Money Transfer Cost Calculator

About this calculator

Sending money abroad almost always costs more than the advertised fee. This calculator works out the true cost of an international transfer the way the World Bank does in its Remittance Prices Worldwide survey: the up-front fee PLUS the hidden exchange-rate margin — the markup a provider quietly adds to the mid-market rate. Enter the amount you want to send, the flat and percentage fees, the FX margin, and the real mid-market rate, and it shows exactly how much your recipient receives and what the whole transfer costs you. The World Bank's global target is a total cost under about 6% of the amount sent; many bank transfers run two to three times that.

How to read your results

The headline figure is what the recipient actually gets, in the destination currency. The stats break the cost into its two halves: the up-front fee (flat plus any percentage) and the FX margin cost — the money you lose because the rate you got is worse than the mid-market rate. Total cost adds those two together, and total cost percent expresses it as a share of the amount you sent, so you can compare providers on one number. Watch the margin: a transfer with a zero fee can still be expensive if the exchange rate is marked up 3 to 4 percent. A genuinely cheap service shows a low total cost percent, not just a low fee.

How it's calculated

Let the fee total be the flat fee plus sendAmount times feePct/100. The amount converted is the send amount minus the fee total, floored at zero. The effective rate is the mid-market rate times (1 minus marginPct/100). The recipient receives the amount converted times the effective rate, in the receive currency. The margin cost — value lost to the markup, in the send currency — is the amount converted times marginPct/100. Total cost is the fee total plus the margin cost, and total cost percent is total cost divided by the send amount times 100. Money and percentages are rounded to two decimals; the effective rate keeps four.

Worked example

Send 1,000 with a flat fee of 5, no percentage fee, a 2% exchange-rate margin, and a mid-market rate of 1.10.

The fee is 5, so 995 is converted at an effective rate of 1.078 (the 1.10 mid-rate cut by 2%). The recipient gets 1,072.61. The margin quietly costs 19.90, so the total cost is 24.90 — 2.49% of what you sent — even though the visible fee was only 5.

Frequently asked questions

What is the real cost of an international money transfer?

It is the up-front fee plus the exchange-rate margin. The fee is visible; the margin is the markup a provider adds to the mid-market (interbank) rate, and it is easy to miss. The World Bank's total-cost method combines both into a single percentage so you can compare a low-fee, high-margin service against a high-fee, no-margin one fairly.

What is an exchange-rate margin?

The mid-market rate is the real, fair exchange rate banks use between themselves. The margin is how much worse a provider's rate is than that. A 2% margin on a 1.10 mid-rate means you actually get 1.078. On a 1,000 transfer that quietly costs about 20, often more than the headline fee. Compare the rate you are offered against the mid-market rate to see the margin.

How much should sending money cost?

The World Bank's Sustainable Development Goal target is a total cost under 3% per transfer, with a global average around 6%. Many bank and cash-agent transfers cost 7% or more once the FX margin is counted, while low-cost apps can be under 1%. Use the total cost percent here to see where your transfer lands.

Why does the recipient get less than the amount times the rate?

Two reasons. First, the fee is taken off before conversion, so a smaller amount is exchanged. Second, the rate applied is the marked-up effective rate, not the mid-market rate. This calculator applies the fee first, then converts the remainder at the effective rate, which mirrors how most providers actually work.

Does this convert currencies for me?

No. You supply the mid-market rate yourself, so the result is always based on a real rate you choose — the engine never looks one up or assumes a currency. The send amount and fees are in the send currency; the recipient amount is in the receive currency. Check the live mid-market rate before you compare providers.

Sources

• remittanceprices.worldbank.org
• www.consumerfinance.gov/ask-cfpb/what-is-a-remittance-transfer-en-1161

Reviewed by the YouCalc Team · Last reviewedJune 26, 2026