At MTC.com, we have created detailed, in-depth, reviews of the best international money transfer companies on the market. We helped thousands discover the top money transfer services for their needs, and move their money overseas safely, promptly, and for cheap. Begin your money transfer comparison today.
Best Rated Money Transfer Services
Updated for: June 2019
- Min Transfer: £/€/$ 100
- Currencies Supported: 39
- Offices : UK, EU, USA, India, South Africa.
- Our Rating : 97.8%
- Most Global Offices and Reach
No Fees from Anywhere
96% Client Satisfaction
- Min Transfer: £/€ 1,000
- Currencies Supported: 121
- Our Rating : 95.4%
- Easiest Sign Up Process
Great Online Sellers Offering
Best Rate Guarantee (UK)WorldFirst guarantees to beat any rate provided by a bank or a competing company. This offer is valid for British customers in the UK or abroad.
- Min Transfer: £/€/$ 100
- Currencies Supported: 40
- Offices : UK and Australia + Bank Accounts Deployed Globally
- Our Rating : 93.4%
- Friendly, Professional Service
Corporate FX Expertise
Superb Rates, No Fees
Additional Top 10 Money Transfer Companies:
| Company | Our Rating | Recommended for: | Description | Visit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 92.8% | Medium to Large Transfers (Private and Corporate Clients) | One of the oldest and most respectable currency companies in the UK. Known for providing outstandingly professional service. Holds an offshore banking license alongside its FCA authorisation.
| Visit Website | |
| 90.6% | Medium to Large Transfers (Private and Corporate Clients) | Professional and Friendly. Highest Average Transaction Volume by Private Clients. Merger of two leading money transfer firms: FC Exchange and Global Reach Partners, covering the fully array of both corporate and private.
| Visit Website | |
| 90.4% | Corporate Payments, Large Payments, Remittances | Headquartered in Australia and publicly traded on the ASX. Largest annual trading volume of 20bn. Recently rebranded and redesigned. Great online system and professional service. | Visit Website | |
| 86.8% | Remittances and low-value Transfers | Fixed, low, rates. Easy sign up process. Good reach. High credibility. No dedicated dealers, regular payments, or derivatives. | Visit Website |
MoneyTransferComparison.com Was Featured On:
What Differentiates Money Transfer Comparison from Others
Our aim is to review all the prominent money transfer companies in a detailed manner, and help our readers make up their own mind on which is the best international money transfer service to use. In order to facilitate that, we have devoted days and nights to review and compare 43 of the leading money transfers (by popularity and market share). We keep our money transfer comparison up to date, and make a conscious effort to improve it, one day at a time.
We do not offer real time currency exchange rate comparison, nor promise you to save any specific £ figure or percentage on your transactions, simply because we found these methods, which some of our competitors have opted to use as simply inaccurate. As the foreign exchange rates in the market constantly fluctuate, so are the quotes provided by money transfer companies. We prefer to make our comparison based on other attributes, such as reputation, market size, quality of online money transfer (including mobile apps), and level of service. We believe finding the best current exchange rate available is only feasible for those who bother educating themselves about the ins and outs of how the money transfer industry operates, and this is precisely what we aspire to provider to our readers.
Additional information on how we make our top company selection is available below.
In a similar fashion to other websites in this industry we are have decided to monetise Money Transfer Comparison by partnering up with some of the industry’s leading service providers (only companies hitting a score of 85% or better) and using referral links, but we strive to provide truthful, up to date, and valid information on our money transfer reviews.
What Do Our Readers Think About Us?
Testimonial by a Fast Track 100 Listed Company:
Intamarque is one of the UK’s fastest growing distributors’ of FMCG lines with sales growing from zero to £35m in just 10 years. We were awarded the Fast Track 100 award which identifies Britain’s private companies with the fastest-growing sales. We’ve been successful because we offer retailers, wholesalers and pharmacies a unique combination of extremely competitive pricing, outstanding flexibility and a high level of personal service and attention.
We are located in the UK centrally on the M5 corridor between Birmingham and Bristol.
We recently had the pleasure of using the service of MoneyTransferComparison.com who helped us secure a successful outcome of an order which was challenged due to the economic climate at the time.
The professionalism and attention to detail from MoneyTransferComparison.com was amazing and Intamarque would thoroughly recommend them to anyone needing to use this service.
