Timeline for Why do financial institutions charge so much to convert currency?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
12 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 21, 2017 at 6:58 | comment | added | Mike Scott | @FedericoPoloni If you actually want to swap pieces of paper for other pieces of paper, then of course you can't do it online. But most people exchanging money (in countries with modern banking systems) want to swap numbers on one computer for other numbers on another computer, which can be done online. | |
| Sep 21, 2017 at 6:55 | comment | added | Federico Poloni | How can one use an online service for money exchange? It's not all electronic, a few pieces of paper have to change hands. | |
| Sep 19, 2017 at 22:22 | comment | added | Dan Henderson | ...They reversed the initial fee, but told me that unless I brought the account above some amount, the fee would reoccur every month. So I closed the savings account but kept the checking account open (it was not subject to any requirements to stay free). I left 5 cents in the checking account for another year. | |
| Sep 19, 2017 at 22:22 | comment | added | Dan Henderson | I once had accounts at a bank that offered "free" checking & savings accounts; after having had the account for several years they converted the savings account to a "not-free" account - they started charging me $5/month to keep the account open. I went in to complain and they told me that the savings account being free was as a student account and that based on the account's age, they had determined I was no longer a student. They went on to tell me that "it costs us money to keep that account open" (I had had 0 transactions on the account other than the periodic interest for a long time).... | |
| Sep 18, 2017 at 19:38 | comment | added | reirab | @James Not in the U.S., either. Paying for someone to use your money is insane. If the bank is not paying you to keep your money, something is wrong. This answer seems to miss where banks actually make their money: interest and fees on loans and card processing fees. FWIW, most U.S. travel-oriented cards don't have foreign transaction fees these days. | |
| Sep 18, 2017 at 17:49 | comment | added | Eric Duminil | You're right. Banks have high operating costs : cocaine and hookers can be pretty expensive these days. | |
| Sep 18, 2017 at 16:14 | comment | added | MSalters | Even if a bank would just outsource the currency transactions to a specialist, and slap a 100% profit margin on that, they still wouldn't need to charge 3%. | |
| Sep 18, 2017 at 16:14 | comment | added | djechlin | "Most banks in most places lose a lot of money on operating bank accounts for customers" [citation needed] | |
| Sep 18, 2017 at 16:13 | comment | added | djechlin | I was with you, up until encouraging the user to do their fair share to keep bank profits high, lest we enter some post-capitalist hellscape where consumers try to pay less for goods and services. | |
| Sep 18, 2017 at 13:58 | comment | added | James | Paying for a current account!? Not in the UK! | |
| Sep 18, 2017 at 12:41 | comment | added | Contango | Sounds like you are the PR guy for some bank. You forgot the bit about "A banks policy is to screw their customers if they can." | |
| Sep 18, 2017 at 6:54 | history | answered | Mike Scott | CC BY-SA 3.0 |