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SWIFT Wire Arrival CalculatorCount intermediary fees and the OUR/SHA/BEN option together, and see how much the recipient really receives

International wires often go out at 5,000 but land at 4,950, with the gap swallowed by intermediary-bank fees and the receiving-bank credit fee. Whether these are deducted, and who pays them, depends on the OUR / SHA / BEN charge option you choose. Fill in the fields below and this calculator estimates how much the recipient actually receives, the total cost of the wire and its percentage. The maths runs in your browser; the numbers you enter are never uploaded.

The three charge options: OUR = the sender pays all charges, so the recipient is more likely to receive the full amount; SHA = charges are shared, and intermediary fees come out of the transferred amount; BEN = the recipient pays all charges. Most banks default to SHA.
Amount the recipient actually receives (approx.)—
Total cost of this transfer (approx.)—
As a share of the amount sent—

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What each line is telling you

  • Total intermediary fees: number of intermediary banks × fee each deducts. A wire may pass through 0–3 correspondent banks on the way, and each can deduct a same-currency charge.
  • Amount the recipient receives: with OUR, you pay the intermediary fees separately at the sending end, so the recipient is usually only charged the receiving-bank credit fee; with SHA/BEN, both the intermediary fees and the credit fee come out of the transferred amount, so the recipient receives less.
  • Total cost and share: total intermediary fees + the receiving-bank credit fee; divide by the amount sent to get the cost of this wire as a percentage. The smaller the amount and the more banks it passes through, the higher the share.

To understand the wire process, SWIFT messaging and how these charges arise, see how a bank wire transfer works. To compare wires with cheaper channels, see four ways compared and how fees and the exchange margin eat your money.

The result is an estimate based on the numbers you enter. The number of intermediary banks and the fee each deducts cannot be known in advance, and some receiving banks may also charge a separate credit fee; the actual amount received is whatever your bank and the receiving bank show at the time.

Why this asks you instead of telling you

A wire passes through however many correspondent banks the route happens to need, and nobody tells you in advance; not even your own bank always knows, because the path depends on which institutions hold accounts with which. What each one deducts is its own decision, and it appears in no fee schedule you can read beforehand.

That is why this tool asks you to enter how many banks and roughly how much each takes, rather than printing a number. A hard number would be the dishonest option here: the same corridor differs widely between banks. If you have no idea what to enter, run it once on the defaults for a sense of scale; you'll have real figures after your first wire is reconciled.

What changing the charge option actually costs

Run the same amount once under OUR and once under SHA. The difference is what you pay for the recipient to receive the full sum. Most people find that gap smaller than they expected, and smaller than the hassle of a short payment, which means a mismatched invoice and a second transfer to make up the difference.

When OUR earns its keep: invoices, tuition, rent: anything where the figure has to match exactly. For family support where the amount isn't precise, leaving it on the default is perfectly reasonable. The wire guide takes the three options apart.

What isn't in this figure

  • The exchange-rate margin. If sending and receiving currencies differ, conversion costs extra; use the take-home calculator for that half.
  • The receiving bank's inbound fee. Some charge for incoming international payments; that's their policy, not yours.
  • A return. If details are wrong and the payment bounces, the round trip can be charged at both ends and none of it shows up here.

This tool is a pure front-end estimator; the calculation happens in your browser and the numbers you enter are never uploaded. Fees and charge options are whatever your bank and the receiving bank show at the time. Updated 2026-09-08: added why intermediary fees can only be estimated, what switching OUR/SHA really costs, and three things this figure excludes.