Payments from a UK account to Germany

In theory I should ask my local Sparkasse, but they are numpties, and not to be trusted.

Basically I am considering running all my business banking from one UK account. This means paying German suppliers in €uros using the IBAN number system. This is all well and good (£5 charge per transaction for me).

But the question is:

At the moment I pay suppliers direct from my German account via online Uberweisung. If I switch to paying via the system outlined, will this count as an "overseas payment" and will my suppliers therefore get hit with additional charges?

I thought I heard that once I used IBAN and sent in €uros it was all the same - but the UK bank thinks this "might" trigger higher charges at the receiving end because it originates from overseas.

Ta very much fellow geeks.

The receiver will have a charge for receiving money from abroad.

At the time of sending the money you have to specify whether you want to pick up the receiver's charges as well as your own.

I have account in several countries and it's always an tickbox I have to tick when I send the cash between them.

Another thing- theres a EUR12500 limit for sending cash internationally. Above that then you have to go through anti money laundering rules. Dunno if thats a problem for you.

You've not met many Toytown people have you JE?

You've not me the local population of my village fellah. I still remember having a row with polish slag in the post office that ENGLAND most certainly was in bleeding Europe, and yes I was quite aware that it was seperated by a small stretch of water etc etc.

I send cash from here to Aus using the Deautch bank. They charge me 30 euro, But you can choose that money to be sent on to the receiver. I made a mistake the other week and it cost me over 200 euro for the error (in the process of asking why)

The Euro Transfer is for up to EUR 12 500 and ONLY in EUR ammounts.
The banks are not allowed to charge more than they charge for domestic bank transfers.

Now UK banks being "National Westminster" in more ways than one I hear a few stories of them trying to charge people to make transfers that should in fact be free. OK, it might be a buisness account with a charge for transactions but f they are free domestic, they should be free in the EU, NOT just to EUR using countries.

I receive money in my UK bank account reguarly from my German account and there are no charges, it just goes on and credited in GBP at the daily bak to bank rate.

CAREFULL! When I started doing this I ticked the box that "I" ie the German account holder would pay all the charges as I knew there were none to pay iykwim. But the Sparkasse tried to hit me for EUR 12,50 a pop which I got back off them. There should be NO charges.

Of course it should be POSSIBLE to pay any EU based account from any EU based account by this (usually) free transfer service. Indeed it is part of the basc framework to enable individuals and busiensses to operate across national borders.

I'd say though, you still might find it less hassle to deal with people via German and UK bank accounts and move money yourself between the accounts in one simpler transaction.

Original Quote Stadtsparkasse München:

"Great Britain isn't in Europe"

"yes it is"

"Great Britain isn't in the EU"

"yes it is"

"I mean Great Britain isn't really in Europe"

"yes it is"



They still refused to lend me money I thought I'd agreed with them when I joined their crappy Bauspar anyway.

I think the rule is that if you send it in Euro and the recipient is in Europe and receives it in Euro, there can be no charge made. Of course, I may have got that exactly, 100+% wrong. Check with your numpties

The reason I ask here is 'cos of course I have a variety of suppliers, all of whom use different German banks. So even if Sparkasse tells me what I wanna hear, I am kinda concerned that I will have my suppliers bitching that I underpaid them etc.

• Transfers from Euro account to Euro accounts in the Euro zone should not incur charges
• Transfer in Euros into the Euro-zone should not incur charges at the receiving bank, but may incur charges from the sending bank (check with your bank) - this usually depends on the bank and the type of account. A Euro account in a non Euro-land bank should be cheaper.
• Transfer between two currencies other than Euros (SWIFT rules) should offer 3 possibilities when the transfer is setup:
  1. Sender pays all charges
  2. Receiver pays all charges
  3. Sender pays sending bank charges, Receiver pays receiving bank charges

Charges are set by the individual banks, but should reflect the actual costs incurred, and should be "reasonable". Charges are in addition to "normal" charges established for running your account (e.g. if your bank charges you for each and every transaction, as many do on business accounts)

Whatever you do, I would suggest you set it up so you don't have to do any currency exchanges. Doesn't matter who you use, they will all take their cut when it comes to the exchange rate.

Thanks guys. Some FX is unavoidable as all my income (95%) is generated in Sterling, but I pay suppliers in €uros. I would prefer therefore to run the 1 account with just Sterling, and just pay the £5 charge each time I think.

Currently I am also running a €uro account here in Germany, but of course still need to send slugs of cash over from Sterling into €uros to keep the account in funds. So it is a drag to remember to keep enough funds in the correct place etc.

For those interested the service I am proposing to use is here:

https://www.internationalpayments.co.uk/

It is £5 a pop, but dunno how shafted you get on the FX rates, although in my experiences with Alliance and Leicester in the past I think it will be OK. No worse than usual probably.

As it happens I don't bank with Alliance and Leicester and you dont need to for this service. They just set up a direct debit with your UK bank. They reckon payments arrive in 2 working days when placed before 11am. To do this they actually take a small credit risk - 'cos of course you cannot get funded even UK to UK bank the same day (expect via ripoff CHAPS etc).

Hmmm..we have the same situation, we pay £20 per transaction (Barclays) but always get a very good xchange rate.
I used A & L for a while and found them to be very good but it begs the question, if they are cheap they could be making their money by giving you a poor rate (sorry to state the obvious)

Give them a try for one tansaction and compare the rate that they give you on the day with the quoted rate for the day.

Stan & Ollie

Where does this figure of Eur 12500 come from? References?
I hear as many different amounts as people who tell me...

Theres no limit for sending cash internationally. There is a maximum (and it may be €12500) for sending it for free, and above a certain amount certain forms must be completed for national bank statistics. No big deal nor delay, however...

The EUR 12 500 limit is the maximum that you can put on one of the FREE EU money transfers.
So if you want to send EUR 25K you use 2 separate ones etc.

There are separate limits that trigger extra record keeping / informing the authorities with regard to money laundering.

Like I said

Just cos you posted it 90 seconds before I did cheeky!