US bank transfers
Thread poster: Emily Gilby
Emily Gilby
Emily Gilby  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 09:12
Member (2018)
French to English
+ ...
May 13, 2020

Would someone be able to explain to me how US bank transfers work? I recently received payment from a US bank account to my USD TransferWise account (essentially a US bank account) but had 40.00 USD deducted from the total for doing so. Being from the UK, where there are (I don't think anyway) no bank transfer fees of this kind, I was quite surprised by this. Is this standard practice and is there a way to get around it?

 
ATIL KAYHAN
ATIL KAYHAN  Identity Verified
Türkiye
Local time: 12:12
Member (2007)
Turkish to English
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No Standard Practice May 13, 2020

As far as I know, there is no standard practice when it comes to international bank transfers. For example, I once complained to my bank about a Euro transfer fee, and they deposited the fee back into my account the next day. On another occasion, they did not deposit at all. The worst case scenario I had lived was about a US to Turkey bank transfer where the two banks at both ends charged me a transfer fee, and I could not recover either one. Needless to say, I quit working with that bank ri... See more
As far as I know, there is no standard practice when it comes to international bank transfers. For example, I once complained to my bank about a Euro transfer fee, and they deposited the fee back into my account the next day. On another occasion, they did not deposit at all. The worst case scenario I had lived was about a US to Turkey bank transfer where the two banks at both ends charged me a transfer fee, and I could not recover either one. Needless to say, I quit working with that bank right there. It has been while I used PayPal but you can check their transfer fees versus bank fees. In short, banks try to take advantage of every opportunity to charge you fees.Collapse


Armine Abelyan
 
Colin Marsh (X)
Colin Marsh (X)  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 10:12
Spanish to English
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US domestic wire transfer fees May 13, 2020

Hi Emily,

I'm guessing that $40 is the outgoing domestic wire fee charged by your client's bank, which they have passed onto you. If they're also based in the US, that sounds a bit steep, but it could be right if it had to come via an intermediate bank. Here are some typical charges:

https://www.finder.com/bank-fees-wire-transfers

Avoiding it will be
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Hi Emily,

I'm guessing that $40 is the outgoing domestic wire fee charged by your client's bank, which they have passed onto you. If they're also based in the US, that sounds a bit steep, but it could be right if it had to come via an intermediate bank. Here are some typical charges:

https://www.finder.com/bank-fees-wire-transfers

Avoiding it will be difficult I think. You could talk to the nice people at TransferWise to get more information. And I'd talk to the client to see if they can help, share the cost in the future, or are at least aware of the issue.

My larger clients usually pay this fee themselves, although I don't know if that's usual.

Maybe someone else has further suggestions...

All the best,
Colin.
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Emily Gilby
Emily Gilby  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 09:12
Member (2018)
French to English
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
US to US May 13, 2020

Thank you Atil for your reply but I am referring to US to US bank transfer fees, I know there is a whole host of international transfer fees which is why I try to use TransferWise where possible!

Thank you Colin for explaining, this is all new to me. The company doesn't seem to want to pay the fees but I guess it can't hurt asking, I just wanted to know what the standard practice was before attempting this. I'll also talk to TransferWise for more info too...
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Thank you Atil for your reply but I am referring to US to US bank transfer fees, I know there is a whole host of international transfer fees which is why I try to use TransferWise where possible!

Thank you Colin for explaining, this is all new to me. The company doesn't seem to want to pay the fees but I guess it can't hurt asking, I just wanted to know what the standard practice was before attempting this. I'll also talk to TransferWise for more info too
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Samuel Murray
Samuel Murray  Identity Verified
Netherlands
Local time: 10:12
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
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@Emily May 13, 2020

Emily Scott wrote:
I recently received payment from a US bank account to my USD TransferWise account (essentially a US bank account) but had 40.00 USD deducted from the total for doing so.


Did the sender send the money via "wire" (faster, more expensive) or via "ACH" (slower, cheaper)? How much does the sender claim that he had sent? Did the sender instruct his bank to pass the transaction fees over to the recipient?

I know that SWIFT transfers sometimes use anonymized intermediary banks who charge their own hidden fees, but that should not affect a US to US transfer.


 
Emily Gilby
Emily Gilby  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 09:12
Member (2018)
French to English
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
@Samuel May 13, 2020

Yes, they said it was a wire transfer. I did provide them with my ACH number so I guess they had a choice and went for the wire transfer option?

I queried them when I said that the amount they had sent me was lower than it should have been (by exactly 40.00 USD) and they said "The difference of $40 was deducted by the bank for the wire transfer". That's all they've told me and since I didn't know much about it, I haven't questioned them much on it yet. Once I know more about this th
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Yes, they said it was a wire transfer. I did provide them with my ACH number so I guess they had a choice and went for the wire transfer option?

I queried them when I said that the amount they had sent me was lower than it should have been (by exactly 40.00 USD) and they said "The difference of $40 was deducted by the bank for the wire transfer". That's all they've told me and since I didn't know much about it, I haven't questioned them much on it yet. Once I know more about this then I can go back to them and see if there is another way.
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Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 09:12
Member (2007)
English to Portuguese
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@Emily May 13, 2020

After a similar experience, I added a sentence to my invoices saying: “Payments are to be made in EUR, net of all bank charges, within X days to our account on Bank…”. It has worked fine!

 
Thomas T. Frost
Thomas T. Frost  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 09:12
Danish to English
+ ...
Hmm May 13, 2020

A US client of mine that pay into my TransferWise account pay their own wire fee so I get the net invoice amount. Their standard conditions say they deduct $20 for wire transfers, but they have waived this fee in my case.

