A TT bank transfer, short for telegraphic transfer, is the formal banking term for an international wire transfer. It is an electronic payment sent from your bank to a bank in another country, usually routed over the SWIFT messaging network, and it typically settles within one to five business days. The name is a holdover from the era when international payments traveled over telegraph wires; today the money moves through encrypted digital networks, but the label stuck.
For most senders, the practical question is not what to call it but how it works, what it costs, and what can go wrong. Here is what you need to know before you send one.
How a TT Actually Moves
SWIFT is a messaging system connecting more than 11,000 financial institutions. It does not move money. It sends a secure, standardized instruction from your bank to the recipient’s bank: this much, in this currency, to this account. The actual funds settle through accounts your bank holds with other banks along the route.
That route often passes through one or more intermediary banks, sometimes called correspondent banks. If your bank has no direct relationship with the recipient’s bank, the payment hops through institutions that do. Each hop can deduct a handling fee from the amount in transit, commonly $15 to $30 per intermediary. A transfer passing through two intermediaries could lose $30 to $60 before it lands. This is the single biggest source of surprise when senders expect the full amount to arrive intact.
SWIFT’s gpi (global payments innovation) service has improved visibility into this chain. Banks using gpi can track a payment end to end, and SWIFT reports that nearly 60% of gpi payments reach the recipient’s account within 30 minutes, with almost all arriving within 24 hours.1Swift. Swift GPI
What You Need Before You Send
A single wrong detail can delay a TT for days or bounce it back with fees deducted both ways. Collect these items from the recipient before you start the transfer:
- The recipient’s full legal name, matching the receiving account exactly. Nicknames or small misspellings can trigger a rejection.
- The recipient’s bank name and branch address.
- The SWIFT/BIC code, an 8- or 11-character identifier for the receiving bank. Most banks publish theirs on their website.
- The account number or IBAN. Transfers to Europe, the Middle East, and many other regions use an International Bank Account Number, a standardized format identifying both the bank and the account. The United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand do not use IBANs; for those destinations you’ll use a standard account number plus the bank’s routing number.2Swift. International Bank Account Number (IBAN)
- The currency the funds should arrive in, which affects both the exchange rate applied and the fees charged.
Transfers to certain countries will not clear without a payment purpose code, a short alphanumeric label telling the receiving country’s central bank why the money is being sent. India, China, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Malaysia, and Kuwait all require them. If you’re sending to one of these destinations and the transfer form does not ask for a purpose code, raise it with your bank before submitting. A missing code can freeze the money at the other end.
Who Pays the Fees: OUR, SHA, or BEN
Most international transfer forms ask you to pick who covers the fees. The three options are:
- OUR: You pay all fees, including intermediary charges. The recipient receives the full amount.
- SHA (shared): You pay your bank’s fee; the recipient’s bank and any intermediaries deduct theirs from the arriving funds. This is the most common default.
- BEN (beneficiary): All fees come out of the transfer amount. The recipient gets less than you sent.
If the recipient needs an exact figure, choose OUR and confirm with your bank that it covers intermediary deductions too. Some banks charge a premium for OUR, so ask about the cost first.
How to Send One
Online banking is the fastest route. Log into your bank’s portal, find the international or wire transfer section, enter the recipient details, and authenticate the transaction with a one-time code sent to your phone. Review the fee and exchange rate disclosures carefully before confirming. Once you authorize, reversing the payment is very difficult.
To send in person, bring the recipient’s banking details and a government-issued ID to your branch. The teller verifies your identity, confirms available funds, and has you sign an authorization form. You’ll walk out with a receipt and a reference number for tracking.
Most banks cap online international transfers, commonly between $5,000 and $50,000 per day for consumer accounts. Business accounts tend to have higher limits. If your transfer exceeds the online cap, you may need to visit a branch or call the bank’s wire desk. Banks can also raise your limit temporarily with advance notice.
What It Costs
The total cost of a TT has three parts, and focusing only on the headline fee will understate what you actually pay.
Your bank charges an outgoing wire fee. For international transfers from major U.S. banks, this typically runs between $0 and $50, depending on whether you send in a foreign currency or U.S. dollars and whether you initiate online or with help from a banker. Sending in the recipient’s local currency often costs less, because it simplifies processing on the other end.
Intermediary banks along the route may each deduct a handling fee from the principal, typically $15 to $30 per hop. Under the SHA fee structure, those deductions come out of what the recipient receives.
