Shit. I never thought of that:-) Not sure whether my Czech a bank would accept it, nobody uses them out here. It's odd that in half an hour of wrangling with the HSBC people neither of them suggested this either, but that would be a good joke at my own expense, if this remains a valid payment system.
The chances of the Czech bank accepting a UK cheque are negligible, and if they did you would be getting a shocking conversion rate.
I used to transfer money from my UK account using cheques, albeit not such large amounts - only a few thousand at a time at most. The exchange rate was decent and the fee was no more than for a simple bank transfer, usually in the region of 30 quid. Haven't done it for a few years now though, so no idea if they're still accepted.
Hi Steve :-)
What is even more annoying in my case is that I have a Raiffeissen e-Konto account. It allows you to keep five sub-accounts in different currencies under one account number, and switch between currencies with no fee. So I wasn't even looking for a transfer with a currency exchange, it was GBP-GBP.
Hi Richard, I agree it's infuriating how far behind British banks seem to be when it comes to "ordinary" expats, i.e. those wanting to transfer amount in the hundreds to several thousands. If you wanted to transfer a million I'm sure they'd waive the limits and the fees. On the other hand though, it drives me crazy how Czech banks tend to charge for everyday things - most of them actually charge you do make a withdrawal or, even more infuriating, a deposit (yes you actually have to pay them to allow you to put money into your own account). It does seem to be changing on that front though.
You were loooocky ....
In South AFrica they charge you to check your own Bank Balance - AT AN ATM ! Like in Czech, they will charge you to pay your own cash in at the counter.
A slight aside, if you go to BCA Car Auctions , they will charge you 1 per cent if you pay them with Cash !
Our taxes go to bail out the banks, and fund bonuses 'otherwise we would lose the talent'!!!!!, and therefore our taxes don't go to save Lewisham Hospital. That is one take on the mess the bankers have got us into. I also blame those who lent stupid money out to those who had no chance of paying it back, and those who went into hock for luxuries because they felt they were 'worth it, and you only live once anyway'! Sorry to be so parsimonious and superior here, but I used to save up for things, still do, and the only holiday I have had in the last seven years is three days in blimmin Cromer. However living within my personal means now adds up to jack chite, because I also have to take the range of austerity hits to pay for the extravagance of others. Grrrrr
Haha Prague 'even the EU can't save British customers from being ripped off.' Have you not forgotten how much of british tax payers money goes straight to the EU? £55m a day!
It goes on. The payments are starting to arrive in my Czech bank (the Austrian Raiffeissen). They are helping themselves to FORTY POUNDS EACH TIME, and this is not for currency conversion. The account is supposed to be mult denomination and the money has gone straight into the GBP segment. Pure and utter theft. At least here, though, I have a personal account manager, and he and I are going to have an interesting meeting. Except that he is on holiday.
Haha Prague 'even the EU can't save British customers from being ripped off.' Have you not forgotten how much of british tax payers money goes straight to the EU? £55m a day!
Listen Mr UKIP propagandist. Even if I took your figure seriously, which I don't for one minute, that would mean I personally am paying 90p/day. The EU thinks I should pay £9 for this transaction, whereas at the moment the banks are expecting to help themselves to £228. If you factor in the excellent work the EU has done on bringing down my telco roaming charges, then just on those two things I have already got a potential ROI on EU membership. If, that is, the EU "laws" actually overrode UK laws as your lot claim.
Jeez, Prague, that's shocking - take your time over it - but get another bank. Just open up your new account before closing down your old relationship and transfer the business at your leisure so you don't have the hassle of which transfer has yet to clear, which piece of plastic is working, etc.
Jeez, Prague, that's shocking - take your time over it - but get another bank. Just open up your new account before closing down your old relationship and transfer the business at your leisure so you don't have the hassle of which transfer has yet to clear, which piece of plastic is working, etc.
Sure, I will have to seriously look at this; although I might get some joy complaining here. On the one hand Czech banks are worse than UK banks because there is no consumer culture here - although it is emerging. On the other hand here I know some of the top people both in this bank and potential alternatives.
But you see what I mean? A global culture of 'lets take the piss every time and see how much we get away with"
Our taxes go to bail out the banks, and fund bonuses 'otherwise we would lose the talent'!!!!!, and therefore our taxes don't go to save Lewisham Hospital. That is one take on the mess the bankers have got us into. I also blame those who lent stupid money out to those who had no chance of paying it back, and those who went into hock for luxuries because they felt they were 'worth it, and you only live once anyway'! Sorry to be so parsimonious and superior here, but I used to save up for things, still do, and the only holiday I have had in the last seven years is three days in blimmin Cromer. However living within my personal means now adds up to jack chite, because I also have to take the range of austerity hits to pay for the extravagance of others. Grrrrr
Dammit, Stig, you've reminded me that I have to change banks, in both countries. The trouble is that the logical bank for my needs (low/no charges for international transfers) is Citibank, who were right at the front of the 2008 chaos.
