Live Remittance Rate Tracker: Complete Guide
Everything you need to know, with real numbers and specific rules cited.
When you send money from the US to India through your bank, two things eat into your transfer. First, the bank charges a wire fee ($25-50 per transfer). Second, and this is the bigger hit, the bank marks up the exchange rate by 2-5% over the mid-market rate. On a $10,000 transfer at 3% markup, that is $300 you lose before the money even arrives. The mid-market rate is the real exchange rate you see on Google or Reuters. Nobody should charge you more than this rate, yet most banks do.
Key Point
The exchange rate markup costs you far more than the flat transfer fee. On a $5,000 transfer, a 3% markup costs $150 versus a $5 flat fee.
Example
Mid-market rate: 1 USD = 83.50 INR. Bank rate: 1 USD = 81.00 INR. On $5,000: you get Rs 4,05,000 instead of Rs 4,17,500. You lost Rs 12,500 ($150).