What you can actually see
Your own statement, the fields it has, the fields it does not, and what can be reconstructed from two ends.
Still yours, and statedTaken, never statedUnit changes; scale restarts
Four steps from instruction to arrival. One step carries no figure: the hatching marks where the money leaves and is not drawn to scale, because there is no figure to draw. Nothing here adds them up, since an amount you cannot see is not an amount you can subtract. One line, two facts, and a gap where the rest of the journey was.
Reading the Line on Your Statement
The entry has a credited amount, a date and a reference, and three of the things you want are not there.
Working Out the Rate You Were Given
Divide what arrived by what was sent and you have the all-in rate, which is the only honest comparison.
What a Payment Reference Carries
The reference field survives the journey or it does not, and when it does not the money arrives anonymous.
Asking the Payer for Their Receipt
Their confirmation shows the sent amount, the date, the fee they paid and sometimes the reference to trace it by.
Keeping Your Own Record of Both Ends
Four columns, kept as payments arrive, turn a vague sense that something is wrong into a figure.
The Arithmetic That Does Not Close
When the stated fees do not account for the shortfall, the gap is the part nobody in the chain will itemise.
What Your Bank Knows and Will Not Say
Your bank can see its own leg of the journey, and in some cases is prohibited from telling you about it.
Tracking a Payment
A reference exists that the chain is tracked by, and it belongs to the sender rather than to you.