alexist

Well, it seems that the charges are totally legal because they charge them for domestic transfers too. What a racket. Which brings me up to another question: someone was buying something from me and asked if she could pay by cheque. I said it would be OK, but why not do an instant transfer? That's how N and I move money around. She said whenever she'd asked at the bank about it they said it would cost £20-odd. Of course, I said that that sounded like they thought she meant a wire, and she should check.

But, when I was checking about fees, both HSBC and NatWest only had details about wire transfers. Are free transfers strictly an online banking only thing or something? This may sound like a terribly stupid question, but I've never really used them much. The US is still fairly behind (or was 3 years ago); if I needed to send someone money I always used PayPal or a paper cheque.

I wonder how the cost of an electronic payment--even done over the phone--compares to clearing a cheque. It certainly can't be as much as they charge for it.