Best Guide To Send Money Internationally With The Bank of America

The Bank of America, abbreviated as BofA or BoA, is an American multinational bank and financial services company whose headquarters are in North Carolina. The bank began operating in San Francisco and is the second-largest banking institution in the United States of America, after JPMorgan Chase Bank. The bank is the eighth largest banking institution in the world. Upon opening an account with the institution, you can perform various transactions, including sending money. You can use the Bank of America to send money internationally.

For your information, the Bank of America is among the Big Four banking institutions of the United States of America. It serves about 10.73% of the entire American bank deposits. In this, it competes directly with Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, and Wells Fargo. Its primary financial services include commercial banking, investment banking, and wealth management. There are millions of Americans banking with the bank due to its trusted banking experience.

The Bank of America has a long history, and it is not where it is by chance. It started operating in 1923 as Bank of America, Los Angeles. However, in 1928, the Bank of Italy of San Francisco acquired the Bank of America. Two years later, the bank of Italy decided to take the name Bank of America, which remains up to today. Therefore, we can trace the history of BoA right from October 17, 1904, when the bank of Italy started its operations.

Accounts You Can Open With The Bank of America

For you to start using the services of the Bank of America, you have to open an account either online or at a branch. Before opening an account with the Bank of America, you need to gather all the required documents plus other requirements. Once you have everything with you, you can open your account.

Before opening an account, you must decide which account you want to open. There are various bank accounts that you can open with the Bank of America. They include the following:

i) Bank of America Advantage Plus Banking

This account is best for individuals and students who want a bank account with a low minimum balance requirement. Unfortunately, the bank has a monthly maintenance fee of $12. You can have the fees waived if you make a monthly direct deposit of at least $250, maintain a $1,500 minimum daily balance in your account, or enroll in the Preferred Rewards program.

You can also have the fees waived if you are a student at most 24 years old. Bank of America Advantage Plus Banking is among the best bank accounts at the Bank of America. You can perform a Bank of America wire transfer to other banks domestically or internationally with the account.

ii) Bank of America Advantage Relationship Banking®

If you can retain a high balance in your checking account, then this is your bank. The account allows you to earn interest and receive perks such as free incoming domestic wires, no service fees, and the option to open other checking or savings accounts with zero monthly maintenance fees.

Interestingly, if you maintain a combined $10,000 in balances in all of your Bank of America accounts, or you become a member of the Preferred Rewards program. In that case, you will not pay the $25 monthly service fee.

iii) Bank of America Advantage SafeBalance Banking®

The Advantage SafeBalance is a checking account that does not allow you to write paper checks. The account allows you to make digital payments and has a $4.95 monthly service fee which does not apply to students and Preferred Rewards members.

The bank account mainly operates online, and it becomes handy when it comes to transferring money online. For example, you can use the Bank of America Advantage SafeBalance Banking to transfer money from the Bank of America to Chase or any other online bank, which makes it very convenient. 

We also have other CD accounts and IRAs. Once you have chosen the right bank account for your case, you can open it online at the BofA accounts page.

Requirements Needed To Open A Bank Account

Before opening a bank account, there are various things that you should have. Not everyone can wake up and open an account. The federal government requires all financial companies to demand the following from those opening bank accounts.

• Social Security number
• Email address
• Two forms of identification. A primary and secondary identification.

Valid primary forms of ID include:

• US passport
• Driver’s license
• State-issued ID with photo
• Bank of America debit or credit card with photo
• Military ID with photo

Valid Secondary IDs include:

• A credit card from a different financial company
• US college or university ID
• A debit card with Visa or Mastercard logo from another financial company
• US student ID card from a US high school
• US work ID card or badge

Ways To Send Money Internationally With The Bank of America

The Bank of America allows you to transfer money internationally. Interestingly, you can transfer money online from anywhere so long as you are logged in to your account online. There are various ways you can move money from the Bank of America to another bank in a different country. They include the following:

1) Wire transfers

A wire transfer refers to an electronic money transfer service that enables you to transfer funds by wire. Examples include SWIFT, the Clearing House Interbank Payments System, or the Federal Reserve Wire Network. The BofA international wire transfers are available to more than 200 countries.

Again, the bank supports over 140 currencies of the world. When making an international wire, you must transfer money using the recipient’s routing number and account number.

• You also need to provide;
• The recipient’s bank name,
• Address and country,
• SWIFT Code,
• National ID or IBAN of the bank where the recipient’s account is located
• Purpose for transfer

Remember that, to transfer funds, you have to sign in to your account online. After that, you can select the “Using their account number at another bank” link, which is located in the “Send Money To Someone” section of the Transfers menu. Next, you then follow the instructions that follow. Before starting the transfer, you should make sure that you have all the recipient bank details.

2) PayPal

The Bank of America works with PayPal in matters concerning money transfers. You can link the Bank of America to PayPal to help fund PayPal international transfers. That way, you will be able to move money from the Bank of America internationally.

3) Wise

Wise facilitates international transfers between banks. It works like Western Union and MoneyGram. Therefore, you can draw money from your BoA account to use in your Wise international transfers. That means instead of initiating a wire transfer directly from the bank of America, you can do it via Wise to fasten the process.

Xoom, OFX, and MoneyGram can also help you transfer money from the Bank of America account to international recipients.

Does The Bank of America Charge Fees For International Wire Transfers

International wire transfers are faster but come at a fee. You can pay fees depending on the amount to transfer and the currency you are using for the transfers. The following is the breakdown of the fees that you should pay at the Bank of America.

• Domestic wire transfer fees – $30 for each outbound transfer sent within the US
• International wire transfer fees – $35 for the outgoing wire transfers in foreign currency, or $45 for the wires (outgoing) transfers sent in US dollars.

Bank of America SWIFT Codes

The Bank of America has two primary SWIFT Codes, which include:

• BOFAUS3N (for US dollars or unknown currency) Bank of America, NA 222 Broadway New York, New York 10038.
• BOFAUS6S (for foreign currency) Bank of America, NA 555 California St San Francisco, CA 94104.

If you are unsure of the currency to use, you should use the BOFAUS3N.

Details You Need To Receive A Bank of America Wire Transfer

Apart from sending money internationally using a wire transfer, the Bank of America allows you to receive wires from other people. To receive a wire transfer, you should provide the sender with the following details.

Remember that, apart from receiving a wire transfer from a bank account, you can receive a wire transfer from a credit union. You can also transfer funds from a prepaid account to a bank account using a wire transfer method.

Bottom Line

The Bank of America, abbreviated as BofA or BoA, is an American multinational bank and financial services company based in Charlotte, North Carolina. You can carry out various kinds of transactions, including wire transfers. The bank allows you to make wire transfers either domestically or internationally. Apart from sending international wires, you can also receive wires into your account. Wire transfers attract some fees that you should be aware of.