The Logic of British Retail Banking Rip-Off

November 11, 2005

Here is a recent short conversation between me and Barclays UK:

Me (on 8/11/2005): Hello. When will it be possible to do a simple, standard electronic money transfer using Online Banking instead of going to a branch and filling in a A4 sized form every time. Thanks. Kind Regards, Daniel Schaller.

Barclays (on 10/11/2005): Thank you for your message. You can make an international payment using your online banking on the Payments/Transfers option. The fee is £30. Regards, Andrew Howard, International Personal Banker [Name changed, ed.]

After reading this, I couldn't really hold myself back and fired this message:

Me (on 11/11/2005): Hello. Excuse me, you say, if I do a simple, electronic money transfer online, where no human action is involved, you will charge me £ 30? However, if I go to a branch and fill in an A4 size form which is then typed in your system manually, you will charge me £ 10. I don't see any justification why something that involves less cost causing actions costs more at the end. Please can you tell me, how much you'll charge when the money transfer is made in EUR.

Speechless. Just speechless.

Waiting for an answer, especially for my last question.

UPDATE

Barclays (on 11/11/2005): Thank you for your message. The charge does not change, whatever the currency of the transfer. Barclays in the UK have different charges to ourselves. If you wish to make a transfer online with ourselves then the charge is £30.. Regards, Andrew Howard, International Personal Banker [Name changed, ed.]

Now, not just speechless. Now I am in stasis.

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This entry was posted at November 11, 2005 13:52 (UTC) from London, UK.

Comments

  1. christoph Says:
    November 11, 2005 03:07 PM

    it's really unbelievable how much the banks take for a simple money transfer. i had to pay £25 when i paid my landlord (natwest, inner country money transfer). for this money i expect a tank rolling out of the bank bringing the money immediately to my landlord's bank. but surprisingly that didn't happen.

  1. ingo Says:
    January 28, 2006 05:53 PM

    Barclays has just scrapped their Low Value Payment. So forget about the £10 you used to have to pay when you went into a branch. It's £20 now plus overseas delivery charges (£8 for my last transfer). That's an increase of 180%. Takes two days less, but what do I care about two days less? The introduction of IBAN and SWIFTBIC from the beginning of this year was supposed to bring the charges down, not obscenely inflate them.