Paying for Safari
 

I need to send money to a bank in Tanzania and I can't seem to figure out how to do this. They have given me the Swift Code for the bank, but I am not sure what to do with it. I can't find the bank's email address on the internet. I have gone down 100 blind alleys, so if anyone can give me any suggestions I would welcome them. Thanks

Marnibe:

You would now pass the Swift Code onto your bank so they can transfer your money. This is a banking process not something you can do privately as far as I know.

Den

I went to my bank, gave them the safari organzer's bank details including the swift code and the bank did the rest. And boy! Did they ever charge me for it!!

africnow:

Yes, I had hefty fees from my bank plus had to incur the fee charged to the outfitter.

Rught! And in addition the exchange rate to buy US$. Wow! I could almost have gone on another safari! :))

Didnt they hv the credit card payment option?

May hv worked out better?

Hari

Thank you for sharing Marnibe and very sorry to hear about the difficulties. I'm also curious if it was a local Tanzania agent / company that organized the trip. My assumption is this would be an issue with Africa based operators more than others, but only an assumption.

I prefer local agents.

I travel budget. This is for a camping trip - not your luxury type camping - bush camping and public camp sites.

Also in Israel an credit card payment doesn't work out much cheaper even if it were possible to use one.

You'll need to send a wire transfer. This is typically done through your bank. You can do it in person at a branch or online through your bank's website. Sometimes, the fee is reduced if do it online. You should see a box on the form (whether paper or online) where it asks for the Swift Code. You'll need to enter that plus all of the other pertinent bank details that your tour operator gave you.

You can also ask your tour operator whether they accept credit cards as Hari suggested. However, the operator may add a surcharge for credit card use to cover the credit card company's fee (this is very common with local East African operators as well as foreign operators elsewhere).

Den,
Did you have to pay your tour operator's incoming wire fee as well?

Patty:

Yes, I paid the tour operator's incoming wire fee plus my bank fee. I think it added about $80.00 to the total (maybe more-I have stopped tracking my spending)!

I wish I knew I could have done it online. Also, I would have paid the total so I would have the fee only once if I thought about it in time.

Den

Den,
Did they request that you cover their fee or did you just do that automatically?

Hi Patty:

At their request. Is this unusual?

Den

I haven't encountered such a request that's why I was curious. Was this for your Uganda portion? Perhaps that's customary there, I don't know. Did you get your tickets and everything else sorted out?

Personally, I would never expect a client to cover wire fees that I incurred for wiring their payment to the lodges/camps. IMO, that should be the responsibility of the tour operator.

However, if it is any consolation, it was still probably cheaper to pay the extra $80 than it would have been to cover credit card charges of 3% - 5%.

Rocco - what tour operators charge 3-5% for CC purchases? That's a lot. Good to know for the audience here. I was charged 2% with ATR which is customary cost they would likely be billed by CC company.

I calculated my own credit card charges from ATR to be at about 2.5%. However, prices were pretty high and I believe I was charged at rack or OVER rack rates by ATR. I put myself in a bad position by booking my safari a bit late, feeling the pressure of limited availability and then paying the price.

Rocco - thanks. There's a clause in ATRs T&C's that state the price will fluctuate on the pound, so that may have had some influence on the final USD$ charged to your account too. My were pretty much dead on the dollar quoted with 2%.

Also, I'd asked about the costs related to $ to British Pound conversion.

So, Marnibe -- feel free to contact your tour operator in any way you can to get help again too if you need it. The support you get in these type situations tells a great deal about the quality of the business.

lovetodiscover,
I have seen credit card surcharges as high as 6% listed on operator websites. I think this is more common when dealing with operators based in Africa. On the other hand, the Africa based operators generally have more lenient cancellation/change policies than US/UK based ones. The best thing is to not assume anything until you've asked each operator with their exact policies are.

Does ATR charge your credit card in USD or GBP? If GBP, then there would be an additional foreign currency conversion fee added by the credit card company.

Even if the charges are in USD, Mastercard has recently announced that they will impose a 0.8% fee on charges originating from foreign merchant regardless even if those charges do not require conversion. Visa tried to impose a 1% fee for the same transactions last year but withdrew the policy. As far as I know, Amex has not announce anything similar. http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34808237

Boy I had a lot of typos in there!

Patty:

Yes and Yes!

Den

Patty,

Not just the credit card charging whatever fees, but, some agents charge for payment by credit card?

Hari

Yes Hari. The card issuer charges the merchant a fee to accept the card and for each transaction, so the merchant charges the client to make up for the fee.

ok, thanks........

No travel agent should charge a % on credit cards. It is against the bank policy in most countries and for that matter in africa too aight!

if you live in California, you can get three times the surcharge back:

* California Codes
o California Civil Code
+ CIVIL CODE SECTION 1747-1748.7
"1748.1.
(a) No retailer in any sales, service, or lease transaction with a
consumer may impose a surcharge on a cardholder who elects to use a
credit card in lieu of payment by cash, check, or similar means. A
retailer may, however, offer discounts for the purpose of inducing
payment by cash, check, or other means not involving the use of a
credit card, provided that the discount is offered to all prospective
buyers.
(b) Any retailer who willfully violates this section by imposing a
surcharge on a cardholder who elects to use a credit card and who
fails to pay that amount to the cardholder within 30 days of a written
demand by the cardholder to the retailer by certified mail, shall be
liable to the cardholder for three times the amount at which actual
damages are assessed. The cardholder shall also be entitled to recover
reasonable attorney's fees and costs incurred in the action.
A cause of action under this section may be brought in small claims
court, if it does not exceed the jurisdiction of that court, or in any
other appropriate court."

Interesting civil code. Anyone had luck in enforcing it on the board? Since the operators run a business you've got to figure that if they don't add a surcharge as such, it will still end up in an adder somewhere. They have to cover their costs.

Patty - checked my bank statement and looks like my down payment was billed in USD from ATR. They do have a London and San Francisco office, mostly if not entirely working from London when I was knee deep in the quoting process.

Marnibe - did you get the transfer to work?

when you give the swift code,Bank name, Account name, account number and the branch name, your bank will be able to know which bank is that.

Thanks for all your help. I did what was suggested and wired money through my bank using the swift code. I was suprised that your costs were so high. Mine were $50 US, but the 5% surcharge would have been almost as much. Also the $50 would have covered any amount.