On Tue, Mar 31, 2009 at 10:43:19AM +0200, Peter N. M. Hansteen wrote: > Lars NoodC)n <larsnoo...@openoffice.org> writes: > > > 2) Bank transfer reputation - the banks have a reputation for being > > difficult about European inter-state transfers. That includes tacking > > on charges and fees even when their own rules state otherwise. Delays > > and lost payments are not rare enough. > > Traditionally banks have been a pain, but I vaguely remember that > prodded by Dutch consumer groups the relevant part of the Eurocracy > put its foot down and started requiring that intra-EU (and intra-EEA I > think) transactions be completed within 24 hours just a couple of > years back. Worked wonders for the speed of interbank transactions > here in .no at least.
As a student having to transfer money from Germany to Ireland regularly to get at my money, I can tell you it's still a pain in the ass in 2009. They make it really hard to even get at your own money. Transferring money from a bank account in Germany to a bank account in Ireland can take "up to 5 working days". You have to plan ahead for a week, and during the entire week, they've basically frozen your budget. While the money is being transferred you can't get at it. Too bad if you're running out of cash while they take an extra day or two again... the odd bill that popped up I had to pay late because, well, the *banks* were holding on to my money! I don't even want to know what kinds of accounts with what kinds of crazy interest rates the money was sitting in in the meantime. Just recently the German bank decided to offer a deal where for 2.50 EUR a month you at least get the horrendous ATM fees back when using ATMs in other EU states. It's 7.50 EUR per ATM transaction, and they still charge those fees at the time of transaction, but you get that money back some arbitrary amount of time later. Still quite bad, but at least better than the old situation, because at least you can get your cash when you need it. So in my experience, inter-state banking in the EU still sucks really, really badly. Stefan
