Starling Bank international fees: transfers and card

Need to send money to friends and family in other countries? Perhaps you travel a lot and need to spend and withdraw cash abroad. You might even have an overseas business, holiday home or be a digital nomad.

For all of the above, you’ll need a bank account that can handle international transactions. The good news for Starling Bank customers in the UK is that the popular digital bank does offer a service for international transfers. It also lets you spend and withdraw cash overseas with your Starling debit card.

But the key question is - how much does it cost? Read on to find out everything you need to know about Starling Bank international fees, for both transfers and card transactions.

We’ll also show you an alternative from the money services provider Wise. With a Wise account, you can hold money in 40+ currencies, send money worldwide and spend in 150+ countries - all for low, transparent fees* and great mid-market exchange rates.

What are the fees for making a Starling Bank international transfer?

So, how much does it cost to send money overseas with your Starling Bank personal account?

The simple answer is that it varies depending on destination and currency.

Starling sends most international transfers via SWIFT, which has a fee of £5.50.¹

But there may also be another cheaper option, where your payment is sent through a network of partner banks. The fee for this is much lower, costing between £0.30 to £0.90.¹ However, it’s only available for some destinations. For others, SWIFT will be your only option.

To give you an idea what to expect, here are a few examples of fees for payments to a handful of destinations:¹

While local network payments may be much cheaper (where they are available), the bank does advise that they are harder to track than SWIFT.

Each method will also have its own transfer time, and some local network payments can take longer than SWIFT. If you need a payment to arrive in a hurry, you might want to get in touch with Starling Bank customer services to find out more about transfer times and which option you should choose.

Starling Bank exchange rates

When sending money overseas, it isn’t just the upfront transfer fee you need to check. The exchange rate can also make a big difference to the overall cost.

Some providers add a mark-up to what is known as the mid-market exchange rate, which is the mid-point between the buy and sell rates for each currency. This mark-up can eat into the money your recipient receives. It can also sometimes be difficult to find out what the mark-up is, and how the rate you’re offered compares to the mid-market rate.

Starling Bank makes it pretty straightforward. It adds a mark-up of 0.4% to all currency conversions.² You can also check what rate you’ll get for your transfer at any time over on its international transfers page.

Fees for using your Starling bank card abroad

If you want to use a UK-issued bank card in another country, you’ll need to check whether there are any fees involved.

Starling Bank doesn’t charge any fees for using its debit cards abroad. This means you can spend, shop and withdraw cash when you travel without worrying about racking up fees. All currency conversions are carried out using Mastercard’s exchange rate.³

The only thing to watch out for is whether merchants, vendors and ATM operators charge their own fees, as these are outside of Starling’s control.

Your personal account will also have limits as to how much you can spend and withdraw per day. So, it’s worth checking these before you travel.

Wise - a low-cost alternative for sending and spending money abroad

Banks aren’t always great for multi-currency or international transactions. They can be slow and expensive, with high fees and poor exchange rates.

So if you regularly travel, spend abroad or send money to other countries, you might be better off with an international money services provider. This is where the Wise account and Wise card come in.

Wise doesn’t work the same way as banks do. For starters, it only uses the mid-market exchange rate - so there are no mark-ups or hidden fees to worry about. There’s only a small, transparent fee per transfer*.

Sign up with Wise today 💰

After reading our handy guide, you should have a better idea of what Starling Bank charges for international transactions.

We’ve looked at the fees for sending international transfers, including options to send via SWIFT or local payment networks. And we’ve checked out Starling’s currency conversion fee, along with letting you know about its fee-free approach to card payments and ATM withdrawals outside the UK.

So you should be all set to travel with your Starling Bank card, or compare fees between alternative providers for international money transfers.

Sources used:

Sources last checked on date: 11-Nov-2024