Your bank applies an exchange rate when converting dollars to the recipient’s currency, and that rate includes a markup over the midmarket rate. The markup varies but often runs 1% to 3% of the transfer amount. On a $10,000 transfer, a 2% markup is $200, which dwarfs the wire fee itself.
Federal rules require your bank to show you the total cost before you commit. Under the CFPB’s remittance transfer rule, the bank must disclose the transfer amount, all fees and taxes, the exchange rate, any third-party fees it’s aware of, and the total the recipient will receive, in a form you can keep, before you authorize the payment.3Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. 12 CFR 1005.31 Disclosures If a bank rushes you past this step, slow down and read the numbers.
How Long It Takes
Most TTs settle within one to five business days. Time zone differences can add a full day if your bank’s cutoff has already passed. Banking holidays in the sending country, the receiving country, or any country where an intermediary sits can add further delays. Transfers involving less common currencies or smaller banks tend to take longer because they route through more intermediaries.
At the fast end, transfers between major banks in well-connected financial centers using SWIFT gpi can settle within minutes.1Swift. Swift GPI At the slow end, a transfer may stall on a data error, a compliance hold, or a missing purpose code. If yours has not arrived within five business days, call your bank with the reference number and ask them to trace it through SWIFT.
Cancelling or Correcting a Transfer
Once a wire reaches the recipient’s account, it is essentially irreversible. There is no chargeback mechanism like you’d have with a credit card. If you sent money to the wrong person, your bank can request that the receiving bank return the funds, but the receiving bank has no obligation to comply and the recipient must cooperate voluntarily.
You do have a narrow cancellation window. Under federal regulations, you can cancel an international transfer for a full refund if you act within 30 minutes of authorizing it, provided the recipient has not yet picked up or received the funds.4Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. 12 CFR 1005.34 Procedures for Cancellation and Refund of Remittance Transfers Within that window the bank must return the full amount, including fees, within three business days. After 30 minutes, cancellation is at the bank’s discretion and depends on whether the money has already moved.
If the bank itself made the error, sending the wrong amount, applying an incorrect exchange rate, or crediting the wrong account, you have 60 days from the date of the statement reflecting the transaction to dispute it, and the bank must investigate under its error resolution procedures.5Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. 12 CFR 1005.11 Procedures for Resolving Errors This does not help if you voluntarily authorized a transfer to a fraudster.
Avoiding Wire Fraud
The irreversibility of wires makes them a favorite tool for scammers, and business email compromise is the most common attack. A criminal impersonates a vendor, executive, or attorney by email and instructs someone to wire money to a new account. The message often looks legitimate enough to fool a busy employee, and once the wire goes out, the money is usually gone within hours.
Treat these as warning signs: an email from a known contact asking you to send payment to a new account; language pressing urgency, confidentiality, or secrecy; a sender address that looks almost right but swaps a letter or uses a different domain; and instructions relayed through someone who says they could not reach the person who supposedly authorized the transfer.
The strongest defense is a callback verification habit. Before sending any wire that involves new account details or an unusual request, call the requesting party at a number you already have on file, not a number from the email, and confirm the instructions verbally. If you have already sent a fraudulent wire, call your bank’s fraud department immediately to request a recall, and file a report with the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center at ic3.gov.6Federal Bureau of Investigation. Common Frauds and Scams Recovery odds drop sharply once the funds leave the receiving account.
Reporting Thresholds That May Surprise You
Several federal rules create recordkeeping or reporting duties around wire transfers.
For any funds transfer of $3,000 or more, the financial institution must verify the sender’s identity and retain records including the sender’s name, address, and taxpayer identification number.7eCFR. 31 CFR 1010.410 Recordkeeping That is why the bank may ask for ID and a Social Security number even on a routine transfer.
If you buy a wire with cash and the cash exceeds $10,000, the bank must file a Currency Transaction Report with FinCEN.8FinCEN. Notice to Customers: A CTR Reference Guide This applies to cash transactions, not transfers initiated from an existing account balance.
On the receiving side, if you receive a gift or inheritance from a foreign individual or estate by wire that exceeds $100,000 in a tax year, you must report it to the IRS on Form 3520.9Internal Revenue Service. Gifts From Foreign Person Form 3520 is informational and does not create tax on its own, but failing to file can trigger penalties of up to 25% of the unreported amount.