What are the costs to transfer income overseas?

In order to transfer money overseas, and depending on what type of money transfer service you use, you may be charged a combination of fees. If you need to transfer money regularly, these can add up fast – so it pays to do your homework. Some of the common fees to watch out for include:

A sending fee – This can go under many names but is essentially the fee that your financial institution will charge in order to send the money – either via a bank branch or online – to an overseas account.

A receiving fee – Financial institutions may also charge you for the privilege of receiving funds from overseas into the nominated bank account.

Cancellation fee – You might also be charged cancellation fees if the transaction needs to be cancelled for any reason.

An amendment fee – Similarly, if a change of payment details is required, there may be a cost attached.

An enquiry fee – Should you need to follow up with your bank to ensure that the funds arrived safety, this may elicit another fee.

In its recent International Money Transfers star ratings assessment, CANSTAR found the following minimum, maximum and average fees on the products assessed for the rating:

	Sending fee		Cancellation fee	Amendment fee	Enquiry fee
	Online	Branch
Minimum	$ 20	$ 20	0	0	0
Maximum	$ 30	$ 35	$ 32	$ 30	$ 30
Average	$ 21.46	$ 27.87	$ 25.50	$ 23.29	$ 25.58

Source: Canstar International Money Transfer star ratings 2014 

And finally…

Another fee to watch out for is the fee charged to send money from one institution to a completely different one. Fees are easy to predict if the money transfer is sent and received by different branches of the same bank. They are much more difficult to unravel if your bank sends to a third party.

It’s difficult to give examples of these fees, as they vary greatly between institutions. Being aware and asking about this fee beforehand is the most sensible approach.

What are the costs to transfer income overseas?