XE.com - Hidden Transfer Fees

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Xe Australia

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  ranap on 17/03/2019 - 22:51

  +4

  Next Time try https://transferwise.com/au. You can specify the amount in recipient currency. I have tried Euro, US$. These worked well for me.

  • 

    TCM on 18/03/2019 - 08:51

    Thanks ranap, I did look into transferwise, ofx and currencyfair. They all seem to do the same thing and charge either a small fee or no fees on their end. However, there's very little to no information on what fees are charged on the way and prior to the reciever getting the funds. Is it normal to not know the exact amount that the reciever will get in their own currency?

    • 

      rockytauhid on 18/03/2019 - 10:02

      +1

      Don't know about the others but on TransferWise, I have done bank to bank transfer and you can see clearly how much is the fee and how much the recipient will receive.

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  Ocker on 18/03/2019 - 08:29

  Read page 24 of their PDS - all such fees are fully detailed.

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    TCM on 18/03/2019 - 08:59

    Thanks Ocker, I did read that afterwards but I was expecting some warning at the time of the transaction especially for small transactions like this one. Yes, they say they can't predict the exact fees but a warning at least? Or even some examples of recent fees so you can add some padding to your transfer to ensure the full amount arrives?

    Is this something all providers have or do some have a better arrangement that ensures they know the exact amount that the reciever will get.

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  Ocker on 18/03/2019 - 09:09

  It is not the providers that charge the fee, rather the receiving bank take the fee before paying the recipient. It is a form of compensation for missing out on foreign exchange commissions - basically the same as the 3% fee most credit card companies charge on overseas transactions.
  The fees varies from receiving bank to bank, and also the routing method the remitting institution uses.
  For example, if the recipient is USA based and the remitter's bank send the funds to the receiving bank from their own USA bank account, via the domestic wire system (CHIPS) then the receiving bank will most likely not charge a fee. If the remitting bank sends via the international transfer system (SWIFT), then a charge will mot likely be levied.
  Long story short - you have little chance of knowing if a fee will be charged, and what that fee will be.

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    TCM on 18/03/2019 - 10:36

    I appreciate that, it just seems weird that this isn't expressly stated when you transfer money. It sounds like you shouldn't use any of these companies if you want to the reciever to get an exact amount of money.

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  mick123 on 18/03/2019 - 09:34

  Can you paypal pay things like this. I assume they take about 3-5% FX margin, but for such a small amount, its probably worth it.

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    TCM on 18/03/2019 - 10:39

    The seller's platform wasn't setup properly for international deliveries so they took the purchase on card but the delivery fee they asked me to send it to their bank account.

    After this debacle, I got them to setup a "shipping product" on their site so I can pay for that using card. But I never thought it was going to be this complicated given the process on XE.com was quite seamless.

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  Kandrew on 18/03/2019 - 14:45

  If Citi has a branch in the location you’re sending to, open a Citi account here. They transfer money from Australia to accounts at their other branches for no fee.

  My wife (who is from the U.S.) still has some accounts etc which she pays every month. We put the appropriate amount of AUD into an Australian Citi account and then transfer it to our U.S. Citi account. It is transferred almost straight away, and at least overnight, and there are no fees.

  We did a bit of research before we decided on this method, but it came down to Citi staff both here and in the U.S. saying that this was their recommended way. No other bank seemed to have an interest in helping us with the problem. There are not huge sums of money involved, but Citi had a solution already worked out.

  And no, I still don’t have Citi as my main financial institution.

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    TCM on 18/03/2019 - 14:58

    Thanks Kandrew, I needed to transfer to someone's Bank of China account but still really good to know for the future. I’m just surprised that in this day, telegraphic transfers are still expensive and convoluted.

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      Kandrew on 18/03/2019 - 16:20

      Sorry, I missed that bit in your post.

      I wonder if there’s a Bank of China branch in Australia.

      Alternatively, transfer to the Citi account and then do a direct debit to the account at the Bank of China. That’s effectively what we do each month as none of my wife’s accounts are paid to a Citi account. We have had to set up direct debits.

      (And I was shocked to discover in 2012 when we began this, that a direct debit in the U.S. meant someone would get a checkbook (sic) and write the check (sic), put it in an envelope, put a stamp on the envelope, and finally post the ‘letter’. Things have developed a little - for some accounts - since then. But only for some.)