Intermediary Banking Fees

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1

I recently considered initiating a $80k (USD) bank transfer from Revolut to my U.S-based bank account.

Just before hitting ‘Send’, I noticed an ominous looking - “Recipients may get less due to fees charged by other banks”.

I would love there to be more transparency surrounding who this banks are; I really believe all fees should be visible to the customer before you initiate a transfer; what’s to stop an “intermediary bank” charging some exuberant fee.

Guess I’ll have to send a bunch of $10k incremental transfers sigh

2

The thing is: everyone would want more transparency, but that’s not how SWIFT works, unfortunately.

A test transfer of 10k would not give reliable information for what costs of a 80k transfer would be.

If you want definitive information about costs beforehand, services like Wise can provide that.

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3

I agree that this new mention “Recipients may get less due to fees” really is stressful, even for day-to-day bank transfers, I wasn’t really sure why :r: needed to start mentionning this in the first place.

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4

Details are hazy, but for SWIFT transfers, Revolut has an “intermediary fee” disclaimer for a very long time. If anything, I find a clear wording better than a vage reference of intermediary fees.

I don’t transfer money internationally on a regular basis, only occasionally. I haven’t tracked how the UI of the app changed over the years. I understand SWIFT transfers and intermediary fees and decide which service to use accordingly.

Why wouldn’t you want to know about possible fees beforehand? How would it be less stressful to deal with this afterwards? SEPA and local UK transfers don’t show this disclaimer, I believe it is limited to transactions where intermediary fees actually can occur, no?

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5

You could ask your receiving bank if there’s any fees to clarify?

Revolut are generally up front about their fees, but can’t be held responsible for other banks fees, and if it’s to your bank, just give them a call and ask. It could be zero to receive.

Revolut just give you a heads up so you can check before you send.

Quite self explanatory to me.

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6

It’s tricky. The receiving bank has no reliable information about intermediary fees. You cannot check intermediary fees for SWIFT transfers beforehand. Intermediary fees are deducted by third parties in between the sender and the receiver when those two parties do not have a more “direct” business relationship.

You can, to some extend, rely on historic data.

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8

Hello everyone :wave:,

I know having a clear idea about transfer fees is always helpful, specially when you are transferring money to a bank account, but :r: does not have visibility or authority over these fees. :frowning_face: Typically, intermediary bank fees are in the range US$ 10-50 or its equivalent in other currencies, but they can vary significantly. :moneybag:

You can check our FAQ link for more details. Hope this helps. :sunflower:

SG | Community Team