How do bank accounts receive payments in a foreign currency? Is the 'fee' charged by the account from which the money is being sent, or at the account where the deposit is being received? Which account dictates the conversion rate being set?
Any other advice or tips if the receiving account wants to reduce the amount of money lost due to fees and during exchange?
Thanks
Each participating bank (at least sender and receiver, maybe more) takes a fee. The sender of the money tells his bank how he wants the fees treated:
Typically, the last choice is the cheapest, as each bank takes their fee out of the transferred amount; the other two cases, they have to cover an unknown, so they take a chunk that is for sure large enough for the worst case (and keep the rest). But check their fee schedules, it's not guaranteed that way.
The currency exchange rate is typically the current international bank exchange rate (optimal for you!) plus a fee that the exchanging bank defines (this is where it hurts). Many banks don't openly state their fee, and it can be anything between 0.00% and several percent. I recommend you ask each bank in the chain about their fee schedule, and pick the one with the lowest (hopefully 0%) to do the currency exchange. The sender can then chose to:
You can save money by combining multiple payments into one, or by using alternative ways (outside of banks). There are many international providers, and - unfortunately - many scammers to chose from. You could also buy bitcoin or such, and sell to the other currency, but that has also transaction cost and risks.
