SunTrust Bank International Wires in 2024: Charges, Exchange Rates, and Alternatives

Having merged with BB&T to form Truist Financial Corporation, SunTrust Bank offers a wide range of retail, business, and investment services to American customers, including foreign exchange and remittance services.

Although SunTrust Bank gives you excellent banking services all around, when it comes to making international wires from the USA in particular, the bank can be surprisingly pricey. When sending an international payment online (either through your Online Banking or the Mobile Banking), the following costs will apply per transaction:

• A $65 service fee,
• A 5% to 7% exchange rate margin.

In the end, this means that whenever you make an outgoing payment from the United States with SunTrust Bank, you'll pay very significant amount, leaving anyway between 5% to 7% or more of the entire value of the transfer chomped up by charges. Save money now by finding the cheapest and fastest alternative with Monito's live comparison engine below. 👇

SunTrust Bank International Wire Fees

SunTrust Bank international wires are processed as international wires. This means that, as a customer of SunTrust Bank, you'll need to use your online or mobile banking account to instruct a transfer, and SunTrust Bank will wire your funds over SWIFT to reach its destination in a foreign country and currency.

Banks generally make money from you on SWIFT transfers by levying commissions, fixed charges, or a combination of the two on the amount you send. This is also the case with SunTrust Bank, which charges a service fee of $65 for every international wire you make with them.

Correspondent Bank Fees

In addition to this service fee, you might also be charged a correspondent bank fee (not by SunTrust Bank but by a third-party bank) which can range anywhere between $10 and $100.

This fee (also called an 'agent charge') isn't incurred every time you transfer money abroad, but it might happen if SunTrust Bank cannot transfer your funds directly into your beneficiary's bank account and needs to rely on a correspondent or intermediary bank to get the job done.

SunTrust Bank Exchange Rates

In addition to the abovementioned costs, SunTrust Bank will include another (less transparent) fee in your transfer. These fees, known as FX margins, are charged when banks or other currency exchange providers offer poorer exchange rates than the 'real' exchange rate (called the mid-market rate), thereby making a small profit on every dollar converted into a foreign currency.

While SunTrust Bank FX margins may not appear very high (typically between 5% and 7% of the total transfer amount, according to our analysis), these costs can stack up quickly.

It's worth noting that — as with other American banks — SunTrust Bank charges lower FX margins if you're sending a dollar transfer to a major world currency like the British pound, US dollar, euro, or Singaporean dollar. On the other hand, its FX margins for conversions to less-traded world currencies like Indonesian rupiahs or Nepali rupees tend to be much higher.

SunTrust Bank International Wire Alternatives

According to our analysis of thousands of comparisons from the USA here on Monito, the following money transfer service offers the cheapest money transfers from the USA to various countries worldwide. If you plan to send money to a specific country, be sure to double-check in advance whether the provider below facilitates transfers there and whether it's the best deal in your specific case.

Remitly

Remitly is a low-cost and trusted online money transfer provider supporting transfers from the USA to dozens of countries and currencies worldwide.

• Remitly Charges: $3.99 fee if sending under $1,000
• Remitly Exchange Rates: 0.5% and 2%
• Available Destinations From the USA: Canada, India, Mexico, the Philippines, Turkey, Colombia, Nigeria, the European Union, and many more.

As you can see, Remitly is a great way to send money abroad from the USA and is usually significantly cheaper than SunTrust Bank on a per-transfer basis. However, even Remitly with its great pricing isn't always the cheapest provider from the USA, and the best deal varies depending on the market, your destination country, and many other factors. To find the best deal in real time, simply compare providers in real time below! 👇