Sending money to family abroad or tuition to a student overseas — “how much gets eaten in fees?” is always fuzzy. The catch: the visible transfer fee isn't the whole story. Add the hidden exchange-rate margin (spread) and the real cost is much higher.
1. What it shows. Enter your amount and rate and you get what the recipient actually receives and your total cost, with bank branch, bank app and money-transfer services side by side.
2. What people miss. The largest cost is not printed in the “fee” box — it is the spread buried in the exchange rate. Reverse-engineering a Korean bank's July 2026 screen gave 1.7284%, so ₩1,000,000 sent loses ₩17,284 right there. The cost is actually five separate layers (transfer fee, SWIFT cable charge, intermediary bank, receiving bank, FX margin).
3. How to use it. Small amounts often → lowest flat fee; one large amount → lowest FX margin. And the app is usually cheaper than the branch on both fee and rate.
Loading live rates…
| Method (assumed) | Received | Total cost (won) |
|---|
Auto-calculates. Applied rate = base × (1 + margin%); received = (KRW sent − fixed fee) ÷ applied rate − receiving fee. Total cost is the loss vs the base rate. Rates and fees vary by bank and time — enter your real terms. The base rate updates around 11:00 KST on business days; weekends/holidays use the previous business day.
Remittance cost has five layers
The on-screen “transfer fee” is just the tip.
| Item | What it is | Rough (2026) |
|---|---|---|
| Transfer fee | Sending bank's base fee | 5,000–25,000 won (by tier) |
| Wire fee (SWIFT) | Message-sending cost | ~8,000 won each |
| Intermediary fee | Correspondent bank's cut | ~USD 15–20 |
| Receiving-bank fee | Recipient bank's cut | Varies |
| FX margin (spread) | Buying FX above the base rate — hidden | ~1% for transfers |
The real trap is the last one. A 1% margin on 5,000,000 won is 50,000 won by itself — invisible, so more dangerous.
The largest cost is not in the fee box
The transfer screen shows you a “fee.” Very often that is not where most of the money goes.
Reverse-engineer a Korean bank's currency screen and you find a spread between the mid-market rate and the rate you actually get. The figure we pulled from an IBK screen in July 2026 was 1.7284% — the full arithmetic is laid out in our exchange-rate spread article.
So the question to ask is not “what's the fee?”
Ask for the total leaving your account and the amount the recipient receives. Every cost in between shows up by itself.
That is exactly the structure the US Consumer Financial Protection Bureau requires transfer providers to disclose — the exchange rate, fees and taxes, and the amount that will be received.
That is a US rule. We could not confirm whether Korea imposes the same duty (see §What we could not verify). So this article says “ask for the two numbers,” not “the rules protect you.” Consumer rights are covered in the remittance rights article.
How it's calculated
Applied rate = base rate × (1 + margin%)
Received = (KRW sent − fixed fee) ÷ applied rate − receiving fee
Sending 5,000,000 won in USD (base 1,380) at 1% margin: applied rate 1,393.8, minus a 13,000-won fee, yields about $3,578 vs a theoretical $3,623 — a total cost near 62,000 won (1.25%). A branch (1.75% + 33,000) costs ~118,000; a service (0.4% + 5,000) ~25,000 — a ~90,000-won swing.
Methods differ a lot
| Method | Trait |
|---|---|
| Bank branch | Highest fees and margin; convenient but priciest |
| Bank app/online | Fee discounts + FX preferential (margin off 50–90%) |
| Transfer service | Trims middle margin; strong for small/specific corridors |
Frequent small sends favor low fixed fees; large one-offs favor low margin. See also overseas card fees.
Here is that split — the fee you see, and the margin you do not.
What to check before you send
- The FX preferential rate — even at one bank the margin shifts a lot by app and by promotion.
- Who bears the charges (OUR / SHA / BEN) — this decides who pays the intermediary and receiving fees.
- Flat fee against margin — the larger the amount the more the margin matters; the smaller, the more the flat fee does.
- Annual limits and paperwork — check the per-transfer and annual caps, and what evidence each purpose requires.
Here is where “fee for small, margin for large” actually turns.
Limits of this tool
- The base rate auto-loads live from Korea Eximbank (previous business day on weekends/holidays). Margins and fees vary by provider — enter them to compare.
- Intermediary/receiving fees vary by route and currency (example only).
- Preset margins/fees are typical assumptions.
Questions that remain
Is “no fee” free?
No — a waived fee is often recovered via FX margin. Compare by the received amount.
What's best for large amounts?
Margin dominates on large sends, so a low-margin option often wins even with a higher fixed fee.
Where do I find the base rate?
Your bank/portal FX screen — the gap between the base rate and the “send” rate is the margin.
The real cost hides in the FX margin, not the fee. Compare by received amount and switching method alone saves tens of thousands of won.
Sources
- US Consumer Financial Protection Bureau — sending money abroad (checked July 2026). Source for what a provider must disclose up front: the exchange rate, fees and taxes, and the amount to be received.
- US Consumer Financial Protection Bureau — the disclosure requirement (checked July 2026). A US rule.
- Our own calculation. The 1.7284% spread was reverse-engineered from a July 2026 IBK currency screen, and the hidden cost by amount (8,642 / 17,284 / 51,852 / 86,420 won) is that rate multiplied out by us.
Where to check further
- The actual spread for your own bank and currency. The 1.7284% here is reverse-engineered from one bank's screen and does not transfer to other banks or currencies. The reliable move is to request “the amount the recipient will receive” from two or three providers and compare — the spread is already inside that single number.
- Intermediary and receiving bank fees. These vary by routing and are not in this calculator, which means the amount that lands can be lower than the figure shown. Ask your bank for the recipient's net amount before sending.
- Whether Korea imposes the same pre-payment disclosure duty. Not established — which is why this article says “ask for the two numbers yourself” rather than “the rules protect you.” Check the terms of the bank or provider you intend to use.
As of July 2026. The disclosure items come from CFPB source text; the spread and the per-amount costs are ours. This calculator is an estimate — what actually arrives depends on the route and the moment. Card costs abroad are covered in overseas payment fees.
