6 Ways to Transfer: Which is Cost Effective?

Over 10 trillion dollars are transferred internationally every year, and for private customers and small businesses,

The cost of transfers is lower than it was before across the board, but still high.

Banks charge as much as x3 or x4 than alternatives. Let alone online eWallets like PayPal charging as much as x2 as banks do.

Then you have some remittance companies….

On which UN chairman Kofi Annan once said are  “unethically expensive”.

Customers are desperately looking for cheap ways for international transfers.

But at the same time, are looking at other crucial factors like the safety of their funds and quality of service.

So do we.

PLENTY OF OPTIONS

To facilitate that – an entire industry of international money transfer service  providers has been growing over the course of the past 10-20 years at a staggering pace.

The entire industry is based on the concept of offering a cheaper alternative to banks.

Wise is a £10bn company built around this very ethos – offering customers a no frills and simple online money transfer system facilitating cheap international money transfers with a great level of convenience and at high speed (that is in spite of constant increases YoY in some currency routes).

We have reviewed 90+ companies in total offering that very service (with sometimes major differences between those providers, designated at different intents and corridors).

We have also delved into a comprehensive research geared at deciphering bank fees forinternational transfers across the UK, USA, Australia, Canada, South Africa, New Zealand and the EU.

There are dozens of services claiming to be the most cost effective…

Almost all of them are cheaper than banks (but not all).

But which is the cheapest, and does cheapest always means best?

What is The Cheapest Way to Transfer Money Internationally?

The cheapest way to transfer money internationally, based on our comprehensive research as as follows:

💵 How much money can you save?

Bank fees for international transfers average at 2.5%-3% in UK, USA, Canada and Australia.

Depending on the currencies involved, your transfer could be as much as 90% cheaper with margins as low as 0.25-0.3% for large transfers between major currencies.

Does Cheapest Mean Best When Sending Money Internationally?

While the two concepts (cheap and best) are heavily correlated when it comes to money transfers, price is meaningful but isn’t everything.

Most consumers believe that cheap could also signify lower quality products, and there is an actual merit to this claim because when money transfer companies try to slash their own costs they also willingly give up on certain aspects of their business.

For example, the aforementioned Wise – which is considered one of the cheapest ways to transfer money internationally today – does not have a dedicated currency dealer function.

This is something that competing currency brokers do offer.

Such Wise competitors may be not as cheap when it comes to offering the better exchange rate but through their premium service they improve other aspects of the transfer, such as:

Timing: guiding on the correct time to trade when rate may be more favourable.

Avoiding recipient bank fees: advise ahead of time if there are any recipient bank fees and circumvent them if possible.

Offering non-spot products such as Forwards (to lock today’s rate for the future).

And ultimately, given that a transfer would justify that, they could adjust their margins so that they beat competitors like Wise.

💵 How much money can you save by using a non-bank provider?

What are the costs of a bank transfer?

1. Wire fees

The first type of fee applied by banks all over the world is the direct payment fee.

It’s usually quite visible how much is charged here and the fee is usually fixed.

It normally depends on where you’re sending money from and where you’re sending it to.

SEPA transfers are known for being a cheap method of sending money within the EU, whilst SWIFT transfers to the rest-of-world generally attract a higher fixed payment fee.

Looking at each country, wire fees can fall anywhere in the price range below:

When it comes to smaller transfers, these fixed fees will make sure that using your bank is NOT going to be the most suitable option for smaller transfers.

For example with an American bank, if may pay as much as $50 in wire fees.

That’s 5% of a medium-sized transfer of $1,000 and as much as 50% if you are just looking to send $100 to someone abroad.

Currency Brokers and Digital Money Transfer Companies aren’t charging any fixed fees per transfer (but have clear minimum transfer amount stipulated).

2. Hidden fees in the form of exchange rates

What makes for a cheap international money transfer, to a much greater extent than fixed fees, is the cost embedded into the exchange rate.