Seth, I understand your position on banks, but your view is very simplistic.
This is from the House of Commons Library: "In 2011, financial and insurance services contributed £125.4 billion in gross value added (GVA) to the UK economy, 9.4% of the UK’s total GVA. London accounted for 45.8% of the total financial and insurance sector GVA in the UK in 2009. The sector’s contribution to UK jobs is around 3.6%. Trade in financial services makes up a substantial proportion of the UK’s trade surplus in services. In 2010-11 the banking sector alone contributed £21.0 billion to UK tax receipts in corporation tax, income tax and national insurance."
I have emboldened the bit about tax receipts from the banking industry because they are on-going receipts year in year out. Please do not confuse how much the Government has used to bail-out the banks, much of which will be recoverable in due course with how much the Government has actually lost. Loses currently stand at around $111bn some of which is in respect of the difference between the price paid for Lloyds/RBS shares and what they are now worth. But around £50bn is down the toilet on Bradford & Bingley & Northern Rock. Neither of which were world famous for paying out huge bonuses or running vast amries of investment bankers: they just had a very bad business model.
In any event, bank's taxation receipts will have paid for the bail-out in five years or so. The added value they bring to the UK economy paid for the bail-out in one single year. Are you really saying you would have prefered the british banking sector to have disintegrated? It would, you know, have taken our economy and the value of many, many pension funds with it.
You make a decent overall defence of the benefit of having a strong bank sector located in the UK. However as for the costs of their appalling behaviour, don't forget to factor in the cost of a five year recession for which their appalling behaviour is largely responsible. You may say that it started in the USA, but we can see that the banking culture is global. I have a Slovak friend who has done very well professionally in marketing. She learnt her skills in international FMCG companies before spending some years at o2, and then an unhappy year in banking at Raiffeissen (as it happens the bank I use, with a relatively good reputation among customers). When I asked her why it was so bad, she said "you know at O2 there was at least some semblance of establishing what the customer wants and endeavouring to give it to them. At the bank they just sit around thinking up cynical ways to rip people off, and laugh as they do it."
Please let's not confuse a global financial centre like the City of London with failed ex building societies (northern rock, halifax and now Britannia) scottish banks (RBS and HBOS) & piss poor regulation. For you see these failed entities weren't part of the City and it has now come to light that: The chief risk officer at HBOS tried to blow the whistle but the FSA brushed it under the carpet - it would have failed without the crunch More ex building societies and not for profit hitting the rocks because they are not very good! Co-op and perhaps others best not to name!
Then and now the City is a large part of the UK economy and one of perhaps four sectors which are global players - the others being higher education, creative arts and defence / technology innovation. They pay a lot of tax and need a strong regulator but also need the freedom to lend capital to get this country moving.
The City would also have a decent solution to your initial challenge - too late now to try @brunello !
And that "five year recession" is actually down to the policies of this coalition government who have cut back when jobs are needed, flirted with £42bn railway lines, tried and failed to close hospitals as well as attacking the income of Universities by labelling overseas students as an immigration problem They are now trying to sell government shares in banks and ramp up property prices to generate a pre-election boom. The previous government made mistakes but they did a brilliant job in preventing what might have been a global depression. While Hank Paulson let banks fall over and peripheral Euro nations suffer property related banking meltdowns, this country kept going. It is a real shame that the now opposition have completely failed to identify and highlight the need for proper regulation to prevent a repeat...while the free market right continue to use this as an excuse to cut services. So please don't fall into the trap of being an enemy of all things financial services when it was a few half wits from not for profit banking and Scotland who created and executed poor business models.
The link that Stig provided, reminds us that even competent financial services companies such as HSBC are led by complete and utter *****. This culture of ****ishness is pervasive and stretches down a long way in the financial services sector. And as I pointed out in my example of Raiffeisen, it is a global phenomenon. Have you read Robert Peston's book?
