Western Union - Scam?

HSBC has the worst customer service in the country. They are so slow in everything.... the branches behave like we are so obliged to them.. now i am happy after shifting my salary as well as my deposits to QNB...

The charges are quite high in HSBC.. but no service,

Their employees keep on changing.. looks like their employee attrition is very high.....

I'm also editing a bunch of pictures for the kids' school, btw.

So does that mean I can put money into my PayPal account in Qatar and then transfer it to my Australian bank account?? That would be great because although PayPal do charge, it's not that much. I'll check it out.

And mate, you really should get off the computer ... lol .. it must be the middle of the night. I have an excuse, I'm off sick from school ha ha ha

Paypal is available in Qatar now. Isn't eBay wonderful. Wonderfully addictive.

Don't worry about the dog, check these guys out http://www.qatarpetrelocators.com/index2.php

Good luck.

I'm a member of PayPal here as I use it for eBay transactions. Did you say that PayPal is now available in Qatar?

And thanks for the comment about the dog!!! He's our baby - and that's going to be the other problem - bringing him!!! But that's a WHOLE other thread ...

Nice dog, btw.

Greetings Down Under! The land of Acca Dacca.

iKobo only does ATM type of transactions. But have you tried Paypal? US Paypal users have it linked to their bank accounts so check if it's the same in Australia.

Otherwise you can do a standing order with your bank for monthly/regular transfers once you're set up here but there will be charges.

I've been reading this thread with interest as my husband and I are shortly moving to Qatar and will have to transfer money back to Australia regularly to cover commitment here. Does anyone have any experience of transferring to Oz?

E46M3 - you mention Ikobo - do they have internet service rather than just taking money out of an ATM? In other words, can we transfer to an Ikobo account and then use that account to transfer money to our Australian bank to cover our commitments? It's hard to know what best to do.

I appreciate holdawaykw's comment that we do earn a decent salary and the charges are a small percentage, but bank charges really stick in my throat, almost more than anything else. The take, take, take. They charge high interest if you borrow money, they pay small interest if you save money, the gain interest on our money while they're 'clearing' it. They're money grabbers pure and simple.

So, what can people advise is the best way to regularly transfer money safely, easily and with as little charge as possible??

Banks are like a saw; they eat going up and they eat going down.

we transfer to england from Doha Bank to Barclay Bank. Doha bank charging 35 QR from Qatar end and Barclay charging 6 pound for receiving it.

There's an online service called Ikobo that I use. http://www.ikobo.com/

If you have someone you regularly send money to you register an account with them and they'll send the recipient an ATM card. Much cheaper than WU. I use it all the time.

I used to stand for hours in the QNB to transfer money. They charged QR65 for this 'service' and my receiving bank A&L UK charged 14GBP. Now I have eventually managed to register for their internet service and the cost is now 33QR and 13GBP by the A&L to transfer money. Again as dweller said it is utter cr*p but one of the problems we as ex-pats have to put up with. However at least we get paid a decent amount and can put up with these charges. You think if you only earn 400 to 600QR a month how much these charges would be as a percentage of your take home pay...

Yes I think it is your bank which charges this amount. I usually send money to US and UAE by wire they always deduct 15 to 20 $. Now I send by draft which will be cleared few days late but you will be credited the full amount.

Pumpkin, that is really weird that the same bank would not accept your money to do the transfer.

If you want to send money through WU, I would recommend that you send it from here to someone in UK (your family/friend) in the currency that your WU in UK accepts (either pounds or dollars). Then let this person make a deposit for you in your bank if that is what you wanted.

If this is only to send money to your family, then it's better this way.

If you just want to save, then I'd rather open an account here in Qatar. That way you'd save yourself all the charges for transfers to UK.

If you're looking for a problem, you're probably gonna find one.

It is common for banks in the UK to charge for receiving cash. I had a similar argument with Lloyds/TSB who were charging me £12 per transaction.

Another annoying issue is that even with electronic transfers they were waiting 3 days to "clear" the payment. Utter cr*p as it's an instant transfer.

They can bang all these payments into Honk Kong and get interest by the hour.

HSBC in Qatar is not HSBC UK as it is 51% Qatari owned. Same applies here in Turkey, HSBC is 51% Turkish owned.

HSBC in Qatar doesn't recognise HSBC in the UK, so when I took my HSBC UK bank cards and money to transfer along to the branch here, they refused to transfer the money across....

I know my bank in the US charges our account 15 US dollars to accept a wire transfer. They will take it anyway they can. They charge 30 US to send a wire transfer. Kind of funny since all the work is being done by computers.

Lisa

Some banks are charging their own rate of exchange.

It happened once to me when someone was sending me money from here to Europe through bank transfer.

Never done it again!

Since then I always transfer by WU to one person, not bank, and always in US$, since this is the currency that WU makes most transactions.

Btw, no one can steal your money "on the way" if you send it by WU. It goes by electronic transfer, so nobody can physically take it.

Why don't you try to do the transfer from local HSBC to the one in your country?

Ask them about fees, too.

If you're looking for a problem, you're probably gonna find one.

Hey there buddy,

thats a pretty tough call to say that it might have got stolen down the line transfer...probably, there wud have been some charges for that missing of funds...maybe u ought to check up with the bank itself...hope u find the money...cos yes 12Pounds is quite a lot...especially when we are all here in this place...a place not ours...just to make some money and have a decent life...so check up...and take it easy...

Have a nice day Pumpkin...

Have fun...alright...