הבנק חייב אותי בעמלה, למרות שחשבתי שההעברה הזאת לא עולה כסף.

Great question. In this sentence, חייב comes from the verb לחייב, which can mean:

• to obligate
• to charge someone
• to bill someone

So הבנק חייב אותי בעמלה means the bank charged me a fee.

This is different from the adjective חייב meaning obligated / required / in debt, as in:

• אני חייב ללכת = I have to go
• אני חייב כסף = I owe money

Hebrew often uses the same root in related but slightly different ways.

אותי means me, but specifically as a direct object.

So:

• חייב אותי = charged me
• literally: charged + me

The basic pattern is:

• לחייב מישהו = to charge someone
• לחייב מישהו במשהו = to charge someone for something / with something

So here:

• הבנק חייב אותי בעמלה
• The bank charged me a fee

Other examples:

• חייבו אותי על משלוח = They charged me for shipping
• חייבו אותו בקנס = They charged him a fine

The prefix ב־ here means something like with, for, or by means of, depending on context.

So לחייב מישהו בעמלה literally means to charge someone with a fee, which in natural English becomes to charge someone a fee or to charge someone for a fee/service.

Breaking it down:

• ב = with / in / by
• עמלה = fee / commission
• בעמלה = with a fee / by a fee

This is just the standard Hebrew construction with this verb.

עמלה usually means fee, commission, or service charge.

In banking contexts, it often refers to a bank fee, transaction fee, or service charge.

For example:

• עמלת העברה = transfer fee
• עמלת שירות = service fee
• עמלת בנק = bank fee

So in this sentence, בעמלה is most naturally understood as a fee charged by the bank.

למרות ש־ means although, even though, or despite the fact that.

So:

• למרות שחשבתי... = even though I thought...

This is a very common way to introduce contrast.

Examples:

• למרות שירד גשם, יצאנו. = Even though it rained, we went out.
• למרות שידעתי, לא אמרתי כלום. = Although I knew, I didn’t say anything.

In your sentence, it introduces the contrast between:

• what the speaker believed
• what actually happened

חשבתי means I thought.

It is past tense because the speaker is talking about a previous belief:

• at that time, I believed the transfer was free
• later, I discovered the bank charged me

So the timeline is:

1. I thought the transfer would not cost money.
2. The bank charged me a fee.

That is why חשבתי is more natural than אני חושב/ת here.

Because עולה כסף is the normal Hebrew way to say costs money.

So:

• זה עולה כסף = It costs money
• זה לא עולה כסף = It doesn’t cost money

This is different from:

• זה יקר = It is expensive

Those are related, but not the same.

Compare:

• זה לא עולה כסף = It’s free
• זה לא יקר = It’s not expensive

Something can be not expensive without being free. So לא עולה כסף is exactly the right phrase here.

Because Hebrew often uses the present tense after verbs like thought, knew, or said when referring to a general fact or belief.

So:

• חשבתי שההעברה הזאת לא עולה כסף
• literally: I thought that this transfer does not cost money
• natural English: I thought this transfer didn’t cost money

In English, we often shift the tense backward after thought. In Hebrew, that shift is often not required in the same way.

So the Hebrew present tense here is perfectly natural.

In Hebrew, demonstratives like הזה / הזאת / האלה usually come after the noun.

So:

• ההעברה הזאת = this transfer
• הספר הזה = this book
• הילדה הזאת = this girl

Also notice that both the noun and the demonstrative are definite:

• העברה = the transfer
• הזאת = this

So Hebrew says literally something like the transfer this.

Because in Hebrew, when you say this/that + noun, the noun normally takes the definite article ה־.

So:

• ההעברה הזאת = this transfer
• המכונית הזאת = this car
• היום הזה = this day

You usually do not say:

• העברה הזאת

That sounds incomplete or nonstandard in ordinary Hebrew.

Because העברה is a feminine singular noun, and the demonstrative has to agree with it.

Agreement here is:

• masculine singular: הזה
• feminine singular: הזאת
• plural: האלה

So:

• הספר הזה = this book
• ההעברה הזאת = this transfer
• הדברים האלה = these things

A good thing to memorize is that many nouns ending in ־ה are feminine, and העברה is one of them.

העברה means transfer, and the exact meaning depends on context.

It can refer to:

• a bank transfer
• a transfer of money
• moving something from one place to another
• even transferring a person or item in other contexts

In this sentence, because we have bank, fee, and cost money, the meaning is clearly bank transfer or money transfer.

Yes, it is natural and correct.

Some other natural ways to say similar things are:

• הבנק גבה ממני עמלה = The bank collected/charged a fee from me
• חייבו אותי בעמלה = They charged me a fee
• הבנק לקח ממני עמלה = The bank took a fee from me

There are slight differences:

• חייב focuses on the billing/charging action
• גבה often sounds a bit more formal and is very common for fees/taxes/payments
• לקח ממני is more colloquial

So your sentence sounds completely normal.

You can get close, but the most natural English translation is better than a strict word-for-word one.

Word by word:

• למרות ש־ = despite that / although
• חשבתי = I thought
• שההעברה הזאת = that this transfer
• לא עולה כסף = does not cost money

Natural English:

• even though I thought this transfer didn’t cost money
• although I thought this transfer was free

Both are good, but the first is closer to the Hebrew wording.