Anyone surprise charged by their bank for buying Greek T3 ?

Yes, I had to physically visit my bank - bank charges were over £30. I understand though that some banks charge less, also worth investigating Western Union etc.

I do online banking with Halifax and the fee was available to check beforehand, they are very transparent and charge £9.50 for any international bank transfer. I found out later that it would have cost £2.90 to transfer bank account to bank account with Western Union.

Did you not check for the charge beforehand? It seems a very big fee. What bank is it, just as a warning for anyone else thinking of doing it this way.

Hi Liz, assuming it's a UK bank it would have been a £/€ transaction yes?can you see on your account what the X change rate was they used.

I know as of yesterday's Exchange rate as seen on the red button on BBCI under business/currencies............... £1 would only buy me €1.27centimes worth of goods currently,

XR's have have plummeted because of the markets uncertainty being caused by the June referendum..you'd better vote for stay IN - Sterling was previously stronger than Euros meaning you got more euros value for your pound!

I bet it would come up again on an IN Vote and drop rapidly on a NO vote on the day result is announced!

Im guessing your charge would have been depending on your account 'status' and whether your bank would charge you a transaction fee but yes £25 sounds excessive. Ask for a complete breakdown of their charges, given you know what the cost to the company was you were buying from! My own transfers are interbank within same international group XR's applied falls usually between bank base rate and tourist rate. Well banks do have to make some money - they are providing a service aren't they?

None of it good for my monthly State pension because it's the Treasury/? Citibank doing the transfer to my Fr Bank - all also subject market XR's!

Kick up a fuss and tell them you will close your account if they don't refund some of it - hopefully that will bring your blood pressure down! As Sea side Susie said, the rates and value should b visible before making transaction but not necessarily including the Fee charged after! Check your banks T&Cs also.

Hi Sandpebble, This was the reason I chose to pay by Western Union. Straightforward and a good company to deal with.

I use a South African company with a London office - no charges for any foreign transactions and I do alot

CurrencyFair charge 3€ for the bank transfer. You need a passport to sign up, but most financial institutions have that sort of requirement these days.

First Contact also trading as Sable FX are completely free

Like others here, I paid through Western Union. No surprise charges.

You can source Unipharma through another source, I believe, so maybe a member will have the details and send you a Private Message.

I paid cash at the post office,using Moneygram,as I was advised online to avoid bank accounts,for the reason you are posting.

An alternative suggestion was to use a pr- loaded card kept especially for online meds purchases,keeping the credit targetted at not much more than the debit amount that will be needed per purchase.

I actually have a euro one from Caxton FX

I think we should all book a coach tour to,Greece - not till the risks over though - happy pills and holidays !

I think this is something the banks do all the time for any foreign transaction. We recently had to transfer money to Spain, paying towards our son's wedding. There was no mention of a charge until the transaction went through, then £45 added to the cost. This is nothing to do with the exchange rate, but a one off fee.

A friend who has sons in Australia has complained about this for years, just to send birthday money costs a fortune in added fees. I think it's the fact they are so sneaky about it that angers you. If you could see upfront what it was going to cost, it wouldn't seem so bad. At least then, you could choose to look elsewhere.

I've been able to use Paypal. When I pay in euros or dollars by debit card, the bank charges about a pound for a foreign transaction. That's not for T3, but for other things I regularly buy from other countries. Actually. that's three different banks. Perhaps it depends on what type of account it's going into. Western Union fee is about £5.