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Money transfer strategies your business can bank on

See how OFX can streamline your transfers and control your costs.

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To the banks, you’re one of many. To us, you are critically important

Personal, helpful service when you need it and an online platform when you don’t. OFX safely and securely delivers the foreign exchange tools your company can count on.

Personal

Whether you need help setting a target date or want to know more about an exchange rate, your assigned dealer is there to help you. After hours? We have money transfer specialists available on the phone 24/7.

Simple

Low margins, low fees, no surprises. Our simple, yet sophisticated, secure platform is designed to make international transfers for your business easy. It’s available 24/7 and is set up to support multi-user authorisation protocols.

Cost-effective

Our global network of financial institutions gives you the advantage of competitive rates as well as liquidity – even during times of market stress – helping your company keep the cash flow flowing.

*Occasionally, third-party banks may deduct a fee from your transfer before paying your recipient. This fee may vary and OFX receives no portion of it.

How it works

1. Create an account

Our account opening process is fast and simple. Just fill in a few details and an OFX team member will call you to complete setup.

2. Send us your funds

Enter your recipient’s bank account details and book your transfer. Send us your funds through a bank transfer or BPay.

3. Funds delivered

Once we’ve received the funds, we’ll securely deliver them to your recipient. Most transfers take 1-2 business days. Track them online or in app.

Streamline global operations

Paying overseas suppliers

Get money to your overseas suppliers quickly and securely. Our global network is designed to expedite payments.

Paying overseas staff

Simplify your payments to overseas staff with the ability to pay up to 500 employees with one click, superior exchange rates and 24/7 customer support.

Mitigating currency fluctuation

We can help protect you against exchange rate movements with a variety of transfer choices, including Forward Contracts and Limit Orders.

Discover the OFX difference

FAQs

When you book a transfer with OFX during the weekend, the transfer may cost more than the same transaction if you booked it on a weekday. Typically, foreign exchange markets are open from Monday to Friday. However, on weekends and certain holidays when the markets are closed an additional markup may apply. All transactions are governed by OFX’s Terms and Conditions which includes Margin information. For more information please visit our Terms and Conditions page or contact an OFXpert for more information.

When you’re trying to find the cheapest way to send money overseas, there are three prices you should be aware of:

1. The fee to send the money. Sending money overseas with your bank will often incur a hefty fee of up to $35 just to make the transaction. Using an online money transfer service is usually substantially cheaper, if not free.

2. The margin taken by the money transfer provider. Shopping around for the best currency exchange rate can save you hundreds and even thousands on sizeable transfers. Banks often charge a margin of up to 5% above the daily interbank exchange rate. So when your bank tells you that you’ll spend .77 GBP for every $1 (USD), a simple Google search may reveal that the real daily exchange rate is closer to .72. That means that on a £10,000 transfer to the U.S., you may lose around £400 by using your bank. Using OFX instead gives you access to consistently competitive exchange rates, and it may be your cheapest way to send money overseas.

3. The fee to receive the payment. Some banks may charge your recipient a fee to receive money from overseas. At OFX, we do our best to minimise these fees by sending your money using our global network of 115 local bank accounts. See, banks often don’t charge such fees for local transfers, so whenever possible, OFX uses our local account to make your transfer. It works like this: you pay into our local account in your home country, and we pay out from our local account in your recipient’s country, so your recipient doesn’t have to pay receiving fees. Unfortunately, these fees vary from bank to bank, and they also depend on what kind of account your recipient has, which is why we can’t guarantee that you won’t pay a receiving fee when you make a transfer with us. But at least you do know that we’re doing our best to deliver value for our customers.

When evaluating the cheapest way to send money overseas, there are additional factors to consider beyond fees and exchange rates:

1. Is the exchange rate guaranteed? Some peer-to-peer money transfer providers do not allow you to lock in a rate before you book your transfer, and you could have to wait 1-6 days for a buyer on the other side. If the currency exchange rate fluctuates dramatically, you could potentially lose big. Even a 1-2% movement in the exchange rate could mean a difference of hundreds of dollars depending on the size of your transfer. When you book a transfer with OFX, your rate is locked-in, so you always know how much your recipient will receive.

2. Is the service convenient, clear and accessible? Depending on how often you need to transfer money overseas, customer service and automated transfers can be very important. You may want to choose a provider who lets you track your transfer, so you always know where your money is. With OFX, you can lock in an exchange rate for up to a year, so you can protect yourself from currency swings. You can also use our app to follow your money every step of the way, and you’ll always have 24/7 access to our customer service team. When the banks are closed, OFX is open, so you can book a transfer on your schedule–not your bank’s.

