Sending Money Abroad Without Losing a Chunk to Fees

If you send money to family in another country — a parent, a sibling, a grandparent — you already know it's one of the most important things your paycheck does. It's called a remittance, and for millions of families it's a lifeline. So it stings to learn that a real chunk of what you send never arrives, lost to fees you can't even see. Once you know where the money leaks, though, you can keep most of it. (Deciding how much you can sustainably send is its own question; Helping Family Without Sinking Yourself covers that side. This guide is about making sure what you send arrives.)

When you send money abroad, you're charged in two different ways, and most people only notice the first one.

• The upfront fee. This is the obvious one: a flat charge to send the transfer, shown right on the screen.
• The exchange-rate markup. This is the sneaky one. The service converts your dollars into the other currency at a rate that's a little worse than the real one, and quietly keeps the difference.

That second cost is where people get burned, because it's invisible. A service can brag about a low fee, or even zero fee, and still take more from you through a bad exchange rate than a competitor that charges a small upfront fee and an honest rate.

There's a true, fair exchange rate that banks use with each other. It's usually called the mid-market rate, and it's the honest number. You can look it up in seconds online or in a search engine. Once you know it, you have a measuring stick: compare the rate a service is actually offering you to the mid-market rate, and the gap is what they're taking on top of their fee.

Don't judge a transfer by its fee. Judge it by the total amount your family receives. That single number folds in the fee and the exchange-rate markup together.

It feels natural to send money through your bank, since that's where your money already is. But banks are frequently the most expensive choice for international transfers, often with both a higher fee and a worse exchange rate than the alternatives. Dedicated money-transfer services and apps usually cost less, sometimes a lot less. Which one wins can change from country to country and month to month, so it's worth comparing each time rather than assuming.

Generally, the faster your money arrives, the more you'll pay for it. An instant or same-day transfer can cost noticeably more than one that takes a few business days. If your family needs the money today, paying for speed can be completely worth it. But if it can wait a couple of days, the slower option often leaves more in their hands. Decide which matters more for this particular send.

1. 1Look up the mid-market rate for the two currencies so you know the honest number.
2. 2Pull up two or three transfer services and enter the same amount in each.
3. 3Ignore the headline fee and look at the bottom line: how much your recipient actually receives.
4. 4Pick the one that delivers the most money at a speed that works, and double-check every recipient detail before you confirm.

Sending money home is an act of love, and it shouldn't quietly cost you more than it has to. A few minutes of comparing means more of every dollar lands where you meant it to go.