I've not read the book but am aware of his view that the high salaries / bonusses are both wrong and distort the UK because the big numbers attract bright and energetic people away from other industries. I did read a couple of other books on the crash about why it happened and what next. I remember full well as a kid how Barclays were the one bank who continued to invest in Aparthied South Africa... And I think Lloyds had a record with a whole range of South American murderers / dictators... But the topic was about banks giving you a service or not! As opposed to ethics... I think the wider EU point is that red tape needs to be cut so that the best businesses in Europe can open up in all territories and reduce costs and charges... If the EU could accelerate that programme they might help create better conditions for all and show why we need a pan European approach... ... which might in turn extend to tax and ethical business?
I've not read the book but am aware of his view that the high salaries / bonusses are both wrong and distort the UK because the big numbers attract bright and energetic people away from other industries. I did read a couple of other books on the crash about why it happened and what next. I remember full well as a kid how Barclays were the one bank who continued to invest in Aparthied South Africa... And I think Lloyds had a record with a whole range of South American murderers / dictators... But the topic was about banks giving you a service or not! As opposed to ethics... I think the wider EU point is that red tape needs to be cut so that the best businesses in Europe can open up in all territories and reduce costs and charges... If the EU could accelerate that programme they might help create better conditions for all and show why we need a pan European approach... ... which might in turn extend to tax and ethical business?
I agree that we need a pan EU (or better global) approach, but I think you are letting the Brits off lightly. Peston points out that once upon a time a "Bank Manager" was a pillar of local society - Captain Mainwaring if you want a parody. All that went out of the window with Big Bang and then the progressive loosening of regulations. In particular the loosening of capital reserve requirements which meant that increasingly reckless lending boosted their profit margins and drove them to become huge monstrosities with turnover greater than the GDP of nations. Peston explains this brilliantly for the great unwashed like me. The previous Labour governments are at least as much to blame as this lot for that.
In addition, Peston describes how he was trying to call out all this in 2007, and that ghastly cow Angela Knight then of the British Bankers Association tried to persuade politicians that Peston was some kind of national security risk and he had to be silenced. That is beyond incompetence and verges on the sinister. This odious woman now has a new job, whereby she fronts up for the big energy companies. She is the one who needs to be silenced.
I've not read the book but am aware of his view that the high salaries / bonusses are both wrong and distort the UK because the big numbers attract bright and energetic people away from other industries. I did read a couple of other books on the crash about why it happened and what next. I remember full well as a kid how Barclays were the one bank who continued to invest in Aparthied South Africa... And I think Lloyds had a record with a whole range of South American murderers / dictators... But the topic was about banks giving you a service or not! As opposed to ethics... I think the wider EU point is that red tape needs to be cut so that the best businesses in Europe can open up in all territories and reduce costs and charges... If the EU could accelerate that programme they might help create better conditions for all and show why we need a pan European approach... ... which might in turn extend to tax and ethical business?
...huge monstrosities with turnover greater than the GDP of nations.
The largest "UK" bank, HSBC (4th largest in the world), had turnover in 2012 of approx. $82.5bn. That would rank it 76th in the league of national GDPs, sandwiched by Ghana and the Sudan. Apple's annual turnover is approx. $150bn. The UK Government annual deficit is running at c.6.1% of GDP, that is equivalent to $141bn (x1.7 the size of HSBC's 2012 turnover).
I've not read the book but am aware of his view that the high salaries / bonusses are both wrong and distort the UK because the big numbers attract bright and energetic people away from other industries. I did read a couple of other books on the crash about why it happened and what next. I remember full well as a kid how Barclays were the one bank who continued to invest in Aparthied South Africa... And I think Lloyds had a record with a whole range of South American murderers / dictators... But the topic was about banks giving you a service or not! As opposed to ethics... I think the wider EU point is that red tape needs to be cut so that the best businesses in Europe can open up in all territories and reduce costs and charges... If the EU could accelerate that programme they might help create better conditions for all and show why we need a pan European approach... ... which might in turn extend to tax and ethical business?
...huge monstrosities with turnover greater than the GDP of nations.
The largest "UK" bank, HSBC (4th largest in the world), had turnover in 2012 of approx. £82.5bn. That would rank it 76th in the league of national GDPs, sandwiched by Ghana and the Sudan. Apple's annual turnover is approx. $150bn. The UK Government annual deficit is running at c.6.1% of GDP, that is equivalent to $141bn (x1.7 the size of HSBC's 2012 turnover).
...yeah but is that figure including the drugs money they have been laundering for years???
