Last week I did a wire transfer from Guaranty and Trust bank (in USA) to abroad. The bank teller exchanged from USD to that country's currency prior to the wire transfer, and I did not check it carefully that it was done that way. I signed the document and found out from my beneficiary when she received the money (a couple of days later) that the money was not transferred in USD.
I normally do the wire transfer through Chase bank, and never have any problem. This is the first time I did through Guaranty Bank and Trust, and I had a problem since I deposited my check from Chase bank to G bank. G bank held my check (and did not deposit the money to my account) for a week, even though my money was cut from my C bank account since the day I wrote the check. Back to the wire transfer, what happened is that I lost almost US$900 from the different exchange rate.
My questions are:
1. Can I do anything to recover that amount of money?
2. Is the bank teller partially responsible for the loss of money?
3. If the answer for question 2 is "yes", what can I do with that? Should I sue her for responsibility of this circumstance?

Thanks in advance for your answers and suggestions.

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Originally Posted by Littlewizard

I did not check it carefully that it was done that way. I signed the document.

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Seems you agreed to the transaction exactly as they performed it, so no - I don't see a lawsuit here.

However, I do suggest that you contact customer service to see about the exchange rate - $900 is an awful lot to lose on an exchage. Are you basing this on (a) the rate when converted from USD to foreign currency by G&T, plus (b) the rate for your benficiary abroad to convert back from the foreign currency to USD at her end?

It is your responsibility to tell her, and check it, especially to a foreign country. You can go back to the bank and explain fhe situation, but don't think you have any re-course with the teller.

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Originally Posted by Littlewizard

... The bank teller exchanged from USD to that country's currency prior to the wire transfer, and I ... found out ... later) that the money was not transferred in USD. ...

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I'm confused here. Funds were exchanged from USD to foreign currency, the transfer was wired, and then it was supposed to be converted back to USD? Please explain.

Unless you have anything in writing which says that the bank would do it the way you wanted, I agree with Ebaines and Tickle.

It appears you agree and signed for the transfers, I would only have to guess you wanted the exchange of funds to be done there, not in the US, so you wanted US funds transferred but since it would need to be exchanged, it would have had to be done, either here or there.

But at every step of the transaction, you would have been told and signed for it, you assumed and it happened different.

I can't see any reason for a law suit. I am finding it hard to see you loss, unless exchange rates vary greatly

Thanks for comments.

I'm not sure what the exchange rate they used, probably the G&T as Ebaines said. The G bank said they had Wells Fargo bank transferred the money out with their exchange rate. The exchange rate they used to transfer here was 29.5 per USD, whereas the rate at the beneficiary's end was 30.8 per USD. That is 1.3 currency per a dollar less when converted with US bank rate prior to transfer.

There are 2 options for international wire transferring:
1. exchange from USD to the target currency prior to the transferring. When the money gets to the other end, the beneficiary will receive exactly amount of money in their currency as it is transferred from the US bank. This is what the teller did.
2. transfer in USD, and the USD will be converted to the target currency when money get to the other end as their exchange rate. This is what I wanted and what Chase bank always did for me.

I did not write anything to tell the teller which way to do it. I assumed that she would know. I just showed her the previous transaction from Chase bank, which has all info she would need, i.e. SWIFT code, bank name, beneficiary's and my info.