Receiving international transfers with ME Bank. Is this possible?

Are your friends or family trying to send you money from abroad, but you aren’t sure how to receive it? If you are a member of ME Bank – formerly known as Members Equity Bank – you’ll unfortunately have to look elsewhere for this service.

Don’t fret, Wise has your back. Through this article, we’ll help guide you around this issue, using your ME bank account and Wise.

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Is it possible to receive an international transfer with ME Bank?

Unfortunately, it is not possible to receive (or even send) an international money transfer with a ME Bank account¹. With ME Bank, you are limited to transferring money locally within Australia or accessing other services such as loans, term deposits or everyday banking. So let's now look at an alternative solution for you.

Alternatives to receive money from abroad using Wise

Now that you know that you can’t receive money from abroad with ME Bank, below we will present to you two ways on how you and your sender can use Wise to receive an international transfer.

1. Ask your sender to use Wise to transfer the money to you

As ME Bank allows you to receive transfers sent from within Australia, you can ask your sender to use Wise to make an international transfer.
Once they have signed up to Wise, all they’ll need to do is input how much they want to send, have ready your bank account or email address, click through the subsequent transfer steps, and pay the corresponding transfer fees.
Once the money is received by Wise, it is converted and then transferred to your ME Bank account. You can send them our guide page on sending money with Wise here.

2. Sign up for a Wise multi-currency account and get local bank account details

Depending on what region your sender is in, they might be able to make a local bank transfer to you. This can be done by signing up to a Wise multi-currency account where you can receive payments like a local with your own AUD, NZD, GBP, EUR, and USD account details - just to name a few.

Once the sender has made the transfer, it will be received directly into your multi-currency account where you can withdraw it to your ME Bank account using a balance transfer. Let’s check out the fees on receiving a transfer with Wise below.

Fees to receive international transfers with Wise

As a recipient of a Wise transfer, you will pay no fees on an incoming international transfer. This is because Wise makes the payment from within Australia to your local bank account in your local currency. This is the same if you are receiving overseas transfers using the bank account details from your Wise multi-currency account (with the exception of a USD wire transfer).

So, let’s imagine you have a friend in the UK, and they want to send you $1000 AUD from their GBP bank account. First, your friend will need to know how much is required to make an exact transfer that includes the transfer fee. They can do this by checking out the Wise pricing calculator.

Receiving target amount of $1000 AUD in GBP

*Indicative rate and fees as seen on 12 December 2021

As seen above, your friend will need to send 544.62 GBP to ensure you receive $1000 AUD into your account. This covers the 3.79 GBP transfer fee and is subject to the mid-market exchange rate offered by Wise.

ME Bank contact details

You can contact ME Bank through:²

• Your online banking portal,
• at a branch,
• by post addressed to ME, GPO BOX 1345, Melbourne VIC 3001 or
• by calling them on 13 15 63.

Wise summary

If you haven’t caught on already, Wise makes it easy and hassle-free to receive an international transfer. By using Wise, your sender gets the mid-market exchange rateon all conversions, saving both them and you on a transfer.

Wise also allows you to avoid paying the SWIFT international fees that reduce the overall amount you will receive. Wise is always upfront and transparent with any associated fees, so you or your sender knows well before a transfer is committed – meaning no surprises when the money arrives in your account.

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