Receiving monthly payments from abroad - how does it work?

[SuperBunny]

DS's father should be making maintenance payments every month but he's in the US. If he pays it into my UK bank account, will I be charged? If so, does anyone know roughly how much? Is there a better way of transferring money?

I would imagine it will depend on his bank and the method of transfer. Don't know about transferring from US to UK but I regularly transfer from UK to US (by priority payment/wire) and my UK bank charges £23 for sending it and my US bank charges $15 for receiving it. A few years ago I was with a different US bank and they did not have a direct transfer service and used to do it via a handling agent, who charged an additional $10. Bloody scam!

You should contact your UK bank and ask if they charge for receiving an incoming wire and he should ask his bank his charges (there will be some)

Thanks Mum, I feared this would be the case. Will check with my bank. Thanks.

That's about the same amount that my bank told me when I opened my account in UK. The manager said there is a method of saving by getting the foreign bank to send the money in pounds so they pay the fee at their end. Also, an alternative, he said we could pay something like 60 pounds and that would allow us so and so many transfers. I'll be in the same situation as you and I just blocked it all out for now because Iwant to get home first and then think about the rest!

The manager also said if yu want to save on fees just get money sent together every 3 or 4 months instead of monthly. Not sure if h would go for that though.

I was thinking about doing it every so often, too. I might see if I can get it written in an agreement that ex will pay all fees. Doubt I'll be allowed but worth a try.