Foreign exchange transfer “rip off” - Cheaper to fly overseas than send money abroad

Transferring money overseas is costing Australians big bucks, with the latest figures from the World Bank showing Australia is the fourth most expensive country in the world for international money transfers, behind South Africa, Japan and France.

With the launch of Mozo’s international money transfer hub, our money geeks crunched the numbers and found using a big bank to transfer $10,000 from Australian dollars to New Zealand dollars, could be more than the price of a return flight to Auckland.

Mozo director Kirsty Lamont advised Aussies looking to transfer money overseas to do their research on exchange rates and fees in advance to avoid being “ripped off.”

“It’s very easy to think only major banks facilitate international money transfers, but there are a growing number of online money transfer providers in Australia which are very willing to compete, especially on price.”

Mozo discovered the cheapest rates in Australia were generally from online providers, such as OzForex, HiFX, Currency Fair, Worldfirst and TorFX.

“In fact, we found online money transfer providers are on average 5c cheaper per dollar transferred than the big four banks. When you’re transferring thousands of dollars, that difference adds up to hundreds of dollars in savings,” said Lamont.

Looking to transfer money to a loved one abroad or for your stint in a foreign country? Search Mozo’s foreign exchange hub here to compare exchange rates and fees from nine providers across 11 currencies with rates updated every 15 minutes.