Incoming forex transfer rates

JerryMungo

JerryMungo

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Do all banks use the same rate for inbound payments, or are there banks that are better than others in this department? It's quite possible as well that the rate is determined by the forwarding bank on the US side since I received an email from them with a ZAR amount...

Does anyone have any ideas that might be better for me to use in future when receiving foreign payments? What about PayPal?

Thanks in advance!
 
Depends.. does the payee need an account number or will anything work?
Skrill or Paypal are what I've used. Both decent.
 
Different rates for different customers at different banks. All pretty similar.

For incoming funds you will get your bank's buy rate, which is lower than the sell rate. Most media quote a mid-rate around halfway between the two. But the conversion to ZAR is at the buy rate.
 
Arthur said:
Different rates for different customers at different banks. All pretty similar.

For incoming funds you will get your bank's buy rate, which is lower than the sell rate. Most media quote a mid-rate around halfway between the two. But the conversion to ZAR is at the buy rate.
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OK, makes sense...
Given that the media quoted rate is around 13.3 and I got 12.6 - would you say that's normal?
Thanks!
 
Arthur said:
That's pretty lousy. The current commercial buy rate at FNB for transactions under R50k is 13.04.
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Over R100k? Does it get better or worse? I'm thinking this is the foreign bank's doing...
Is that number quoted anywhere online perhaps? I want to ask Nedbank their opinion...
 
What I have experienced at Standard was that forex would quote 20c less than the current 'media' rate. So if the rate was 13.00 / dollar, I'd get offered 12.80. I'd then ask for a dealer rate and it would then be around 15c - 16c.
 
cerebus said:
Do forex rates get better when you transfer more than R50k? And more than R100k?
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It depends on what your relationship is with the bank/dealer. Generally, you should get a better rate than the published commercial rates.

By better I mean obtain more Rand per foreign currency unit when buying Rand, and paying less Rand when selling Rand to acquire foreign currency.
 
Arthur said:
Yes, several of the large commercial banks publish their rates for public viewing.

FNB

Absa

To get Nedbank's forex rates you have to log in to your banking profile.
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I'll check it out, thanks for the heads up.
*edit*
Nedbank's advertised rate:
Code: 
Currency Name 	Selling 	TT Buying 	Airmail Buy 	Seamail Buy
U.S. DOLLARS 	13.5000 	13.1500 	13.1278 	13.1182

That rate I was given must have been the foreign bank - I assume it means it was converted to Rands on that side first...
 
Last edited:
My last transfer came in at R13.63/$ on the 1st, which is basically exactly the advertised rate which was R13.62/$ that morning.
 
DrJohnZoidberg said:
My last transfer came in at R13.63/$ on the 1st, which is basically exactly the advertised rate which was R13.62/$ that morning.
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That's fair. Here's the FNB rate on 1 Aug 2016. As you can see, the Buy Rate is 13.65 at end of day.

attachment.php
 
Arthur said:
If they did they're still shortchanging you. Sadly, nothing you can do about it as the transaction is booked and closed. Hope the hit isn't too large.
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The amount paid was just over 100k so I'll try resolve it before next month. If anyone has any suggestions on other services to use instead, I'm open to suggestions. Paypal may be an option, I'm just not sure. I think the transaction cost around $35 for the sender.
 
DunDarach said:
The amount paid was just over 100k so I'll try resolve it before next month. If anyone has any suggestions on other services to use instead, I'm open to suggestions. Paypal may be an option, I'm just not sure. I think the transaction cost around $35 for the sender.
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Be careful and clear the PayPal fees beforehand. They charge up to 3.9% for some transactions.
 
DunDarach said:
The amount paid was just over 100k so I'll try resolve it before next month. If anyone has any suggestions on other services to use instead, I'm open to suggestions. Paypal may be an option, I'm just not sure. I think the transaction cost around $35 for the sender.
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Paypal will cost you a lot more.
 
Arthur said:
Be careful and clear the PayPal fees beforehand. They charge up to 3.9% for some transactions.
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DrJohnZoidberg said:
Paypal will cost you a lot more.
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It's free if payment is made using PayPal resources - the fee applies when you pay from a credit card. That said, I've no doubt Paypal will charge to convert it to ZAR.
I may just set up a US bank account and do my own transfers when the rate suits me.
 
DunDarach said:
It's free if payment is made using PayPal resources - the fee applies when you pay from a credit card. That said, I've no doubt Paypal will charge to convert it to ZAR.
I may just set up a US bank account and do my own transfers when the rate suits me.
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No it's not. From time to time businesses in Africa pay us with PayPal. If they send $1000 (ie $1k leaves their account), then PayPal deducts 3.9% and we get $961.

Quite apart from the actual rate used, if you use a correspondent bank you will be hit with other charges such as SWIFT commission, correspondent fee ($25-30), and other levies. And the SA bank will also charge a handling fee.

If this is a regular thing, have the money sent to your SA bank in USD and make sure they give you a little better than the published Buy Rate - just asking will generally get you 5-7c cents-per-foreign-unit extra. Also, if you can, ask the party sending the funds to specify local and foreign bank charges for their account, not yours. Typically they are shared (they pay their fees, you pay yours) so you might not get that break.
 
DunDarach said:
The amount paid was just over 100k so I'll try resolve it before next month. If anyone has any suggestions on other services to use instead, I'm open to suggestions. Paypal may be an option, I'm just not sure. I think the transaction cost around $35 for the sender.
Click to expand...

www.exchange4free.com - I've used them a lot - no fees and they'll smash your bank's rate.
 
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