Santander Currency Exchange Payments
Santander, as you may well know, are a bank. This means that you can’t expect the world of them when it comes to international money transfers. However, if you already have a Santander account and are looking to send money overseas easily, you can at least take a look at how they perform.
Santander offer international payments in 16 different currencies. However, you can also send abroad in GBP if the currency you wish to send a payment for is not represented. However you will, of course, be at the whim of any bank charges that may be in place in the receiving country. The problem with Santander is that they are not going to offer the best possible exchange rate. In fact, this is a bank, the exchange rates tend to be rather hideous. That being said, the ‘commission’ that Santander charge is fixed (£25.00 at the time of this review), which means that no matter how much you are sending, there will just be one fixed fee to pay.
One of the main reasons as to why people work with Santander on their international money transfers is the fact that it is simple. If you have a Santander account, you can start the money transfer process within a matter of seconds. You can even set up reoccurring payments. Sure, the cost of using this service is going to be slightly higher than some of the other companies out there that deal with international payments, but some people absolutely love the simplicity of it all.
One of the things that I absolutely loathe about Santander is the fact that the payments are not quick. Another international money transfer company may allow you to send money anywhere in Europe within a day or two. Santander may take up to three days. However, they must take a day. They really are not predictable and thus I do not recommend that you use Santander when ‘time is of the essence’.
This is a bank, so I am going to conclude this review by telling you not to use Santander unless you absolutely must do so. It is not worth the extra fees that you have to pay. Remember, the limited amount of currency options that you have available will mean that you will even have to pay rather extortionate fees on the receiving end. The high flat-rate of sending money through Santander means that you should not be using them for the smaller currency transfers anywhere. In fact, I do not suggest using them at all unless you absolutely do want the ease of the service.
Don’t get me wrong here, by the way, Santander is actually one of the better banks operating in the United Kingdom. However, they are just not all that good when it comes to international money transfers. You would think they were considering they have branches all over Europe, but they are not. Read one of the other reviews on this website. You will find countless other businesses that are far better to work with. Trust me.
Customer Comments
Santander money transfer service claims to have no charges. This is because the charges are hidden in their adjusted exchange rate. Santander bank charges £25 for international payments, but the cost of transferring 700 euros works out the same as with this post office service because of their adjusted exchange rates.
For larger amounts Santander bank works out cheaper. I find it insulting and patronising that they claim there are no fees, when in fact there are effectively fees that are hidden like this. I haven’t used the service, I gave up when I discovered this deception, so I can’t comment on how well it works.
We would like to say that the process of transferring money was both painless and also better than my other bank accounts with Natwest and RBS.
After the initial nervousness of doing the whole thing online, which I would certainly now say is easy using your bank is not that bad. Many thanks!
We were buying a holiday home in spain and asked Santander to give us a quote. Omg 220k in to euros and they were going to give me less 12k less euros.
Seriously twelve thousand difference, twelve thousand less, i could decorate the whole house for that and get a cheap run around and have a good time.
No wonder the banks are in trouble with over charging like that what do you expect. And my education to the exchange rate was down to sendmoneyhome. thanks you have really helped me
I wont use my bank to send money they are good for most things but not sending my money overseas they are just not competitive. Its not as though they get it there any quicker or its safer
The problem with banks like Santander is that they monopolise the markets, they have buying power and could knock currency exchange companies completely out of the markets but they don’t. So why not? Its all about profits.
We would like to say that the process of transferring money was both painless and also safer using my Santander bank.
After several currency companies going under like crown currency I am nervous about using a new company no matter how much money I could save as at least im not losing the whole amount. I would certainly recommend Santander over scamming companies like crown currency that got away with millions.
Im waiting for a overseas transfer.Apparently after i found out myself that they paused my transfer for a few more check ups .They claim they call you if they have questions they did not! and every day they tell me that they will call me back and they never do !!