International wire transfer fees in the US are usually about $40-$50 dollars
per wire. One of my banks charges $40 and another charges $45 (think
Bank of America). I always thought that was normal. Until I came to
Switzerland.

I just did a wire transfer from Switzerland to Canada using PostFinance.
The fee was 2 CHF. The foreign transaction rate was not as good as using a
FX broker but still it was reasonable and up front. PostFinance post the
buy/sell rate on currencies on their web site.

In the US, if you wire in a different currency they do not tell you what the
FX rate is. You find out a few days later after the wire is posted to your
account. They take a big cut there also.

There is no justifiable reason for charging about 20x more in the US vs
Switzerland for a simple wire transfer. I thought Switzerland was expensive,
apparently not in the banking industry.

Sometimes you get screwed for so long that you believe that it's normal.
I had to come to Switzerland to find out that I have been screwed for
all these years.

DavidSJC

Like in this thread, I realised I was being shafted a good figure for each wire transfer from Boston, until we used PF´s agent in New York. Eventually, my employer paid through another account in Holland ( SEPA ).

Banks are bastards - nuff said. I just got shafted also.

Bank of America sux. I get paid in the US on my projects with US companies & they charged me US$12 for very transfer from within the US. These weren't even international transactions. It's not a direct deposit per say as it's not a regular salary but something I invoice. I would sometimes invoice US$150-200. So that's almost 10%.

I moved to Charles Schwab who not only doesn't charge this stupid fee, they also don't charge any fees for ATM transactions in the US or internationally, plus they reverse charges made by other banks.