ACH transfer fees for dummies?

May 30, 2022 9:48 AM

Ballpark estimate, what kind of fees can I expect to pay as the recipient of an ACH transfer? I know what my bank will charge me to receive one, but I'm wondering what the sender's bank will charge, and whether any intermediary bank will also charge me.

The scenario:

- A company is going to transfer money to me using ACH
- This company is in the US and their bank is Chase
- My account is in Canada and it's with TD Canada Trust (however, it's a US dollar account, so no currency exchange is happening)
- My bank says they just charge me a flat $17.50 fee for any wire transfer, including ACH

Question: what other fees might be applied to this transfer on the paying company's end? Is it free, or just another small flat fee – or is it possible that Chase, or any intermediary bank that an ACH transfer goes through, could take a percentage of the transfer amount?

I am fine paying some small flat fees, but not a percentage.

Thanks!

posted by Beardman to Work & Money (10 answers total)

Maybe it's different because it's international, but I have done a ton of ACH transfers with most of the major US-based banks, and I have never been charged a fee either on the receiving or sending end. Fees for wires, yes, but not ACH. So that is surprising to me off the bat. But I think really the only way to get a definitive answer to this is to ask both the sending and receiving institutions. Fees can vary depending on a wide variety of factors including account type, size of transfer, type of transfer, destination, etc.
posted by primethyme at 9:58 AM on May 30, 2022 [8 favorites]

Wow, $17.50 to receive an ACH? That is super steep. If you are going to do this more than once, I would strongly consider looking into another bank. My bank doesn't charge anything for incoming wires (actual wires or ACH), just outgoing.
posted by Kadin2048 at 10:01 AM on May 30, 2022 [2 favorites]

I don't know the answer to the question posed, but If a company owes you money then you should ask them to pay the fees involved in them sending you the money, to insure that what they owe you is what you receive. Their bank should give them an option to do this.

And I know you don't want to pay a percentage, but if your bank is charging you $17.50 (?!!!?!) to receive an ACH then it's worth investigating, e.g. wise.com (which would be cheaper in this case for transfers less than $3000, and does not use the incredibly consumer hostile "wait and find out what you're going to get charged, or spend hours on hold to get a rough estimate" model of North American consumer banking).
posted by caek at 10:15 AM on May 30, 2022 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Thanks so far! These transfers will be on the larger side, $30-70k, a few times a year for a couple of years. That's why I'm keen to avoid paying a percentage. The flat fee on my end is annoying but not the end of the world to me; I just want to avoid getting dinged much worse on the sending end.

Maybe I should rephrase: is it unheard of, with ACH transfers, for one of the banks involved to skim off a percentage of the amount being transferred? Or does that sometimes happen?
posted by Beardman at 11:07 AM on May 30, 2022

That fee is very weird, at least in the US.

In your shoes, if you talked to a human about those fees, I’d try calling and talking to someone else because it seems more likely that someone confused ACH transfers vs wires. I’ve gotten a lot of jumbled paperwork that gave me “ACH routing numbers” to put in a wire transfer form that worked and charged me a fee. It seems that sometimes the term is used to distinguish them from SWIFT international routing numbers which are also used for wires. $17.50 is a very normal wire transfer fee, although some banks will also waive that or waive a few wire transfer fees per month.
posted by A Blue Moon at 11:35 AM on May 30, 2022

My bank says they just charge me a flat $17.50 fee for any wire transfer, including ACH

I suspect there's some misunderstanding going on here. ACH transfers are not wire transfers, and the term ACH is usually used to refer to domestic in-USA ACH transfers. Canada is not part of the ACH network - Canada uses ETF instead - and there is no way to make a domestic ACH transfer to a Canadian account (even USD-denominated). The company is possibly sending you a "International ACH Transfers", which are not very common, and often are treated identically to wire transfers by the receiving bank (ie, charging a fee).

For people in your situation, it's usually best to use an bank that has both US and Canadian presence (ie, TD Bank in USA / TD Canada in Canada). It's often the case that wire transfers between the same bank in both countries is free (this is the case for TD Bank / TD Canada). You would then have an account in the USA, have the company pay you in the USA (for no fee), and then wire the money to your Canadian account (for free).
posted by saeculorum at 11:40 AM on May 30, 2022 [6 favorites]

To answer the original question, neither ACH nor international wire transfers will charge a percentage fee unless the sending bank is extremely sketchy. You will want to confirm very precisely the way this is being sent because my bank has separate routing numbers for ACH and international wire transfer. If the us bank tries to send an ACH the transfer may just fail unless your Canadian bank specifically says it will work. I have never heard of anyone charging a percentage, and there is no "intermediate" bank. The sending fee is around $20-$40 usually
posted by JZig at 12:32 PM on May 30, 2022

is it unheard of, with ACH transfers, for one of the banks involved to skim off a percentage of the amount being transferred?

I have never heard of a bank charging a percentage for an incoming ACH. I second the notion that it would be a sign of a very sketchy bank indeed, if they did. The same is true for actual wire transfers (which tend to cost more but can be conducted internationally), which is why they are preferred for large transactions.

Here's a comparison of ACH fees for major US banks. Most are around $3, some $10 for expedited (next day) service. Some only charge for outgoing, not for incoming or "pull"-based transfers.
posted by Kadin2048 at 12:50 PM on May 30, 2022 [1 favorite]

Yeah as far as I can tell you can’t get an ACH to TD Canada Trust, but there is a US brand of TD… That is to say I don’t see anything that says you CAN get ACH to TD Canada Trust (where-as the RBC site has some information about it).

Do you bank with “TD Canada Trust” or ( I can’t believe this is the full name but I swear this is what is on the website) “TD Bank, America's Most Convenient Bank”.

I have a feeling someone who banks with “TD Bank, America's Most Convenient Bank” and happens to have the same account number you have at “TD Canada Trust” is about to get VERY rich.

If you happen to have an account at both, there are instructions for moving your money from TD Bank.. to TD Canada Trust.

That site also has a dedicated cross-border banking support line, I would suggest giving them a call. I would not be surprised if someone in the branch gave you bad information, as if they don’t actually know what ACH is and just responded as if you said “wire/ETF”.

Regardless of what advice you get and how sure anyone is, I would HIGHLY recommend doing a test transaction in a small amount to confirm it works before having someone send you 50K.
posted by tiamat at 1:51 PM on May 30, 2022 [1 favorite]

You may want to move money via one of the money transfer firms such as Xe, Wise, OFX, Xoom, or WorldRemit.

Some of them do not charge fees, but instead, adds a tiny margin to the exchange rate to cover their fees.
posted by kschang at 5:12 AM on May 31, 2022