To send money with a SWIFT code, you gather the recipient’s SWIFT/BIC code, account number or IBAN, and bank details, enter them into your bank’s international wire transfer form, choose who pays the fees, and confirm the payment. Expect a flat fee of roughly $35 to $50 at most major U.S. banks, plus an exchange rate markup you won’t see itemized, and expect the money to arrive within one to five business days. Getting any single detail wrong can freeze the funds or bounce the transfer back at your expense, so the preparation matters more than the clicking.
What a SWIFT Code Does
A SWIFT/BIC code is an 8- or 11-character alphanumeric code that identifies the recipient’s bank on the SWIFT network. The first eight characters pinpoint the institution and country. A three-character suffix, when present, narrows it to a specific branch or department. The code tells your bank where to route the payment; it does not identify the individual account, which is why you also need an account number or IBAN.
You can find the recipient’s SWIFT/BIC code on their bank statement, on the bank’s website, or by asking the recipient to request it from their branch. The official SWIFT directory lists codes for all participating institutions.
Information to Gather Before You Start
Come back to fix a missing field after submission and you may trigger a new round of compliance screening. Have all of this ready first:
- The recipient’s SWIFT/BIC code.
- The recipient’s full legal name and address, matching the name on the bank account exactly. Even small discrepancies can trip anti-money laundering filters that delay or reject the payment.
- The account number or IBAN. Most countries outside the United States use an International Bank Account Number; U.S. recipients use a standard account number paired with a domestic routing number.
- The receiving bank’s name and branch address. This is required even when you have the SWIFT/BIC code, because some large banks operate through dozens of branches with separate clearing systems.
- The purpose of the payment, chosen from categories like “family support” or “real estate purchase.” This disclosure satisfies federal recordkeeping rules under the Bank Secrecy Act.
- The currency. Confirm the recipient’s account accepts what you plan to send. Sending U.S. dollars to a euro-denominated account triggers a conversion at the receiving end, often at an unfavorable rate you can’t control.
Sending the Transfer
Log into your bank’s online portal or mobile app and navigate to the wire transfer or international payments section. If your bank doesn’t offer online international wires, you’ll need to visit a branch and fill out a paper form. The data fields are the same either way.
Enter the recipient’s details, checking the SWIFT/BIC code and account number character by character. A single transposed digit routes the payment to the wrong account. Most banks require multi-factor authentication before letting you set up a new international payee, so keep your phone or security token handy.
Before you confirm, the bank displays the exchange rate and service fees. Look closely at the rate. Banks almost never offer the mid-market rate you see on Google, and the spread between that rate and the one your bank quotes is a real cost that doesn’t appear as a line item. Combined with the flat fee, that spread is what you’re actually paying.
Choosing Who Pays the Fees
You’ll also see a field asking who covers the transfer fees. This is the fee instruction, and it matters more than most people realize. Three options:
- OUR — you pay all fees, including intermediary bank charges. Choose this if you want the recipient to receive the exact amount you entered.
- SHA — you pay your bank’s fee and the recipient’s bank deducts its own. This is the default at most banks and means the recipient may receive slightly less than expected.
- BEN — all fees come out of the transfer amount before the recipient gets anything.
Once the terms look right, confirm the transfer. The bank generates a confirmation receipt with a transaction reference number. Save it. It’s your proof of payment and the only thing that lets you trace the funds if something goes wrong.
What It Costs
The flat fee to send an international wire runs roughly $35 to $50 at most major U.S. banks, though the exact amount varies by institution and account type. Some banks charge less when you send in a foreign currency rather than dollars, and premium account holders sometimes pay reduced fees or none at all.
Exchange rate markups are where banks make real money on international transfers. A quoted rate 1% to 3% worse than the mid-market rate translates, on a $10,000 transfer, to a gap of $100 to $300. The markup isn’t disclosed as a fee, which is why comparing the quoted rate to the mid-market rate matters.
Intermediary bank fees are the third cost, and the one that catches people off guard. When your bank doesn’t have a direct relationship with the recipient’s bank, the payment passes through one or more correspondent banks. Each can deduct its own processing fee, running anywhere from $15 to $50 per bank. If you chose SHA or BEN, these deductions come straight off the amount the recipient receives.
Put it together on a small transfer: sending $500 to a relative overseas, the flat fee, exchange rate spread, and intermediary deductions could easily total $70 to $100. For small amounts, a dedicated remittance service may be cheaper than a bank wire. For larger amounts, fixed fees matter less and the exchange rate markup becomes the dominant cost.
