Wells Fargo Wire Transfer: Limits, Fees, Rates, and More

With the holiday season just around the corner, you’re probably anxious about all the ways that it’s going to cost you money, but also looking forward to sharing the festive spirit with family and friends.

Many Americans will reach out to financial services companies like Wells Fargo for a wire transfer or two. Its story dates all the way back to 1852, and they went all the way from a brick-and-mortar bank for exchanging gold coins to lightning-fast online transactions.

With corporate headquarters in San Francisco, California, Wells Fargo is helping customers around the United States and beyond with its innovative financial services. 

In this guide, we’ll dive deeper into the Wells Fargo methods for online money transactions and break down the limits, fees, rates, and other aspects of its wire transfer functionality. 

What are the Online Payment Services at Wells Fargo?

At the moment, your Wells Fargo account has three different money transaction options: sending and receiving money with Zelle, using wire transfer, and a remittance service called ExpressSend. We’ll walk you through all three of them.

Zelle

If you enroll with the US-based digital payments network Zelle through Wells Fargo Online, you can send money within the country using a Zelle-enrolled email address or U.S. mobile phone number. The processing time is instant, and Wells Fargo won’t charge any fee to process your request. 

ExpressSend 

Wells Fargo ExpressSend is a global remittance service that allows users to send money to 13 countries, using over 49,000 payout locations. The bad news is that you can’t use the Wells Fargo banking app but have to visit a branch or order a transaction via phone. You can also send money to Mexico, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, China, India, Philippines, and Vietnam. According to the bank’s site, this person-to-person payment service costs an affordable $8 or less. 

Wires

Finally, we come to the final option - Wells Fargo Online Wires, a reliable and convenient bank-to-bank way of sending money to domestic and international locations. Transferring cash is possible via the website or the mobile app, and the money will be in the desired bank accounts within one to five business days. The fees start from $30 but might be waived if funded from an eligible account type.

How to Send Money via Wells Fargo Wires?

Wire transfer via Wells Fargo enables users to send money to domestic and international locations in a straightforward and effortless way. To send a wire, users will need the name and address of their recipient, the name of the recipients’ bank, and a valid U.S. mobile number or secure ID device. From there, you might need to have additional information ready, depending on the location you’re transferring money to. 

For sending a domestic wire, you’ll need the routing number (ABA/RTN) for your recipient’s bank and the number of their bank account. 

To send a Wells Fargo international wire transfer, you should have the SWIFT/BIC for your recipient’s bank and their International Bank Account Number (IBAN).

In case you don’t know the ABA/RTN number or the SWIFT code or have other questions related to one of your accounts, you can ask customer service to help you out and give you the instructions. 

Once you’re all set, simply sign on to Wells Fargo Online, tab over to Transfer & Pay, and go to the Online Wire Transfers section. Now, make sure to add your recipient, choose the amount you’d like to fund the account with, and add the details we have listed before. Check if all is well and click on the “Send” button. 

Now that you know how to do a wire transfer via wells Fargo, you can track the status of your payment. There are six possible stages: scheduled, pending, completed, failed, canceled, and returned. In the case of the last one, Wells Fargo will return the funds to your account. While in the “scheduled” phase, users can still cancel the wire transfer.

A typical transaction lasts anywhere from one to five business days.

How Much Does a Wire Transfer Cost?

Every wire transfer transaction incurs costs, both for the sender and the recipient. Wire transfer fees at Wells Fargo depend on the type of transaction. Outgoing transfers are more expensive than incoming ones, and transferring foreign currency is cheaper than transferring USD. Here’s the list with fees:

• Incoming foreign wire transfers are $16 per transaction
• Outgoing foreign wire transfers are $35-45 per transaction
• Incoming domestic wire transfer fees are $15 per transaction
• Outgoing domestic wire transfer fees are $30 per transaction

When you want to inquire about the fees of the foreign transfers, you’ll be asked to provide your ZIP code, as the prices vary depending on the location. Also, keep in mind that the Wells Fargo wire transfer fee might include additional costs.

Namely, the bank will convert the money into the desired currency using the applicable exchange rate, which might be higher than the standard rates you can get in exchange offices. Also, in case your outgoing wire is returned, you’ll have to pay $55 per transaction, and if your wire has to undergo an investigation, that’ll cost you $65.

It’s worth knowing that if you opt for sending money via Wells Fargo Zelle, you’ll get a free alternative, as the service is free of charge for most users (depending on the recipient’s bank).

Speaking of the cost of this wire transfer at Wells Fargo, if you’re wondering how come the service doesn’t charge anything, keep in mind that it has some other tradeoffs. The biggest one is that you won’t get any fraud protection for authorized payments. Also, Zelle is limited to US users only, so you won’t be able to transfer funds abroad. 

On the other hand, using the ExpressSend option will incur very light costs, so it’s another affordable option for sending money person-to-person. The average cost is $8 or less per transaction. If you want to get the precise figures for each location, you can use the International Remittances cost estimator to calculate them yourself.

What are the Transaction Limits?

Wells Fargo’s wire transfer limit varies depending on the type of transaction. If you opt for the Wells Fargo ExpressSend option, you’ll be able to send a minimum of $25 and a maximum of $5,000 per day.

For a consecutive 30-day period, the upper limit is $12,500. When it comes to daily limits, they vary among network members and can go anywhere from $500 up to $5,000.

Wells Fargo online banking account holders who’d rather go for Zelle will have upper limits of $2,500 per day or up to $4,000 per month. The figures depend on the bank limits on our specific bank account. Receiving money isn’t limited, so you can get any sum the sender wants to send you. 

For wires, check Terms and Conditions and contact the respective bank or customer support.

Bottom Line

Wells Fargo wire transfers discussed above are relatively easy to use, not very expensive compared to other banks and their rates, and won’t take much of your time. We found the integration with Zelle an excellent addition and a cost-effective solution for consumers that don’t want to break the bank when sending and receiving the funds.

We loved the person-to-person option of sending money via the ExpressSend feature. The bank tries to streamline foreign transactions to Latin America and some Asian countries, helping US immigrants send and receive money to and from their countries easier.

Finally, Wells Fargo Online Wires was our top pick. It is a bank-to-bank payment method that allows sending money to domestic and foreign locations and offers top-notch protection and reliability. We found Wells Fargo wire instructions straightforward and its interface user-friendly.

Still, we’d like the company to be a bit more transparent regarding pricing plans and limits, as it took us a lot of time to dig through all of the information and read through the fine print.