Ah, wire transfers. When most people think about wire transfers, they’re usually thinking about the type of scenario that comes up when people are talking about the super rich. We assume that only the super rich can send wire transfers, but that’s not the case at all. However, given the nature of wire transfers, it really does become something that the very rich engage in.
What is a wire transfer? Simply put, all it really comes down to is electronic funds transfer. You might remember electronic funds transfer when it comes to something like ACH. That’s how most people get their paychecks done by direct deposit. However, wire transfers tend to be transfer — instead of waiting 2-3 days, you are waiting a mere matter of hours, if not mere minutes. This is something that costs a lot more than ACH, which is usually free in most cases.
However, the speed of delivery is what gets people into wire transfers. If you work in a high volume business and/or industry where the delivery of funds really counts, setting up wire transfers is definitely the best way to go. Otherwise you could end up waiting days to send and receive payment. Keep in mind though that you are going to be paying for the privilege of both sending and receiving these wire transfers. If that’s a problem, you might need to tweak your payment schedule so you can get everything done on time.
The best advice that we can give is to also talk to your banking representative. This is all general information, and your representative of choice can actually tell you more about what’s needed for each and every transaction. They can also give you the bank’s fee schedule so you know up front how much your wire transfers are going to cost. Don’t be surprised if you end up paying a lot more for international wire transfers, or if there’s an additional hold for this privilege. With fraud on the rise, banks are very conservative in how they see fraud.
Overall, now is a good time to start learning more about the world of banking — why not start today?