Why is my exchange rate worse than Google's?
Google shows the mid-market rate, which is the midpoint of the interbank bid and offer. It is a reference, not a price you can get. Every provider quotes a rate away from it, and that gap — typically 0.3-0.5% at a mid-market fintech, 2-4% at a high-street bank, and up to 6% at an airport counter — is the real cost of the transaction.
How the margin is applied
Providers either show the mid-market rate and charge a visible fee, or hide the fee inside a worse rate. The second is more common because it looks like zero cost. On a €1,000 transfer, a 2.5% rate margin is €25 that never appears on a receipt.
- Mid-market: the reference midpoint, what Google and the ECB publish
- Quoted rate: mid-market minus the provider's margin
- Weekend markup: many providers widen the margin when markets are closed
How to check in ten seconds
Take the amount you will actually receive, divide by the amount you send, and compare that implied rate with the mid-market rate. The percentage difference is your total cost, fees included. That single number is comparable across every provider, which no advertised fee is.
Frequently asked
- Do stablecoin routes avoid the margin?
- No — they move it to the on and off-ramp spreads. The mid-market comparison is exactly how you should price them too.
- Why is my card's foreign spend rate different again?
- Card networks apply their own daily rate plus any issuer foreign-transaction fee, and dynamic currency conversion at the terminal can add several percent on top. Always decline conversion and pay in the local currency.