How much does chase charge for international transactions

Sep 8, 2022

JP Morgan Chase bank is the largest bank in the United States with over $2 trillion on its books. While its banking, investment, and loan products help to serve millions of Americans, Chase Bank’s international wire transfer service is both quite expensive and slow when compared to the alternatives.

After researching Chase Bank’s fee schedules and exchange rate information, we found that customers can be charged a hefty fixed fee of up to $50 for international wires. In addition, untransparent exchange rate fees can cost you anywhere from 4% to 7% of the transferred amount. 

We will detail these fees in this article, as well as provide recommended money transfer specialists that can save you both time and money on your next international wire transfer.

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What You'll Find in This Guide

What Are Chase Bank’s International Wire Transfer Fees?

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To send money abroad with Chase Bank, you will need to do so using a wire transfer. Unlike ACH transfers (which are domestic), wire transfers use the international SWIFT network to get your money to its destination abroad. 

You will be charged one of the following fixed fees depending on the Chase Bank service you choose:

1. A $50 fee per international wire transfer if initiated by a banker at your local Chase bank branch (to a foreign bank account in either USD or foreign currency).
2. A $40 fee per international wire transfer if initiated by yourself on chase.com or Chase Mobile to a foreign bank account in USD.
3. A $5 fee per international wire transfer if initiated by yourself on chase.com or Chase Mobile to a foreign bank account in foreign currency.
4. Zero fee if the wire transfer is initiated by yourself on chase.com or Chase Mobile to a foreign bank account in foreign currency and is at least $5,000 USD.

Other Fees to Anticipate

In addition to the exchange rate margins and transaction fees that you'll pay when you make an international wire with Chase Bank, you may still face other expenses before the money arrives in your beneficiary's bank account.

According to Chase Bank, fees for your international wire transfer “may include commissions or other costs that we, our affiliates, or our vendors may charge in providing foreign currency exchange to you.” What they're referring to here is what's known as a correspondent bank fee, a kind of "middleman" fee that can apply to transfers going over the SWIFT network. 

These fees will typically cost you anywhere between US$10 and US$100 per transfer. They could be levied without warning by a third-party bank if Chase Bank cannot make your transfer directly to your beneficiary's bank.

What Are Chase Bank’s Exchange Rates?

In addition to the fixed fees detailed above, Chase Bank will also charge a hidden fee known as an exchange rate margin every time you send money abroad with them.

When converting your USD into foreign currency, Chase Bank will not apply the true mid-market rate to realize the full value of your dollars. Instead, the bank will use an exchange rate that is weaker than the mid-market rate, and they will keep the difference for themselves.

This is largely why Chase Bank is able to charge $0 to $5 fees on transfers denominated in foreign currency — they are able to profit by pocketing the margin between the real rate and their weaker rate.

Chase Bank International Wire Transfer Exchange Rates

Unfortunately, Chase Bank does not publicly disclose its exchange rate schedule to the public. If you are a customer, make sure to compare their rate with the mid-market rate (which you can find on Google or XE.com) before you complete your transaction. 

Despite this lack of transparency, we have found that the average American bank will charge an exchange rate margin of anywhere between 4% to 7%. You can be confident that Chase Bank is no exception to these rates.

Looking at the fine print of their international wire transfer terms, we read the following:

The foreign exchange rates we use are determined by us in our sole discretion. The exchange rate we use will include a spread and may include commissions or other costs that we, our affiliates, or our vendors may charge in providing foreign currency exchange to you.

How Expensive Is Chase Bank for Wire Transfers?

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When we take both the hidden USD to CAD exchange rate margin fee, and Chase Bank’s fixed fees into account, international wires quickly become very expensive.

Suppose we send an average sized wire of $500 USD to a friend in Canada and have that transfer converted to Canadian dollars. After paying the $27.75 in total fees (derived from the $5 transfer fee and a standard 5% exchange rate margin fee), your friend would receive C$608.81 at the time of writing.

Chase Versus a Money Transfer Specialist

Contrast this with Paysend, a money transfer specialist that was the found as the cheapest service for this transfer of Monito’s comparison engine at the time of writing. With Paysend, you’d pay no transfer fees and only $3.27 USD in exchange rate margin fees.

With Paysend, your Canadian friend would get C$641.43 in his or her bank account — that’s over 5% more than they would have received with Chase Bank.

To get a better sense of how these combined fees impact the final receiving amount with a typical 5% exchange rate margin fee, take a look at the fee breakdown below (as of 29/06/2022 at 07:00 +01:00 GMT):

The Costs of Chase Bank Visualized

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How to Wire Money Internationally With Chase Bank

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To make an international wire transfer with Chase Bank, you may either get the help of a teller at your local bank branch. You may also use chase.com of Chase Mobile, which are digital options that can assist you at the comfort of your home.

If you'd like to find out how to make a bank wire transfer, take a look at our step-by-step guide here.

Chase Bank Address for Wire Transfers

The following information will help ensure that the foreign bank sends the money to the right place:

SWIFT/BIC Code for Chase Bank: CHASUS33

Bank address, city and state: Chase Bank, 270 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10017, USA

Swift Code For Chase Bank

Banks abroad use international codes to make identification easier when sending money. If you’re receiving an international wire, you’ll need the Chase Bank SWIFT code: CHASUS33.

Chase Bank International Wire Transfer Limit

Chase Bank’s total wire transfer limit (for either domestic or international transfers) is $250,000 per business day. Services for initiating wire transfers close at 4pm EST.

JP Morgan Chase Bank Alternatives: Is Chase Bank Right for You?

Jarrod Suda

Chase Bank is a globally reputable bank with a long history, and you can certainly trust them with your next international money transfer. If you have an account with them and don’t mind spending the extra fees, then sticking with them for sake of convenience and ease my be the right option for you.

If you plan to send less than $5,000 USD abroad and want to get the most bang for your buck, then we would highly recommend third-party specialist services to get the job done. Monito has a vast library of reviews of these services, which are evaluated by security, usability, price, and trust. 

For these reasons, we recommend that you explore your options through Monito’s comparison engine to find a transfer service that will get your money to your beneficiary safely, securely, and more quickly — and all at a much lower cost than Chase Bank

Take a look at the table below to see how these providers compare to one another on a US$500 transfer to Mexico: