With an increasingly globalised world, there has been a growing need for international money transfers. As such, many financial service companies specializing in international money transfers have sprung up to meet this need. These international money transfer companies focus on making international money transfers affordable and convenient for users. They also offer these distinct advantages over traditional banks while maintaining the same level of safety and security associated with your local bank.
These advantages include:
Ease of Use
You can easily visit the international money transfer company website or app and sign up with your email, get verified and initiate your transfer all in a few minutes. Using traditional banks, you need to be a customer and you require more documentation to get your account opened before initiating your transfer. Often, this will require your physical presence in the bank branch.
Affordability
The cost of opening an account with an international money transfer company is often free and the cost of your transfer will be much lower than using a traditional bank. Their fees are usually at least 25% cheaper than traditional banks.
Speed
The speed of the most common international transfer method (International Wire) is between 1 – 5 business days. Most international transfer companies take 1 – 3 business days. Depending on your transfer’s country of origin and destination, your transfer may be done in a few hours or minutes.
Our Picks
Wise
Wise (formerly Transferwise) is a global technology company that is building the best way to move money around the world. More than 10 million people use Wise to transfer money globally. Even large companies and banks use Wise technology too. Wise empowers people and companies – to pay, get paid, to spend, in any currency, wherever you are, whatever you are doing. Wise doesn’t just focus on international money transfers, they also offer services we imagine a future global bank will provide.
These include:
- International money transfers: Send money internationally. Up to 7 times cheaper than banks & Paypal
- Multi-currency account: Hold, send & receive money in any of 50+ currencies
- Debit card: Spend money abroad (when travelling/online)
- Wise Business Account: Save money on foreign transactions with this business account. Accounting software, batch payments and API integrations are available
- High amount transfers: Get discounted rates and additional support when sending large sums abroad
Wise scores a 4.6 on Trustpilot from over 122,000 reviews and averages 4.45 on both the Google and Apple App Stores.
Remitly
Remitly is an international money transfer company that is focused on remittances. They want to help immigrants in “sending money home.” Their website is super user friendly and mobile-ready. It is extremely easy to find the cost of your transaction on their website with their transparent express and economy fee structure. Transfers to some countries like India are done in under 4 hours. When sending more than $500 from the US, you can expect to pay:
- Brazil: $1.99
- China: $2.99
- India: $3.99 (fee is $0.00 if you send more than $1,000 to India)
Remitly scores a 4.4 on Trustpilot from over 32,000 reviews and above 4.8 in both Apple App and Google Play stores.
Paysend
Paysend is an international money operator that transfers money to over 90 countries around the world for a flat fee of roughly €1.50/$2.00. Most transfers occur in under an hour to any Visa or Mastercard cards or bank accounts in their service countries.
Paysend was the first fintech to introduce global card-to-card transfers to connect the 12 billion cards issued by international payment systems such as Visa, Mastercard, China Union Pay, Alipay and other local card schemes.
Trusted by over 3 million users, Paysend scores a 4.7 on Trustpilot from over 24,000 reviews and averages a 4.3 on both Google and Apple app stores.
WorldRemit
WorldRemit, as its name implies, is an international money transfer service that also focuses on global remittances. It is a fast and secure service that lets you send your money around the world conveniently.
Transfer options include:
- Bank transfer
- Cash pickup
- Mobile Money
- Airtime Top-up
WorldRemit is especially popular in Africa. Their coverage is wide with 130+ countries and +70 currencies supported on their platform. An outstanding 90% of their transactions are done within minutes.
WorldRemit scores 4.0 on Trustpilot from over 49,000 reviews and averages a 4.6 on Google and Apple app stores.
Revolut
Revolut is NOT just an international money transfer company, it’s a global financial services company. Their goal is to be the financial SUPER-app: An app to manage all things money. Their services are more far-reaching than other operators on our list. Their financial services range from everyday needs, wealth, security and travel.
- Everyday Needs – payments, cards, subscriptions, donations, etc.
- Wealth – crypto, stocks, commodities, etc.
- Security – Revolut shopper
- Travel – International transfers, global insurance, currency exchange, etc.
Trusted by over 15 million users worldwide, Revolut scores a 4.3 on Trustpilot from over 85,000 reviews and averages a 4.55 on both Apple and Google app stores. They also have a multi-currency wallet where you can hold and easily change currency in your wallet at the interbank exchange rate (this will be shown prior to exchange).
Revolut only currently covers around 30+ fiat currencies and international money transfers may also be limited on weekends.
However, Revolut will be especially appealing to those who spend time in different countries but would like to manage all their finances (banking, insurance, cards, wealth) in one app.
OFX
OFX is a real veteran of the international money transfer space. It was founded in 1998 and is an international money transfer provider with over 1 million customers and supports more than 55 currencies. 80% of International transfers to most destinations take 24 hours or less. OFX displays their exchange rates live and charges ZERO fees for forex transactions. However, they add an exchange rate markup to the exchange rate ranging from 0.5% to 2.0%.
OFX scores a 4.3 on Trustpilot from over 4,500 reviews and averages a 4.5 on both Google and Apple app stores.
Honorable Mentions
XE
With over 28 million monthly visitors and over 70 million app downloads, XE is the most popular website/app on our current list. XE prides itself as the World’s most trusted currency authority. For years, whenever I thought of looking up exchange rates, they were the alway top-of-mind for me. As an international money transfer service with over 25 years of experience, XE has the widest reach with country coverage of 130+ countries and an outstanding +98 currencies.
XE also provides a lot of historical currency tools with numerous transfer options: bank transfers, debit cards, credit cards, direct debit etc. Their transfer options are more flexible when transferring from the US but are limited to just bank transfers when transferring from most places outside the US.
XE also offers currency exchange solutions for businesses trying to save on international transactions as well as global e-commerce website solutions.
XE scores 4.5 on Trustpilot from over 45,000 reviews and averages a 4.15 on the Google and Apple app stores.
Sendwave
Although Sendwave scores high marks, its high grade was limited by its reach with only 11 destination countries covered. Sendwave is an international money transfer company that is focused on transferring money from North America (US, Canada) and Europe (UK & the EU) to Africa and Asia. As a relatively new company, their coverage is very limited and is only available in 11 receiver countries.
- Bangladesh
- Liberia
- Senegal
- Kenya
- Sri Lanka
- Cameroon
- Ghana
- Nigeria
- Tanzania
- Uganda
- Ivory Coast
Most of their transfers (99% are free) and the rest usually come with a 1% transfer fee. They currently only accept debit cards as the company says that is cheaper and they pass on this savings to the customer.
Trusted by over 400,000 users, Sendwave scores a 4.6 on Trustpilot from over 1,600 reviews and averages a 4.55 on the Google and Apple app stores. Learn more about Sendwave here.
In Conclusion,
All these international money transfer providers were the best of the best and you will save loads of money using them for any international money transfer you intend to do, whether for a little trip to quench your travel wanderlust or for an important purchase like paying school fees or even sending money home to loved ones. They are all highly rated, safe, more affordable and convenient than using a traditional bank.
Our advice as always is to search around and find which of them most fits your needs regarding your country of origin and destination, transaction size and the urgency of your transaction. They will help you send your money affordably and conveniently around most countries in the world.
Till next time, Adios!