I have recently transferred some money to Cambodia using a company called Transferwise (the first time I've used them). They quoted me a transaction fee along with how much in USD I will receive into my ABA account.

The money came through today $55 short. I have emailed them and they have told me that as it was transferred to Cambodia, it has to go through two or three other banks, each of whom take a fee, which apparently comes out of my final amount.

None of this was made clear to me while I was setting up the transaction. It clearly stated the transfer fee and clearly stated how much I would receive in my Cambodian account. At no point did it mention these 'other banks' or 'other fees'.

Has anyone else had any dealings with this company? Is this common practice?

Username Taken wrote: ↑Tue Mar 17, 2020 4:47 pm ask-the-expats-questions-answers/fees-a ... 31917.html

From the above thread:

I use TransferWise in London to ABA every 3 months. ABA use an intermediary bank, Standard Chartered Bank in New York. TransferWise in the UK use Barclays in London.
There is always $55 that goes missing between the dollars they send and what I receive.

I've never had that happen on TW transfers from Canada to Thailand. If there are two or three intermediary banks, you might as well use standard wire transfers, which only involve one intermediary bank in my experience. The name of the middle bank is always on the wire receipt.

In addition, most Cambodian banks charge to receive a transfer. For a bank I used recently it was 0.1%

It's not the fees which bother me, it's that they don't make this clear during the transaction process. When they give you a fee and tell you the amount you will receive in your Cambodian account, you take that in good faith and expect that money to end up in your bank account.

Even if they said something like 'Please be aware that as you are transferring to Cambodia, this may incur additional fees' but there was nothing of the sort.

In their email reply to me, they tried to explain the steps and where the money has gone. They begin by telling me that my original account would have charged me an initial fee for starting the process - they didn't, it was a simple bank transfer which is free (I have checked my account) - and then they tried to tell me my receiving bank will have charged me a fee - they didn't. ABA no longer charges for international transfers (I have checked the account and they now state in their website that they don't charge fees for this anymore).

It all seems a bit underhand to me. A bit of transparency is needed.

daeum_tnaot wrote: ↑Tue Mar 17, 2020 4:56 pm In addition, most Cambodian banks charge to receive a transfer. For a bank I used recently it was 0.1%

I saw an ad from ABA on FB today and they have dropped their charges for incoming TTs now, apparently. Although they have no control over the intermediary banks obviously.

xandreu wrote: ↑Tue Mar 17, 2020 5:01 pm It's not the fees which bother me, it's that they don't make this clear during the transaction process. When they give you a fee and tell you the amount you will receive in your Cambodian account, you take that in good faith and expect that money to end up in your bank account.

Even if they said something like 'Please be aware that as you are transferring to Cambodia, this may incur additional fees' but there was nothing of the sort.

In their email reply to me, they tried to explain the steps and where the money has gone. They begin by telling me that my original account would have charged me an initial fee for starting the process - they didn't, it was a simple bank transfer which is free (I have checked my account) - and then they tried to tell me my receiving bank will have charged me a fee - they didn't. ABA no longer charges for international transfers (I have checked the account and they now state in their website that they don't charge fees for this anymore).

It all seems a bit underhand to me. A bit of transparency is needed.

Agree with you and that would tick me off also. It seems a normal wire transfer to an ABA account would normally be the best route under those circumstances. Although it is difficult to know the exchange rate to be used to compare between a normal bank and Transfer Wise.

I can't be bothered to keep this up with them. Life's too short. But this was my final email to them.

Thanks for your reply.

But with respect, you are talking to me as if I need to understand how international banking works. I don’t need to know. I am a customer, not an international banker.

I (now) accept that my transaction had to go through various financial institutions while it made its way to my recipients bank, and that during each stage, fees had to be paid, but none of this was made clear to me at the time I initiated the transfer.

At the point of creating the transfer, I was simply led to believe that Transferwise would charge me a set fee, which you clearly displayed, and that the amount shown would arrive in my account. As a customer, this was the only information you provided me with and it was the only information I had to go on.

To later state that additional fees were incurred along the way is a mis-representation of the information you presented me with at the time I made the transfer. If you had given me a warning before I made the transfer, such as ‘Please be aware that as you are transferring money to Cambodia, additional fees may apply’ I would have been able to make a more informed decision. But you failed to do that. You led me to believe that the fees you quoted were the only fees applicable.

It isn’t the fees themselves which I’m upset about, It’s the lack of transparency. I accept that you aren’t going to refund me. But going forward, as a reputable financial organisation, you really need to be more transparent with your customers.

Even if you can’t be sure exactly how much the extra fees will be, you should at least warn your customers that additional fees are likely.

Otherwise your customers just end up feeling ‘ripped off’. And no company wants that.

Thanks and have a nice day.

I've been using Transferwise funds from abroad > local bank account > pull cash from ATM for a while. I also use Paypal (not with Cambodian account). Fees are a bit higher on Paypal. IMO Transferwise fees are reasonable, for the services they provide.