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From: Send Money Overseas
An independent guide
Australia

To:

Sending money overseas, explained plainly

  • Anyone in Australia sending money abroad
  • To family, a landlord, a school or a supplier
  • By bank, transfer business, app or in person

An independent guide. Not a bank, a remittance provider or a payments app. It does not name, rank or recommend any provider, and it quotes no provider’s fees or rates.

Par avionBy air mail

You can send money to another country through your bank or through a money transfer business, and you can do it online, in an app or in person. Each provider chooses the exchange rate it uses and charges its own fees, and what you pay depends on how much you send, where you send it and how.

The route a transfer takes

When you ask a bank in Australia to send money overseas, the bank works out which banks in its network can connect it to the recipient’s bank. The banks in between are called correspondent banks, and they act as agents for each other because it is impractical for any one bank to have arrangements with every bank in every country.

A transfer passes from the sender to the originating bank, through one or more correspondent banks, to the receiving bank and then the recipient. SenderAustralia Originating bank Correspondent bank Correspondent bank Receiving bank Recipientoverseas
  1. Sender, in Australia
  2. Originating bank
  3. Correspondent bank
  4. Correspondent bank
  5. Receiving bank
  6. Recipient, overseas
A simplified route, drawn after figure 1.2 of the ACCC’s 2019 final report on foreign currency conversion services.

Correspondent banks commonly charge a fee for passing a transfer on, and the receiving bank can charge one too. These fees are usually deducted from the money as it travels, which is why a recipient can get less than the sender expected.

Money transfer businesses can send to a bank account or let the recipient collect cash from a local branch or agent. Many work only online, through a website or an app. How an international money transfer works follows each leg in turn.

Six letters

Each one answers a single question, from the official sources linked on its page.

Before you send: what Moneysmart says to compare

ASIC’s Moneysmart says it is a good idea to shop around, because different companies can charge very different prices. It lists these features to compare.

Declaration of contentsMoneysmart’s list
  1. Exchange rateHow much your money is worth in the other currency, and whether the advertised rate is the rate you get.
  2. Rate guaranteeWhether the exchange rate stays the same or can change.
  3. Fees and commissionWhether the fee is flat, a percentage or both, whether the receiver pays any fees, and the margin charged to convert your currency.
  4. Payment methodHow you pay: online by card, or with cash or EFTPOS.
  5. Transfer timeIt could be instant, take a few minutes, or take up to five business days.
  6. Transfer amountThe smallest and largest amounts you can send.
  7. Receive methodCash pick-up, bank deposit, cash delivery, an online wallet linked to a phone number, or a crypto-asset exchange.

Moneysmart names two independent comparison sites: SaverAsia, for money sent from Australia to countries in Asia, and the World Bank’s Remittance Prices Worldwide for other transfers. How the rate and the fees combine into one total is worked through in exchange rate margins and fees.

A used German postage stamp showing a suspension bridge over a river, with a round postmark across one corner, lying on dark wood
A used stamp, its postmark across one corner. Photo by Tolga deniz Aran on Unsplash
Five round wall clocks on a white wall, each labelled with a city and showing a different time
Clocks labelled for Sydney, London, Monterrey, Vancouver and New York. The RBA thinks Australia’s distinct time zone is likely a key factor delaying payments to and from Australia. Photo by Luis Cortes on Unsplash

Where to check

The public bodies this guide reads from. Each is the place to go for the current rules.

  • ASIC MoneysmartPlain guidance on sending money overseas: costs to compare, and what to do if a transfer goes wrong.
  • AUSTRACIn Australia, money transfer services must be registered with AUSTRAC. You can check a business on the Remittance Sector Register.
  • ACCCIts foreign currency conversion services inquiry reported in 2019 that prices were complex and hard to compare.
  • ScamwatchIf you send money to someone who turns out to be a scammer, Moneysmart says it is almost impossible to get it back. Report a scam to help warn others.
  • AFCAIf a transfer goes wrong, contact the bank or transfer business first. If you are not happy with its response and it is an AFCA member, you can complain to the Australian Financial Complaints Authority.