Have you been hit by sneaky charges?

International Transfers are defiantly an area where sneaky / dishonest charges are being made. I have over the year so far received three wire transfers all sent using the international SWIFT transfers system, with international bank numbers as reference. These have the option of the sending party paying all charges upfront, so an exact amount is sent. On all three occasions the amount received has differed by $20 from the amount sent, yet no charges are showing on any paperwork the bank can produce. On investigation it would seem that these payments will always travel via a partner bank to HSBC in the country originating the payment, either a local HSBC or other party. These banks will automatically apply a handling charge - even if all fees have been paid. Having tried to get some explanation from HSBC it would appear this is common and seems incredibly hard to correct, to the point that I feel they have done this on purpose and make it difficult to correct in order to say it was an error if pushed but hope to keep the majority of mis-charges like this. In my opinion this not chance that it has happened 3 times this year. So any international money transfers you receive you would do well to check the amount sent and agreed fee payments. Ask sender for amount sent in their currency and your bank for the amount received in the originating currency, normally you may only be informed of the Stirling credit and perhaps the exchange rate and so the charge would go unnoticed. Crafty and likely illegal - but how to stop it.

I recently bought an item on ebay from Taiwan. I paid $100 for express delivery and the seller dispatched promptly by air freight. On arrival in the UK it was held by Parcelforce International for a week and I was then billed £9 VAT plus a 'clearance fee' of £13.50 from Parcelforce. I was told that if I didn't pay them they would return the goods to sender. I know I must pay the VAT but the handling fee is just a rip off.