In any case it isn't good manners that the client just deduct their own fees from your payment and I would ask to see documentation for that fee. There isn’t much TransferWise can do about it. If nothing has been agreed, they should pay the full amount. But payme
... See more
A US client of mine that pay into my TransferWise account pay their own wire fee so I get the net invoice amount. Their standard conditions say they deduct $20 for wire transfers, but they have waived this fee in my case.

In any case it isn't good manners that the client just deduct their own fees from your payment and I would ask to see documentation for that fee. There isn’t much TransferWise can do about it. If nothing has been agreed, they should pay the full amount. But payment methods and fees are best agreed up front before you start working for a client. The US banking system is notoriously still in the Stone Age compared to European systems, and their wire fees are totally outrageous. ACH is much cheaper, so why don't they use that instead?
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Jean Lachaud
Jean Lachaud  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 05:12
English to French
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In the USA, bank transfers are NOT FREE May 13, 2020

One piece of data: my bank, Citibank, i.e. one of the largest international banks, charges $50 for an international transfer, and slightly less ($30, maybe, I don't remember, because I of course don't use those) for domestic transfers.

That bank also requires several weeks (at least 5, in my experience) to credit my account when I deposit a check from a non-US bank.

And, that is one of the major reason why I don't have customers outside of the USA and Canada.

... See more
One piece of data: my bank, Citibank, i.e. one of the largest international banks, charges $50 for an international transfer, and slightly less ($30, maybe, I don't remember, because I of course don't use those) for domestic transfers.

That bank also requires several weeks (at least 5, in my experience) to credit my account when I deposit a check from a non-US bank.

And, that is one of the major reason why I don't have customers outside of the USA and Canada.

I'm not saying that there are not, somewhere in the USA, a bank which does not charge for transfers, though.

Emily Scott wrote:

Would someone be able to explain to me how US bank transfers work? I recently received payment from a US bank account to my USD TransferWise account (essentially a US bank account) but had 40.00 USD deducted from the total for doing so. Being from the UK, where there are (I don't think anyway) no bank transfer fees of this kind, I was quite surprised by this. Is this standard practice and is there a way to get around it?


[Edited at 2020-05-13 14:02 GMT]
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Yolanda Broad
 
Thomas T. Frost
Thomas T. Frost  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 09:12
Danish to English
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Odd argument May 13, 2020

Jean Lachaud wrote:

And, that is one of the major reason why I don't have customers outside of the USA and Canada.



That's an odd argument, as it would be much cheaper for you to get paid in euros, British pounds and many other currencies via TransferWise than to pay for a single domestic US wire transfer. TW gives you domestic account numbers for the US, the UK, the eurozone and other countries and you can move money around between countries and currencies at very little cost and also get a multi-currency debit card. And of course if a US client used TW too, it would be almost free to pay you.

Of course crediting a foreign cheque is a complicated matter. I don't accept cheques.


 
Emily Gilby
Emily Gilby  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 09:12
Member (2018)
French to English
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Thank you May 13, 2020

Thank you everyone for your input, I definitely have something to go back to this company with now

 
John Fossey
John Fossey  Identity Verified
Canada
Local time: 05:12
Member (2008)
French to English
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ACH vs wire transfer May 13, 2020

It certainly sounds like they went for a wire transfer rather than an ACH transfer. I have a number of US-based clients who pay by ACH transfer to my US-based Transferwise account, and the fees are minimal, usually less than $5 in total.

 
Joshua Parker
Joshua Parker
Mexico
Local time: 02:12
Member (2016)
Spanish to English
+ ...
US transfer fees are outrageous May 13, 2020

My bank in the U.S. charges $15 for incoming domestic wire transfers and $30 for outgoing domestic wire transfer (so $40 is conceivable). For a transfer from Europe (of about $1,500) I was charged the best part of $100, in addition to what the sender had to pay on her end.

This is why my clients in the U.S. usually pay via check, PayPal or Zelle, but that only works if you have an account in the U.S.

In contrast, my local banks in Mexico charge nothing for domestic wire
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My bank in the U.S. charges $15 for incoming domestic wire transfers and $30 for outgoing domestic wire transfer (so $40 is conceivable). For a transfer from Europe (of about $1,500) I was charged the best part of $100, in addition to what the sender had to pay on her end.

This is why my clients in the U.S. usually pay via check, PayPal or Zelle, but that only works if you have an account in the U.S.

In contrast, my local banks in Mexico charge nothing for domestic wire transfers.

I used TransferWise to send money out of the U.S. to my account in Mexico just a few weeks ago and paid just a small fee (about 1%). If you were sent a large amount (in the order of $4,000), it's possible there was a fee of about $40, but otherwise it seems pretty steep.

That said, I know TransferWise has different transfer options and the amount you pay depends on the type of transfer you choose. I'd check with the client and TransferWise.

Are you sure they're not telling porkies?
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Jean Lachaud
Jean Lachaud  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 05:12
English to French
+ ...
I stand UNcorrected May 13, 2020

Joshua Parker wrote:

My bank in the U.S. charges $15 for incoming domestic wire transfers and $30 for outgoing domestic wire transfer (so $40 is conceivable). For a transfer from Europe (of about $1,500) I was charged the best part of $100, in addition to what the sender had to pay on her end.



 
Emily Gilby
Emily Gilby  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 09:12
Member (2018)
French to English
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Who knows? May 14, 2020

Joshua Parker wrote:

Are you sure they're not telling porkies?


Who knows? Anyway, I've gone back to them and they said that for the next payment they will look into using TransferWise and if that fails I will be asking to be paid via ACH, even if it is slower!


 


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US bank transfers







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