Fees to transfer money from Revolut to accounts outside SEPA

[Romas.m]

Hello.

Have question about SWIFT payments from Revolut account.
SWIFT (Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication) allows banks to exchange messages including payment instructions.

BEN, SHA, OUR are codes in a SWIFT instruction.
The OUR instruction means sender pays all transfer charges. Receiver get all your payment.
SHA (shared) means sender only pay outgoing transfer charge. Receiver get payment minus the correspondent (intermediary) bank charges.
BEN (beneficiary) means sender do not pay any charge. Receiver get payment minus all transfer charges.

I would like to know, which SWIFT payment instruction ( BEN, SHA or OUR ) use Revolut, when we make payments outside of SEPA ?

Sorry, but Revolut is not good, when we have transfer money outside SEPA. I transferred 52 EUR to Ukraine. Receiver got 40 EUR only. Even really bad money transfer systems (as wu, moneygram) would be better in my case.

Making SWIFT transfer would be nice to see approximate fees on Revolut application. There see that transfer is free, but do not see hidden fees, which we have pay to other banks.

Waiting comments from Revolut.

[que_sera_sera]

@Romas.m

SHA

Hi,
cannot answer your topic in full, but they usa SHA in Swift transfers for sure. There is 3rd kind of possible transfers named “local transfer” (beyond SEPA and Swift), f.e. for sending PLN (Zloty) to Poland. In this case I think there is no fee, but I’m not quite sure …
I would be interested in Revolut’s exact definition of “local transfer”, but cannot find in the FAQ …

[Romas.m]

Local transfer means that company which makes transfer has bank account in this country. Then instead to make regular SWIFT transfer they can make local transfer (from company account to receiver account) . This way make transfers many money transfer systems. For example Paysera has bank accounts in many SEPA countries - Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Croatia, Hungary, not SEPA country - Georgia, and three Eurozone countries - Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, To or from these countries Paysera instead regular SWIFT can make local transfer. All this information is on Paysera web page. Sorry, but do not see this information on Revolut.

[mcsmartie]

Does anyone have any experience using turbotransfer (with Revolut Premium) to Poland? Does it use SWIFT or local-agent? And how long did it take?

[NFH]

The law is very clear on this. Article 81 of Directive (EU) 2015/2366 on payment services in the internal market (PSD2) states:

1. Member States shall require the payment service provider(s) of the payer, the payment service provider(s) of the payee and any intermediaries of the payment service providers to transfer the full amount of the payment transaction and refrain from deducting charges from the amount transferred.

2. However, the payee and the payment service provider may agree that the relevant payment service provider deduct its charges from the amount transferred before crediting it to the payee. In such a case, the full amount of the payment transaction and charges shall be separated in the information given to the payee.

3. If any charges other than those referred to in paragraph 2 are deducted from the amount transferred, the payment service provider of the payer shall ensure that the payee receives the full amount of the payment transaction initiated by the payer. Where the payment transaction is initiated by or through the payee, the payment service provider of the payee shall ensure that the full amount of the payment transaction is received by the payee.

EU directives are not law; they need to be enacted into national law in each EEA member state. Revolut is based in the United Kingdom. The above Article 81 is enacted into UK law under Regulation 84 of the Payment Services Regulations 2017, which states:

(1) Subject to paragraph (2), the payment service providers of the payer and payee must ensure that the full amount of the payment transaction is transferred and that no charges are deducted from the amount transferred.

(2) The payee and its payment service provider may agree for the relevant payment service provider to deduct its charges from the amount transferred before crediting it to the payee provided that the full amount of the payment transaction and the amount of the charges are clearly stated in the information provided to the payee.

(3) If charges other than those provided for by paragraph (2) are deducted from the amount transferred—

(a) in the case of a payment transaction initiated by the payer, the payer’s payment service provider must ensure that the payee receives the full amount of the payment transaction;

(b) in the case of a payment transaction initiated by the payee, the payee’s payment service provider must ensure that the payee receives the full amount of the payment transaction.

It is clear that Revolut, as the payment service provider of the payer, “must ensure that the full amount of the payment transaction is transferred and that no charges are deducted from the amount transferred”. It is Revolut’s responsibility to ensure that its intermediary banks (including its chosen bank Lloyds) do not deduct fees, in order to ensure Revolut’s compliance with the legislation. If fees are deducted, then there is a remedy under Regulation 84(3)(a) of the Payment Services Regulations 2017, requiring Revolut to “ensure that the payee receives the full amount of the payment transaction”. If an intermediary bank has deducted charges, then you should insist to Revolut that it complies with Regulation 84(3)(a) and resends any shortfall amount. If Revolut’s support people refuse to comply, then you should complain via Revolut’s formal complaint process, quoting the above legislation.

If Revolut cannot prevent fees from being charged by its intermediary banks, then Revolut would need to advertise a charge for bank transfers in order to cover these costs. What Revolut can’t do is advertise that it doesn’t charge for bank transfers and then allow fees to be unlawfully deducted by intermediary banks from the amount transferred. Schedule 1 Paragraph 20 of the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 states that the following is an unfair commercial practice:

Describing a product as ‘gratis’, ‘free’, ‘without charge’ or similar if the consumer has to pay anything other than the unavoidable cost of responding to the commercial practice and collecting or paying for delivery of the item.

Furthermore Regulation 5(4)(g) of the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 prohibits a misleading indication of price.

[Sneili]

Agree, that’s ridiculous, corresponding bank fees should be clear from the beginning. I’ve got 7% taken on my transfer. So much for good currency exchange rates, if it’s close to 10% correspondent bank commission

[Diem]

I’m disappointed with Revolut’s swift transfer service. The fee is not transparent, they didn’t warn the client about hidden fee.
I send 265€ from France to Vietnam bank to my mom. Revolut said that I spent just 5€ for the transfer. But not really, there is another hidden fee. My mom received just 253€. Revolut charges 12€ more without warning. I send message to ask them but on one answer me! I thought I found a good service in Revolut:/. It’s too expensive fee!

[teakitkeat]

with SWIFT international payments, the receiving bank (and intermediary bank(s), if any) may charge fees. The sending institution may not always know exactly what these fees will be as it depends on the exact payment route. Think of it as greedy relatives that you have to depend on to get your money to your mum.

[Diem]

OK. Thanks, I didn’t know this charge. But I meant I should be warned about it, even not exact amount that I have to pay.

[HenRex]

You are not seeing this?

[Diem]

Nope. Thank to you, I saw it now!

[panachoi]

I saw this too. I was sending Swiss Franc to a Swiss account. But both the sending country (LT, for my EU based card) and receiving country (CH) are part of SEPA, and yet still this was not made as a SEPA transfer, as I ended up with a roughly 8 Euro charge (ended up with 9 ChF less than I sent). I’d ask why, but I’m afraid that I already know the answer to this.

[Miss_Haps]

I think, SEPA is EUR only - no other currency

[HenRex]

True, that is what the “E” in SEPA means.