3. Be careful whom you send money to. According to the FCA website, “Do not respond to an individual asking for help to place large sums of money in an overseas bank account.” At OFX, all our employees are trained to look out for unusual activity, and we may say ‘no’ to certain transfers that look very suspicious, but we always encourage our customers to think twice before sending money overseas if the recipient is someone you’ve never met in person. If you’d like to know more about our fraud prevention, you can read about common frauds or learn how OFX helps keep you secure.

Our customers say it best:

“First class service. I would advise anyone wanting to transfer funds abroad to use OFX. ”

–David Dyson, Trustpilot Review, 2.9.16 

Anyone who’s travelled internationally and used a credit card to buy something knows about those pesky foreign transaction fees that are applied to every purchase.

An international transaction fee is charged to you, the consumer, by your credit card company whenever you buy something in a foreign currency. And while most of these charges are applied to travellers, they can also be added to your credit card bill when you make a purchase online from a foreign vendor.

In other words, anytime a credit card is used to make a purchase and the transaction needs to be processed into the local currency of the seller, you’ll incur a foreign transaction fee. 

How much should you expect to pay in fees?

The average international transaction fee will be around 3% for purchases made in US dollars. 1% of that fee may go to the payment processor, whether it’s Visa or MasterCard, and the other 2% might go to the bank that issued your credit card, such as Chase or Bank of America.

You might be thinking that 3% doesn’t sound too bad, but these fees can quickly add up if you’re making a lot of small purchases or you’re making large purchases. For example, if you spend $100 and your fee is 3%, you’ll spend an extra $3, but if you spend $1,000, you’ll be paying an extra $30 in fees.

 

On top of that, most credit cards charge a 3-5% margin on the daily interbank or market exchange rate for the day. For many cards, this rate is at their sole discretion, and you may not know how big that margin is in advance.1 When combined with the fees, you could be paying at least a 6% premium on your purchase by using your credit card. Ouch.

 

 

A few ways to avoid international transaction fees

There are some ways that you can avoid costly international transaction fees:

  1. Check your credit cards’ terms and conditions. You might have a card that doesn’t charge these fees. Use that card whenever you’re planning on purchasing products from abroad, as well as when you travel.

  2. If you don’t have a card that doesn’t charge a fee but you make a lot of international purchases, it would be wise to apply for credit cards that don’t charge these fees.   

  3. Avoid high international transaction fees by using OFX to send money rather than using your credit card. Whether booking a hotel or purchasing a luxury item, ask your vendor if they accept payment direct to their bank account. If they do, you can use OFX to dramatically reduce your international transaction fees and exchange rate margins. Plus, you can make transfers 24/7–on your own schedule, not your bank’s.

 

International transaction fees can make shopping more expensive than it has to be, but if you know your way, you can outsmart your bank and save yourself a lot of money.

 

P.S. If you’d like to know more about OFX’s award-winning security and fraud prevention methods, check out our security page.

Sources:

With OFX you can transfer 50+ currencies to 170+ countries. This includes all major global currencies and a wide range of exotic currencies.

Interested in transferring but would like to know the current rate? Select the currency you’d like to transfer in our currency converter tool to see your customer rate and the estimated intermediary or bank fee. 

Below is a full list of our supported currencies:

AEDUnited Arab Emirates Dirham
AUDAustralian Dollar
CADCanadian Dollar
CHFSwiss Franc
CNH*Offshore Chinese Renminbi
CZKCzech Krouna
DKKDanish Kroner
EUREuro
FJDFijian Dollar
GBPPound Sterling
HKDHong Kong Dollar
HUFHungarian Forint
IDRIndonesian Rupiah
ILSIsraeli Shekel
INRIndian Rupee
JPYJapanese Yen
MXNMexican Peso
MYRMalaysian Ringgit
NOKNorwegian Kroner
NZDNew Zealand Dollar
PHPPhilippine Peso
PLNPolish Zloty
SBDSolomon Island Dollar
SEKSwedish Kroner
SGDSingapore Dollar
THBThailand Baht
TOPTongan Pa’anga
TRYTurkish Lira
USDUS Dollar
VUVVanuatu Vatu
WSTSamoan Tala
XPFCFP Franc
ZARSouth African Rand

