiving charges is not clear enough during their foreign currency payment process. As somebody else said, receiving charges are a bit of a lottery but I assume that all USD payments will be subject to them so I always cover my clients' receiving charges.
Sorry, when I say "cover the charges" I don't mean that I pay the fees but that USD payments get sent in a way that the receiving charges are covered. In banking lingo a covered payment is sent "OUR" and a non-covered payment is sent "SHA" (shared costs -split between the sender and the beneficiary).
We had a phone call from Halifax yesterday, they offered us the missing $ back and apologised that it wasn't clear the other end would not get what it said on their online banking system.
OK outcome as we will now send the missing money with our final payment. Will they change their system to warn customers... probably not.
Anyway, /thread
OK outcome as we will now send the missing money with our final payment. Will they change their system to warn customers... probably not.
Anyway, /thread
Ean218 said:
Isn't it just an historic anomaly due to them being a Building Society originally and they didn't do any in house forex?
There is that. They're a village entity. These small fX sums are where the monkey digital fx firms become useful as it's what they exist to do. You never want to use them for real money or for storing any wealth but the fact that they don't conduct appropriate regulatory checks means set up is quick and cheap and while they will still spank on the spread it'll be a fraction of what some village operation like Halifax will be as they pass the flow via RBS and probably then Lloyds, not one really being global players.
Or simply take the bumming on PayPal's exchange rate and the 5%. Halifax's spot rate is probably way further off and their £10(2%) random fee only covers their side of the fees.
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