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Bank Charges...... Unexplained

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beezaneez | 19:10 Fri 21st Feb 2014 | Personal Finance
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i bought flight off travel agent in south ireland , 599 euro was total. i went into my bank in belfast and bank had charged me total of £546. though when i looked on fx currency converter 599 euro = £ 494.32. an overcharge of approx £50 . i do know there was a charge of £23 for using my uk debit card.

any advice please much appreciated. i went to bank and complained and bank told me that travel agent in eire was responsible so i emailed travel agent in eire ( south ireland ) but travel agent told me that the bank was responsible for the over charge.
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The online currency converter is very unlikely to be the rate you got from your bank, you need to ask them what rate was used although even £523 for 599Eur seems a lot as that's only about 1.14
What bank account do you have? They all charge different fees for use abroad.
Question Author
i have an ulsterbank account ( northern ireland / uk )

cheers
Question Author
must say that i have booked through southern ireland companies before and ive never had this charge .
>>>when i looked on fx currency converter

The currency conversion was done by Visa, who want to make their own profit. Ulster Bank also want to make a profit as well, so this is the calculator you should have used:
http://www.visaeurope.com/en/cardholders/exchange_rates.aspx
Enter the currency conversion rate as 2.65%, as that's what Ulster Bank currentlycharges. (It's actually 2.65% plus 75p).

(Ulster Bank information sourced from here:
http://www.ulsterbank.co.uk/ni/personal/daily-banking/current-accounts/useful-information/debit-cards-abroad.ashx )

Using today's date I get €599 = £507.46 (+ 75p, as above, = £508.21). Adding on the £23 brings that up to £531.21, which is only about £15 different to the figure you've quoted (and could easily be accounted for daily fluctuations in the exchange rate).
..must say that i have booked through southern ireland companies before and ive never had this charge ..

You may well have had the charge - banks (some of them anyway) have only recently started showing it separately rather than burying it in the total
Question Author
ok guys, thanks very much for your help. will be more vigilant and choose which way i pay more carefully in the future.
The Post Office credit card does not charge commission when it is used abroad so it may be worth while you looking in to that.
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