Exotic currencies

AZN Azerbaijani Minat
BGN Bulgarian Lev
BHD Bahraini Dinar 
BNDBrunei Dollar
CNY*Chinese Yuan Renminbi
EGP Egyptian Pound
KRWSouth Korean Won
KWDKuwaiti Dinar
LKRSri Lankan Rupee
MADMoroccan Dirham
MGAMalagasy Ariary
OMROmani Rial
PENPeruvian Nuevo Sol
PGKPapua New Guinea Kina
PKRPakistan Rupee
SARSaudi Riyal
SCRSeychellois Rupee
TWDTaiwanese Dollar
TZSTanzanian Shilling
VNDVietnamese Dong
XOFWest African CFA Franc

*Business customers only

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juB3O_LnPO8

The short answer: it depends on who sends your money. All banks and money providers have different fee structures, and they all take different margins on the daily exchange rate. Depending on the size of your transfer, you could save hundreds of dollars by comparison shopping before you send money with your bank.

There are a host of reasons why you’d need to send money internationally. You might be paying for a destination wedding, purchasing an overseas property or adding a coveted item to your collection from a dealer overseas.

But how much will it cost to send money internationally? Let’s break it down. 

1. Money transfer fees can vary greatly depending on your provider


Whenever you send money internationally, your bank will typically charge a fixed money transfer fee. You could pay up to $50 to transfer the money, but the fee will depend upon the bank that you’re using, as well as how much money you’re sending.  

Some banks will charge a different rate depending upon the currency in which your money is sent, so you might pay a higher fee if you send the money in Aussie dollars rather than in your recipient’s local currency. If you want your money transfer expedited, you might incur yet another additional fee. Sheesh!
 

If you’re using a money transfer service, some fees depend on how you’re sending the money, whether it’s from a funded account, a credit card, or a debit card. This percentage can range from 0.5% to 3.9%. And that’s not the end of it.

2. Watch out for the margin on the exchange rate

In addition to the international transfer fee, a margin on the daily exchange rate is also tacked on to most foreign transfers. This rate is typically around 5% at most major banks, so if you’re sending $10,000, you may have to pay up to $500. Yikes. At OFX, we know you could buy a lot with $500, so we keep our exchange rates and fees substantially lower than other money transfer providers.

3) Your recipient may also be charged to receive foreign payments

On top of all the other costs above, many banks charge their customers between $15 and $30 to receive international transfers. At OFX, we use our global network of local bank accounts to move your money at the local level in an effort to reduce these fees. Sometimes, that means your recipient may be charged less by their bank to receive the funds when you use OFX.

So how much does it cost to send money internationally?

The answer is, it depends on the company you use. Rather than using a bank and paying excessive fees to send your money internationally, make the smart move to OFX.

In addition to being able to book a transfer 24/7, you’ll pay a small standard fee of $15 for transfers under $10,000 at OFX. And if you’re transferring over $10,000, you won’t be charged a transfer fee by us. Plus, OFX delivers a much more competitive exchange rate, so you can save on the exchange rate margin and keep more of your money.*

With options like OFX, there’s no need to rely on your bank anymore to send money, so now the only question is: what are you going to do with all that extra cash?

*Average savings based on published rates of ANZ, Westpac, NAB and CBA on a single transfer of AUD$10,000 to USD between 1.9.17 and 5.10.17 excluding weekends. Transaction costs excluded. Quoted savings are not indicative of future savings. Please consider OFX’s PDS and your circumstances before making a decision about any financial product.  


Sources:

At OFX, we do not normally charge a fee if your transfer or transaction requires a currency conversion. However, for any transfer that is less than HK$50,000 a fee of HK$60 (or the foreign currency equivalent) is charged. 

Third-party banks may deduct a fee from your transfer before paying your recipient. This fee may vary and OFX receives no portion of it. If you’d like more information, contact an OFXpert today.

With offices around the world, we’re on-hand to answer questions 24/7

OFX Hong Kong

29F, Bonham Majoris,
40-44 Bonham Strand,
Sheung Wan
Hong Kong

OFX Australia

Level 19,
60 Margaret St,
Sydney
NSW 2000
Australia

OFX Canada

145 King St. W.
Suite 1002
Toronto
ON M5H 1J8
Canada

OFX Europe

Fitzwilliam Court,
2 Leeson Close,
Dublin 2
D02 YW24
Ireland

OFX New Zealand

NZForex Limited,
Level 7,
16 Kingston Street,
Auckland Central
New Zealand

OFX Singapore

OUE Downtown Gallery
6A Shenton Way
#4-01 to #4-09
Singapore
068815

OFX United Kingdom

4th Floor,
The White Chapel Building,
10 Whitechapel High St,
London
E1 8QS

OFX United States

49 Stevenson Street,
13th Floor,
San Francisco
CA 94105
United States