Cyprus-Forum.com

[Get Real!]

I think I get it know About time...
Are you saying you paid the €25 on top of the €250 ? Groan... yes!
I thought that was deducted from yor original €250 ie down to €225 sent which accounts for my figures. I wish...
If your cost was €275 to get the £203 sterling then you have been ripped off No shit... I felt RAPED.
When I have sent money WU All I have paid is the one off fee of £20 In 1968?

And I majored in crochet and lefkaritika

Stop being so bloody grumpy

[RichardB]

Anyway you should have used travelwise ...better exchange rate and a €6 euro charge

Keep well mate regards to you and the family

[Sotos]

2. The recipient only received £203.00 so Western Union pinched a further £20.00 from the money sent.

That is because what you see on the internet is what is called the "interbank" exchange rate, i.e. the exchange rate used between banks. But if you as a consumer go to a bank to exchange currency, or go to an ATM and withdraw a different currency from that in your account, or you use a credit card to buy something in a different currency, or you use a service like Western Union, then the exchange rate they give you is far worst (and they charge you a fee on top of that!). I don't know if Western Union gives an even worst exchange rate than Banks or Visa, but for sure they aren't the only ones ripping consumers off.

So even if you put €250 in an envelop and send it to the UK, if the person who receives them wants to exchange them to GBP, then the bank in the UK will charge him a fee and also give them a far worst exchange rate than what you see on Google.

I often buy from Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com, and I also have some services (web hosting etc) which are paid in USD. I used to pay with a Bank of Cyprus Visa debit card and Bank of Cyprus would charge me a fee (because the transaction was in foreign currency) and also give me a worst exchange rate than the one shown on Google.

A few months ago I got a free Revolut card from Primetel (http://primetel.com.cy/about/en/primete ... s/revolut/) With this card there are no fees whatsoever and they use the same interbank exchange rate as the one shown on Google. On top of that for every euro spend Primetel adds 1MB to your data plan for your next month. And you can transfer money from person to person, again without any fees and using the interbank exchange rate if you are transferring to somebody not using EUR.

[Sotos]

Just to give a more complete picture of Revolut, there are also a few negatives, which are minor as long as you also have a backup credit card.

1. When I tried to pay at the automatic machine at a Gas station it wouldn't pass. I got a message telling me to go pay inside instead (which works fine), but the reason I was using the machine outside was that the gas station was closed at that time.

2. There are a few services that don't accept the Revolut card. I moved all my recurring payments to this card, apart from Spotify which didn't accept it.

3. On two occasions (over the past 4 months) the service didn't work for a few hours. On one of those cases I was at the supermarket and I only had this card with me, but it wouldn't pass. I left the bag next to the cashier (fortunately I only had a couple of things) and returned 30 minutes later at which point the card worked fine.

[Get Real!]

2. The recipient only received £203.00 so Western Union pinched a further £20.00 from the money sent.

That is because what you see on the internet is what is called the "interbank" exchange rate, i.e. the exchange rate used between banks.

We all expect some variation to the going rate but not to that extent!