we will accept the charges...?
So I'm calling this bank in America (I'm in Germany) and there's never anyone picking up. S o this machine tells me something about an overseas call and than "please know that yes, we will accept the charges".
So does that mean I have to pay additional charges? My phone plan includes regular calls to the States for free.

And what does accepting charges mean in general? This expressions sounds kinda weird to me.
Thanks a lot!

Question

we will accept the charges...?
So I'm calling this bank in America (I'm in Germany) and there's never anyone picking up. S o this machine tells me something about an overseas call and than "please know that yes, we will accept the charges". 
So does that mean I have to pay additional charges? My phone plan includes regular calls to the States for free.

And what does accepting charges mean in general? This expressions sounds kinda weird to me.
Thanks a lot!

Answer

I have no idea how overseas banking works, but sometimes here if you can't pay for your phone call for some reason, you can call the operator (which is probably an automated program now) and ask to call collect. When you do that the other person (The bank) can choose to "accept the charges" or not. So like, if you were broke or in jail or something you could call your mom and she would pay for it.

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