How long does a transfer take?

As you know, a bank transfer is the transfer of money between two bank accounts. The payer will order their bank to send a certain amount of money to the account of a beneficiary, either at the same bank (in which case it is called transfer), or at another bank.

The time that this transfer will take to be effective will depend on the type of transaction made, so we will take a look at the options.

Taking into account the area where they are carried out, there are domestic transfers when they are carried out in Spain; SEPA, if they occur within the Single Euro Payments Area; and international, if they are carried out between countries not belonging to the SEPA zone.

Based on this classification, the transfers can be made on a business day, but you must bear in mind that each bank establishes a time, after which it will carry out the transactions it receives on the next business day. In other words, if you send money after that limit, it will take two business days for it to reach its recipient. Transactions made between two accounts belonging to the same bank (remember: transfers) will be received that same day. In any case, it will never be more than four business days from the date the bank receives the order.

Second, depending on the frequency with which they are carried out, there are one-off transfers, if they are executed when ordered; or periodic or automatic, if they are scheduled to take place on a regular basis (weekly, monthly, quarterly, etc.).

And finally, taking into account the execution period, there are ordinary transfers, whose term is one business day (for both national and SEPA); urgent (also called Funds Movement Orders, (Spanish acronym OMF), which are made through the Banco de España and allow the transfer to be made in just a few hours; And immediate (only available with some banks and taking just a few seconds).

What fees are involved?

Once again, the fees that the bank charges will depend on the conditions that each entity establishes when sending or receiving these transactions; also of the type of customer and of the particular conditions that have been agreed; and of course, the type of transfer.

Roughly, we can say that, in general, those carried out online do not usually entail fees or associated expenses. However, logically options that are not standard (especially in terms of deadlines) will have a higher cost. Be that as it may, the fees established by each bank will be listed in their Fees and Expenses.

In any case, nowadays it is quite normal for financial institutions to offer accounts without any type of commitment or condition (which would include transfer fees), especially in the case of online accounts, as we have already said; or from accounts where salaries are paid into.

If there are fees, the most common are transfer fees, although others may be added later, such as fees due to lack of information (when not all of the necessary information has been provided or if it is incorrect); transfer cancellation fee or exchange rate fee if the transfer is made between countries with different currencies.