I've not read the book but am aware of his view that the high salaries / bonusses are both wrong and distort the UK because the big numbers attract bright and energetic people away from other industries. I did read a couple of other books on the crash about why it happened and what next. I remember full well as a kid how Barclays were the one bank who continued to invest in Aparthied South Africa... And I think Lloyds had a record with a whole range of South American murderers / dictators... But the topic was about banks giving you a service or not! As opposed to ethics... I think the wider EU point is that red tape needs to be cut so that the best businesses in Europe can open up in all territories and reduce costs and charges... If the EU could accelerate that programme they might help create better conditions for all and show why we need a pan European approach... ... which might in turn extend to tax and ethical business?
...huge monstrosities with turnover greater than the GDP of nations.
The largest "UK" bank, HSBC (4th largest in the world), had turnover in 2012 of approx. £82.5bn. That would rank it 76th in the league of national GDPs, sandwiched by Ghana and the Sudan. Apple's annual turnover is approx. $150bn. The UK Government annual deficit is running at c.6.1% of GDP, that is equivalent to $141bn (x1.7 the size of HSBC's 2012 turnover).
...yeah but is that figure including the drugs money they have been laundering for years???
I reckon so. The Sudanese GDP would never be that much otherwise.
Of course it could also be inflated by significant quantities of aid from developed nations, including the UK, made possible by substantial net revenues to the Treasury contributed year in year out by, inter alia, UK banks such as HSBC, Barclays and Standard Chartered, which survived the Crash without receiving a penny of Govt support.
I've not read the book but am aware of his view that the high salaries / bonusses are both wrong and distort the UK because the big numbers attract bright and energetic people away from other industries. I did read a couple of other books on the crash about why it happened and what next. I remember full well as a kid how Barclays were the one bank who continued to invest in Aparthied South Africa... And I think Lloyds had a record with a whole range of South American murderers / dictators... But the topic was about banks giving you a service or not! As opposed to ethics... I think the wider EU point is that red tape needs to be cut so that the best businesses in Europe can open up in all territories and reduce costs and charges... If the EU could accelerate that programme they might help create better conditions for all and show why we need a pan European approach... ... which might in turn extend to tax and ethical business?
...huge monstrosities with turnover greater than the GDP of nations.
The largest "UK" bank, HSBC (4th largest in the world), had turnover in 2012 of approx. £82.5bn. That would rank it 76th in the league of national GDPs, sandwiched by Ghana and the Sudan. Apple's annual turnover is approx. $150bn. The UK Government annual deficit is running at c.6.1% of GDP, that is equivalent to $141bn (x1.7 the size of HSBC's 2012 turnover).
...yeah but is that figure including the drugs money they have been laundering for years???
I reckon so. The Sudanese GDP would never be that much otherwise.
Er, I suspect that Bournemouth Addick is talking about HSBC and NOT Sudan!! ;-)
I've not read the book but am aware of his view that the high salaries / bonusses are both wrong and distort the UK because the big numbers attract bright and energetic people away from other industries. I did read a couple of other books on the crash about why it happened and what next. I remember full well as a kid how Barclays were the one bank who continued to invest in Aparthied South Africa... And I think Lloyds had a record with a whole range of South American murderers / dictators... But the topic was about banks giving you a service or not! As opposed to ethics... I think the wider EU point is that red tape needs to be cut so that the best businesses in Europe can open up in all territories and reduce costs and charges... If the EU could accelerate that programme they might help create better conditions for all and show why we need a pan European approach... ... which might in turn extend to tax and ethical business?
...huge monstrosities with turnover greater than the GDP of nations.
The largest "UK" bank, HSBC (4th largest in the world), had turnover in 2012 of approx. £82.5bn. That would rank it 76th in the league of national GDPs, sandwiched by Ghana and the Sudan. Apple's annual turnover is approx. $150bn. The UK Government annual deficit is running at c.6.1% of GDP, that is equivalent to $141bn (x1.7 the size of HSBC's 2012 turnover).
...yeah but is that figure including the drugs money they have been laundering for years???
I reckon so. The Sudanese GDP would never be that much otherwise.
Er, I suspect that Bournemouth Addick is talking about HSBC and NOT Sudan!! ;-)
At its height RBS's balance sheet exceeded £2.2 trillion - almost 50pc greater than the UK's GDP of £1.5 trillion. On Thursday the bank said it had reduced its balance sheet by £700bn since its peak in 2008, a sum approximately equivalent to the GDP of Australia.
(Telegraph, Feb 2012)
ok I was wrong to say turnover. But still...too effing big
At its height RBS's balance sheet exceeded £2.2 trillion - almost 50pc greater than the UK's GDP of £1.5 trillion. On Thursday the bank said it had reduced its balance sheet by £700bn since its peak in 2008, a sum approximately equivalent to the GDP of Australia.
