After months of high fees, I found a better way to get paid abroad

My old bank charged a lot for international transfers. I started using a digital service and saved money last quarter. What do you use for cheap cross-border payments?

3 comments

3 Comments

grantw323d ago

You mentioned saving money last quarter, but that's a pretty short time to judge. I've found a lot of those digital services are good for a few transfers, then a hidden fee pops up or the exchange rate gets worse on larger amounts. My old bank was bad, but at least the costs were clear upfront. The new options often just move where the bite happens. It feels less like saving and more like picking your poison.

nancy8173d ago

What hidden fees did you see pop up, @grantw32? Like, did they charge for faster transfers or slap on a fee after a certain number of transactions? I've heard some apps have sweet rates at first but then the spread gets huge when you move more cash. It's frustrating when you think you're saving but end up paying in other ways. Makes me wonder if reading the fine print even helps sometimes lol.

patlopez3d ago

Man, this is so true. My buddy tried a new app for sending money overseas last year. He was stoked about the low fees on his first few small transfers. Then he needed to move a larger amount quickly, and that's when the "express service" fee appeared out of nowhere, plus the exchange rate was much worse than advertised. He told me he felt totally blindsided because the app never made those costs clear upfront. It really does feel like they hide the real prices until you're in deep.