Convert amount at exchange rate with optional fee

Exchange Rate Plus Fee Equals Real Cost

The advertised exchange rate is rarely what the customer actually receives. Banks and money-transfer services markup the mid-market rate by 1-5 percent, plus fixed or percentage fees. A transfer at a 'no-fee' rate marked up by 3 percent costs more than a transfer with a visible 1 percent fee at the true mid-market rate.

Comparing Services

Use the mid-market rate (published by XE, Google, or OANDA) as the baseline. Compare what each service actually delivers versus what the mid-market rate would produce. The difference is the true cost — often hidden in the rate rather than shown as a fee.

Quick example

With amount to convert of 1,000 and exchange rate of 1.25 (plus fee of 1), the result is 1,237.50. Change any figure and watch the output shift — it's often more useful to see the pattern than to memorise the formula.

Which inputs matter most

You enter Amount to Convert, Exchange Rate, and Fee %. Not every input has equal weight. Flip one at a time toward extreme values to feel which ones move the needle most for your situation.

What's happening under the hood

Multiplies amount by exchange rate for gross converted, then subtracts fee applied to the gross. Effective rate is net divided by original amount. The formula is listed in full below. If the number looks off, you can retrace the calculation by hand — that's the point of showing the working.

What the bill doesn't show

Standing charges, discounts, and usage tiers all blur the effective rate. The calculation here backs out the total so you're comparing apples to apples across providers, regardless of how each one packages the price.

What this doesn't capture

Usage varies month-to-month; tariffs change; discounts come and go. The figure here is a clean baseline — your actual annual bill will fluctuate around it. Use the calculation to benchmark providers, not as a prediction of a specific bill.