Timeline for Why do financial institutions charge so much to convert currency?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
31 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Jul 8 at 19:11 | comment | added | Mei | I can look up the exchange rate on the Web, do a multiplication, and bang currency converted. Why is there a fee to do a simple multiplication? | |
| Oct 17, 2017 at 20:20 | history | protected | Chris W. Rea | ||
| Oct 4, 2017 at 16:06 | vote | accept | Chris Cirefice | ||
| Sep 24, 2017 at 16:28 | comment | added | Eric | @siimsoni I take issue with Transferwise. Their business model is not new. XE and OFX have been doing it for longer and at lower cost than Transferwise yet Transferwise gets all the publicity. | |
| Sep 22, 2017 at 19:05 | comment | added | user12515 | Anecdotal, but not all institutions charge a lot to convert currency. Once on a trip to Canada I (at the insistence of the person I was visiting there) went to a local bank with my cash. They only charged me a few pips, whatever the difference was between the bid/ask on the market exchange was. | |
| Sep 22, 2017 at 13:07 | answer | added | Dennis Jaheruddin | timeline score: 2 | |
| Sep 21, 2017 at 15:13 | comment | added | Matthew Read | 2.5% is pretty standard for banks, and less if you have an account in the foreign currency -- sounds like you're getting ripped off. Having used XE, their fee is around 1.25% IIRC. | |
| Sep 20, 2017 at 17:37 | comment | added | Navin | @ChrisCirefice They charged that much because it wasn't high enough for you to close your account. Check out Schwab, their debit card has no foreign transaction fees and they pay whatever fee the ATM operator charges. | |
| Sep 20, 2017 at 16:22 | comment | added | Chris Cirefice | @Navin Yeah... and there are lots of debit cards that do have foreign transaction fees. I just withdrew 200€ yesterday and paid over $15 in fees. If I were able to make that rent payment with my credit card I wouldn't have had to pay the fees. But, I had no choice but to pay in cash. | |
| Sep 20, 2017 at 16:19 | comment | added | Navin | Isn't this a false premise? There are many credit cards with no foreign transaction fees. | |
| Sep 19, 2017 at 14:38 | answer | added | pjc50 | timeline score: 5 | |
| Sep 19, 2017 at 10:40 | answer | added | Brythan | timeline score: 7 | |
| Sep 19, 2017 at 9:26 | answer | added | slebetman | timeline score: 5 | |
| Sep 19, 2017 at 6:36 | comment | added | Gnudiff | @JonathanReez Seconded. Revolut or similar service is the answer for me. | |
| Sep 18, 2017 at 21:05 | comment | added | JonathanReez | Sign up for a Revolut card and you won't have this issue again. | |
| Sep 18, 2017 at 20:28 | answer | added | CKM | timeline score: 15 | |
| Sep 18, 2017 at 18:14 | comment | added | CaffeineAddiction | Because poor people dont travel to different countries attempting to exchange money | |
| Sep 18, 2017 at 13:37 | history | tweeted | twitter.com/StackFinance/status/909773429129269253 | ||
| Sep 18, 2017 at 13:27 | answer | added | dotancohen | timeline score: 44 | |
| Sep 18, 2017 at 13:21 | comment | added | Chris Cirefice | @siimsoni Yea I've heard of it and know lots of people who have used it! I don't have any large sum of money to transfer, I just had to suck up a $20 transaction fee for a quick security deposit on an apartment. That's what prompted my question :) | |
| Sep 18, 2017 at 13:15 | comment | added | Pete Becker | Why do they charge so much? Because they can. | |
| Sep 18, 2017 at 12:39 | comment | added | ksiimson | There is at least one currency exchange company that I can think of, which is founded on the premise that banks charge too much (TransferWise). It's founders have been interviewed many times on the topic - might be worth reading up. | |
| Sep 18, 2017 at 12:35 | comment | added | Grade 'Eh' Bacon | All else being equal, this is simply another fee that the bank makes money off of. | |
| Sep 18, 2017 at 12:15 | answer | added | Aganju | timeline score: 81 | |
| Sep 18, 2017 at 11:36 | comment | added | Chris Cirefice | @MikeScott That's exactly why I asked the question in the first place - I don't know the why. | |
| Sep 18, 2017 at 11:32 | comment | added | Mike Scott | @AakashM I believe that the questioner has the (wholly erroneous) belief that paying for current exchange rate information is the main cost incurred by banks in providing a currency exchange service. | |
| Sep 18, 2017 at 9:59 | comment | added | AakashM | You start off talking about charges for foreign-currency transactions (not really the same as currency conversion fees), but then you mention the fees for accessing exchange rate data - not really sure what your numerical example is intended to indicate. Banks charge fees for their services and the level of these fees is 'what the market will bear' - is this so surprising? | |
| Sep 18, 2017 at 7:29 | history | edited | Dheer |
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| Sep 18, 2017 at 7:29 | answer | added | Dheer | timeline score: 31 | |
| Sep 18, 2017 at 6:54 | answer | added | Mike Scott | timeline score: 7 | |
| Sep 18, 2017 at 6:44 | history | asked | Chris Cirefice | CC BY-SA 3.0 |