Principal protection
Overview
Intermediary banks often process international wires before they reach their intended recipient. These banks may deduct processing fees from the amount of the wire. To help prevent you from paying unintended fees and to protect the intended total to reach the recipient, we offer principal protection at $15 per outgoing wire.
Without optional principal protection
We send international wires with the SHAR charge bearer code in ISO 20022 format, equivalent to the SHA code in the MT format, meaning any intermediary bank fees will be shared between the originating and receiving financial institutions.
With optional principal protection
Principal protection is a paid service that protects an outgoing international wire from reductions due to correspondent banking fees. The service guarantees that the beneficiary receives the full amount. You can elect principal protection for any international wires, including wires funded from either a Brex business account or an external bank account.
When principal protection is included, we send international wires with the DEBT charge bearer code in ISO 20022 format, equivalent to the OUR code in the MT format, meaning that any intermediary bank fees will be covered by the originating financial institution.
While principal protection wires use specific charge bearer codes to instruct processing banks not to deduct fees from the principal amount, deductions can still occur if banks disregard or fail to ingest the charge bearer code.
When fees are deducted from USD wires, our banking partner automatically pursues reimbursement with the beneficiary to ensure they receive the full principal amount. To be eligible for principal protection reimbursements for USD wires, the wire must have been sent for the recipient to receive in USD and not subject to foreign currency exchange by external banks.
When to use principal protection
Principal protection is completely optional. It’s meant to help protect you against unanticipated fees. If you know that the bank you are sending money to does not charge fees, then principal protection may not be necessary. You can still send a wire to 100+ countries with no hidden fees, regardless of your choice.
Using principal protection
Any international wire can be marked for principal protection, including wires funded from either a Brex business account or an external bank account. However, by default, international wires will be sent without principal protection unless you elect to add it. Once available, if you elect principal protection for an international wire, you’ll see an invoice under Company Settings > Billing on a monthly basis. You can pay these invoices via autopay using either a Brex business account or a verified connected bank account.