(Telegraph, Feb 2012)
ok I was wrong to say turnover. But still...too effing big
Agreed they are shisters but lifes too short surely.
Oh, you are referring to my original rant. Yes maybe. I mentioned it mainly to show how, having been responsible for making most of us a lot less well of than we were, they then try to rebuild their profits by making charges which have no justification. And a few people then pointed out that there are ways to avoid such charges. Same as giving people tips about getting their phone or energy bills down.
And if it makes you feel any better, that 40k is long term saving, not some deal or windfall. Same rip off could happen to any pensioner, or someone supporting his son or daughter who is abroad.
Comments
In South AFrica they charge you to check your own Bank Balance - AT AN ATM !
Like in Czech, they will charge you to pay your own cash in at the counter.
A slight aside, if you go to BCA Car Auctions , they will charge you 1 per cent if you pay them with Cash !
Pure and utter theft.
At least here, though, I have a personal account manager, and he and I are going to have an interesting meeting. Except that he is on holiday.
But you see what I mean? A global culture of 'lets take the piss every time and see how much we get away with"
Signed the petition, anyway
The chief risk officer at HBOS tried to blow the whistle but the FSA brushed it under the carpet - it would have failed without the crunch
More ex building societies and not for profit hitting the rocks because they are not very good! Co-op and perhaps others best not to name!
Then and now the City is a large part of the UK economy and one of perhaps four sectors which are global players - the others being higher education, creative arts and defence / technology innovation. They pay a lot of tax and need a strong regulator but also need the freedom to lend capital to get this country moving.
The City would also have a decent solution to your initial challenge - too late now to try @brunello !
And that "five year recession" is actually down to the policies of this coalition government who have cut back when jobs are needed, flirted with £42bn railway lines, tried and failed to close hospitals as well as attacking the income of Universities by labelling overseas students as an immigration problem
They are now trying to sell government shares in banks and ramp up property prices to generate a pre-election boom. The previous government made mistakes but they did a brilliant job in preventing what might have been a global depression. While Hank Paulson let banks fall over and peripheral Euro nations suffer property related banking meltdowns, this country kept going. It is a real shame that the now opposition have completely failed to identify and highlight the need for proper regulation to prevent a repeat...while the free market right continue to use this as an excuse to cut services.
So please don't fall into the trap of being an enemy of all things financial services when it was a few half wits from not for profit banking and Scotland who created and executed poor business models.
The link that Stig provided, reminds us that even competent financial services companies such as HSBC are led by complete and utter *****. This culture of ****ishness is pervasive and stretches down a long way in the financial services sector. And as I pointed out in my example of Raiffeisen, it is a global phenomenon. Have you read Robert Peston's book?
I remember full well as a kid how Barclays were the one bank who continued to invest in Aparthied South Africa... And I think Lloyds had a record with a whole range of South American murderers / dictators...
But the topic was about banks giving you a service or not! As opposed to ethics...
I think the wider EU point is that red tape needs to be cut so that the best businesses in Europe can open up in all territories and reduce costs and charges... If the EU could accelerate that programme they might help create better conditions for all and show why we need a pan European approach...
... which might in turn extend to tax and ethical business?
Peston points out that once upon a time a "Bank Manager" was a pillar of local society - Captain Mainwaring if you want a parody. All that went out of the window with Big Bang and then the progressive loosening of regulations. In particular the loosening of capital reserve requirements which meant that increasingly reckless lending boosted their profit margins and drove them to become huge monstrosities with turnover greater than the GDP of nations. Peston explains this brilliantly for the great unwashed like me. The previous Labour governments are at least as much to blame as this lot for that.
In addition, Peston describes how he was trying to call out all this in 2007, and that ghastly cow Angela Knight then of the British Bankers Association tried to persuade politicians that Peston was some kind of national security risk and he had to be silenced. That is beyond incompetence and verges on the sinister. This odious woman now has a new job, whereby she fronts up for the big energy companies. She is the one who needs to be silenced.
Apple's annual turnover is approx. $150bn.
The UK Government annual deficit is running at c.6.1% of GDP, that is equivalent to $141bn (x1.7 the size of HSBC's 2012 turnover).
(Telegraph, Feb 2012)
ok I was wrong to say turnover. But still...too effing big
Agreed they are shisters but lifes too short surely.
And if it makes you feel any better, that 40k is long term saving, not some deal or windfall. Same rip off could happen to any pensioner, or someone supporting his son or daughter who is abroad.