How Long It Takes
Most SWIFT transfers arrive within one to five business days. Nearly 60% of payments sent through SWIFT’s gpi (Global Payments Innovation) service reach the recipient within 30 minutes, and almost all arrive within 24 hours.1Swift. Swift GPI The rest take longer because of intermediary banks, time zones, or compliance holds.
Each intermediary in the chain has to clear the payment through its own systems before passing it along. A transfer from a U.S. bank to a small bank in Southeast Asia might pass through two or three correspondents, each adding hours or a full business day. Initiating a transfer on a Friday afternoon in New York means the first intermediary may not process it until Monday morning in its local time zone.
Bank holidays in either country add further delays. The receiving bank’s holidays matter as much as your own, and they don’t always overlap with U.S. holidays. Countries with a Friday–Saturday weekend can shift your expected delivery by a day or two.
Compliance Holds
Every bank in the chain screens the transfer against sanctions lists maintained by the Office of Foreign Assets Control. If the recipient’s name, country, or bank triggers a match on the Specially Designated Nationals list, the bank must freeze the funds and report the match to OFAC within 10 business days.2Office of Foreign Assets Control. OFAC Consolidated Frequently Asked Questions Even a partial or false match causes a delay while the bank investigates. You can reduce that risk by making sure the recipient’s name is spelled correctly and consistently across every field.
Tracking the Payment
Ask your bank whether it supports SWIFT gpi tracking. If it does, your transfer gets a Unique End-to-End Transaction Reference (UETR) that lets you follow the payment as it moves through each bank in the chain.1Swift. Swift GPI Without gpi, your only option is to call with the transaction reference number from your confirmation receipt and ask for a manual trace. Hold onto that reference number until the recipient confirms the full amount has arrived.
If You Need to Cancel or Fix a Mistake
Federal rules give you a 30-minute window to cancel a remittance transfer for a full refund, measured from the moment you make payment. This applies regardless of your bank’s business hours, so a transfer submitted at midnight still has a 30-minute cancellation period.3Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. 12 CFR 1005.34 Procedures for Cancellation and Refund of Remittance Transfers If you cancel within that window, the bank must return the full amount, including fees, within three business days.
The right comes from the CFPB’s remittance transfer rule, which applies to providers that handle more than 500 international transfers per year.4Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. 12 CFR 1005.30 Remittance Transfer Definitions Every major U.S. bank clears that threshold, so the rule covers the vast majority of consumer transfers. Smaller credit unions or community banks that send fewer international wires may not be subject to it.
After the 30-minute window closes, cancellation becomes a request rather than a right. Your bank can attempt a recall by sending a formal cancellation message through SWIFT, but the receiving bank has no obligation to return the funds. If the recipient has already withdrawn the money, a recall is effectively impossible. Banks charge for recall attempts and success is far from guaranteed.
If the amount received is wrong, the funds arrive late relative to the promised delivery date, or the transfer goes to the wrong account, you have 180 days from the disclosed availability date to report the error. The bank then has 90 days to investigate and must notify you of the outcome within three business days of completing its review.5eCFR. 12 CFR 1005.33 Procedures for Resolving Errors If the bank confirms an error, it must either refund the amount or resend the transfer at no extra cost. Delays caused by sanctions screening or fraud investigations are exempt from the error resolution rules, so those holds aren’t grounds for an error claim.
When the Bank Will Ask for More Information
Sending money internationally triggers federal reporting obligations at certain dollar thresholds. Your bank handles most of these filings, but knowing the thresholds explains why the bank asks for identification or extra documentation on larger transfers.
For any wire transfer of $3,000 or more, your bank must collect and retain your name, address, account number, and the same details for the recipient. If you’re not an established customer, the bank has to verify your identity with a government-issued ID and record the document number.6Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council. Funds Transfers Recordkeeping – Overview This is routine compliance, not a sign anything is wrong.
When a transaction involves more than $10,000 in cash, the bank must file a Currency Transaction Report with FinCEN. This applies to cash deposits or withdrawals used to fund a wire, not to a wire funded from an existing account balance. Splitting one transaction into smaller ones to stay under the $10,000 threshold is a federal crime, even if the underlying transfer is perfectly legal.
Two other reporting rules sit outside the act of sending a wire but are worth knowing. If you hold financial accounts outside the United States and the combined balance exceeds $10,000 at any point during the year, you must file FinCEN Form 114, the FBAR, by April 15 with an automatic extension to October 15.7Internal Revenue Service. Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR) Sending a wire doesn’t trigger this on its own, but if the money lands in a foreign account you control, that account counts toward the threshold. And on the receiving end, gifts from a foreign individual totaling more than $100,000 in a tax year must be reported on IRS Form 3520.8Internal Revenue Service. Gifts From Foreign Person Neither creates a tax liability, but the penalties for not filing are steep.