One of the common worries about using money internationally is paying fees – especially without knowing about it or why.

The thing about Zing is you don’t need to worry about sneaky fees or hidden mark-ups for foreign exchange transactions. 

You’re always shown every fee that may apply before you decide to send money internationally. You get summaries of how much of your money goes to conversions or other fees. You get more detail about every international transfer you make in the app so you know exactly what you’re paying every time.

And we give you all that because we believe in being simple and transparent – and because it’s the right thing to do.

Keep reading, and we’ll tell you exactly what to expect when you encounter fees on the Zing app so you know more about where your money is going at all times.

Not every transaction has a fee

At the time of writing, you pay NO transfer fee for all outbound international payments. That’s one less thing to worry about when making an important transaction – you get to keep more of your money.

Another thing – you pay NO Zing fee for withdrawing GBP at UK ATMs. You can take out as much cash as you need using your Zing card (other ATM fees may still apply). 

And that’s on top of the standard benefit that you and all our Zing members get – one Zing fee-free international ATM withdrawal per month. Using your card at home or abroad the way you like means more power to your pocket. 

Let’s not forget as well that using your currency wallets to spend with your multi-currency card locally doesn’t involve currency conversion fees or other fees from Zing (other fees may apply). 

When there is a fee, Zing tells you first

Let’s jump into the Zing app at the steps for sending money and how you’ll know about fees.

Once you’ve selected your payee, chosen your currency and filled in their account details, you define the amount you want to send.

Enter an amount into the foreign exchange calculator and a box titled ‘Fees breakdown’ appears. This box displays the conversion rate, the total fee and an estimated time of arrival.

Tap ‘Fees breakdown’ and it opens a screen with more detail about the fees. It’s divided into several sections.

Total fee

You’ll see a monetary value at the top of the screen. That’s your total fee. All the applicable fees will add up to this amount.

Fee breakdown

This is where we detail any applicable charges and fees. Here are some of the common ones.

Transfer fee

This is the cost for Zing to send your money to your payee. Depending on your payee’s bank details or where they are based, transfer fees may vary.

Reminder that at the time of writing, there are no transfer fees to pay on outbound international payments. 

Conversion charge

This is the cost for Zing to exchange your money from one currency into another, for example, pounds to euros (GBP to EUR). It’s usually a percentage of the total amount you want to send. The cost for conversion may vary between currencies.

At the time of writing, Zing offers a very low fixed 0.2% currency conversion fee – and that’s no matter the currency you’re using, the amount you’re dealing with, or what day of the week you make your transaction (even weekends and bank holidays!)

Conversion rate

This is the rate Zing will use to exchange your money. Zing uses the mid-market rate which is provided by a third party. There are no mark-ups or add-ons here.  

Next screen

When you move to the final payment screen, below the swiper to confirm your payment, you can see a final breakdown of the fee. That’s another opportunity to double-check you’re happy with where your money goes before you commit to your payment.

Payments made through SWIFT

The steps are slightly different for currencies that go through SWIFT. 

You get to choose to pay a small surcharge to cover any potential intermediary bank fees yourself (so your payee gets the exact amount stated) or you can choose to share those potential fees with your payee. 

These fees and their implications are always displayed to help you make an informed choice. Read more about SWIFT fees in this article. 

See your transaction breakdowns

For card payments, I’m sure you’ll appreciate that you can’t see a fee breakdown before you pay in the moment. 

So once you’ve made a payment, it’ll appear in the Zing app under transactions. You can find your transactions from the Home page. 

Tap a transaction and it will list out some key details such as time of transaction, how much you spent… and even better, a breakdown of conversion fees as well as the conversion rate used.

You can also view and export your statements for more information about your transactions. 

The international money app that’s looking out for you

Don’t pay more than you need to, or worse, pay without realizing what you’re getting into. Choose a safe, simple and worry-free money app to make every payment or transfer with confidence.