What this means is that banks are charging an invisible fee off of each transaction involving foreign currency

For example, if you transfer money from the UK in Pound Sterling to France in Europe, there is an added cost of exchanging GBP to EUR (for example when transferring from UK to Spain) which can amount to several percentage points of each transfer.

Our analysis found banks are charging anywhere between:

We’ve all been at the airport and noticed how much worse the exchange rate is at a bureau de change compared to what we see on google.

The same applies for bank-to-bank transfers.

The only difference is that with a bank you may be exchanging tens or hundreds of thousands so the overall fee can amount to an incredible amount.

Impact of Currency Fluctuations

Currency fluctuations are the wild card in the international money transfer game.

They’re influenced by a myriad of economic factors, from inflation rates to political stability.

If the exchange rate shifts unfavorably, your transfer could end up costing more than you planned.

But fear not.

By keeping a keen eye on exchange rates and market trends, or utilizing tools like Rate Alerts from money transfer services, you can time your transfer optimally.

Conclusion: you could end up paying 8% on a transfer 👻

If you are transferring money from Australia, say A$1,000, and paying A$30 in fixed fees on top of a 4.58% margin, you end up paying more than 7.5% of the money you transferred in bank fees.

That’s before we have factored in components like intermediary bank fees which can eat up to a few more percentages.

Is there such a thing as free international money transfers?

There is no such thing as a free international money transfer.

Like anything in the world, there are costs to provide the service and there are costs to use the service.

One of the best ways to understand how much we should be paying for an international money transfer is to understand how international money transfer providers and banks make money.

How do Banks and Money Transfer Firms Make Money?

When banks trade FX with each other they do so at the interbank foreign exchange rate.

This is the true exchange rate that you’ll find when you google a particular currency pair.

Most people wonder if banks can trade at the interbank exchange rate with each other then why am I not eligible for this rate?

The truth is it’s a bit like everything.

To provide FX as a service is costly – technology, compliance and staff are just a few of the costs involved.

It’s impossible for money transfer firms to offer the interbank exchange rate whilst encountering these costs.

If they did, they would soon go out of business. For this reason, customers should expect to encounter some sort of FX spread in their transaction.

That being said, it doesn’t need to be an extortionate spread that is so often applied by banks and some money transfer brokerages.

In case you’re wondering why banks are able to trade at the interbank exchange rate with each other – all banks incur similar costs to provide foreign exchange so they are happy to waive these costs when trading with each other.

Commonly, at the close of play on each business day, you will find banks trading currencies with each other depending on their customer deposits and the currencies they are long and short in.

You can easily calculate the spread you are being charged, as follows:

(Interbank Rate – Rate Offered / Interbank Rate) x 100 = FX Spread

Are financial promotions about fee money transfers bogus?

Financial promotions and adverts are normally the most regular contact consumers have with the products offered by financial services companies.

The adverts can be across any medium, whether offline like billboards and direct mail or online like websites, social media posts and mobile apps. These ads can provide valuable insight into a firm’s culture and conduct

The FCA regulates advertising for most financial services and this includes products like money transfers and e-money.

This is why you will find many payment companies offering “fee-free international transfers” but never “free international transfers” – the latter would technically be misleading.

If you are concerned a payment provider has a misleading ad, you can contact the FCA here.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) may also get involved, depending on the nature of the complaint.

What should my expectations be for a cheap overseas money transfer?

Realistically, the concept of a cheap way to send money overseas heavily depends on two factors – the currencies involved and the volume.

For business customers who are using a business foreign exchange service to move millions each month, a cheap transfer may mean no fees and a markup of ~0.2% of each transfer (x10 cheaper than the average bank markup).

For private customers transferring money to exotic currencies at a small volume in a one off transaction, a total cost of 1% may be the cheapest money transfer they could achieve which still represents potential savings of 60% or 70% compared to banks.