Kind Regards
Richard Shortt, Managing Director, Intamarque Limited
Which Are the Best International Money Transfer Companies
Our Review and Comparison Guidelines Explained
We have compared more than 40 currency transfer companies over the past 5 years and we intend to continue growing and expanding. Upon researching such companies, we look at several main components of each company’s offering. These are the very same area we write extensively about on our reviews, and use to determine which are the best international money transfer companies.
Level Service: quick and easy sign up process, readily available staff – courteous and helpful, or in simple words a money transfer service ready to go above and beyond for its clients.
Reputation: a well known-company with a serious track record, transferring substantial amounts of foreign currency each year, holding sterling reputation and boasting pristine client reviews.
Low International Money transfer Fees and Rates: no direct international money transfer fees, competitive FX rates for high-amount international transfers, with no hidden fees of any sort.
Features and Functions: functions such online money transfer platform, a mobile app enabling Forward Contracts and other corporate FX hedging, and of course – offering regular payment options.
Global Reach: many currencies handled including exotic currencies, global office outside the UK, regulated by several regulators, and constantly expanding into new territories.
Additional Information on how we evaluate money transfer companies and decide on the top 10 money transfer companies can be found in our FAQ.
What’s the difference between a great money transfer company and a bad money transfer service?
Superb Money Transfer Service Experience
– Your time-wasting will be minimised upon sign up or speaking to your representative.
– Your money is protected even if the company goes into bankruptcy, as the company is properly regulated as an Authorised Payment Institution by the FCA.
– You always know exactly how much you’ll be paying and how much you’ll be getting back in FX – no sneaky hidden money transfer fees.
– The staff will be knowledgeable and experienced and will be happy to assist with all aspects of your transfer. For high-amount international transfers, you will have a dedicated dealer offering guidance on the best timing to make the trade to benefit from favourable exchange rates.
– You will be treated respectfully, and won’t be pushed around by the salesperson to TRADE NOW against your own interest.
– You could choose whether to perform the trade through giving instructions over the phone, via email, through an online platform on your laptop or desktop, or through an advanced mobile platform.
Lousy Money Transfer Service Experience
– Unnecessarily long sign up process without the ability to upload your verification documents online through a system.
– With lack of proper regulation, your money is at risk if the company goes into bankruptcy or opt to scam its clients.
– The money transfer fees and exchange rates will always be opaque. You will only truly know what you paid on a transaction in retrospect, through using a money transfer fee calculator.
– The level of that money transfer company’s service will be basic at best. Your representative will not make any effort to understand your needs, and instead apply unfair pressure to move forward with your trade using him (so he can net a hefty commission).
– Whether transferring £100 or £10,000 you will have access to the same “plain vanilla” exchange rates and offering (with no hedging tools available). No guidance would be guidance or analysis of today’s exchange rates and when is the optimal timing to exchange money.
– The money transfer service will insist on communication via telephones and faxes, like it was back in the day.
How was your individual experience?
We encourage our readers to leave comments on the relevant money transfer company reviews describing their experiences. It will be be for the greater benefit of other people in your position. For those who have experienced a bad experience and feel like they have been mistreated by one of the companies that we have partnered up with we offer a dispute mediation servce with FX companies.
How will the top money transfer service compare to a high street bank?
This is how commercial money transfer companies, such as the ones reviewed on our website, will help you save money in comparison with banks. Don’t take our word for it – though!
We recommend you to ask for a foreign money transfer quote from your bank, compare it with the money transfer service of your choice, and verify that indeed you are saving money. We do not recommend that you will necessarily opt to work with the cheapest money transfer rates you bump across – there are a lot more considerations than that – but there is no reason that you would not have access to cheap international money transfer rates.
No fees and commissions
High street banks charge high fees for international (SWIFT) wire transfers, and sometimes, they would even charge extra commission on top of that. The companies in our Top 10 Money Transfer List charge neither fees nor commissions. Bank fees on international transfers can reach up to £25 in the UK, €30 in Europe, and $50 in the USA, Canada or Australia!
Better foreign exchange rates:
As a rule of thumb, the foreign money exchange itself should be a lot cheaper with our top rated companies over banks. The larger the transfer, the higher the savings, as you’ll get better quotes. To make sure you are indeed getting the cheapest international money transfer rates, you could sign up with multiple companies and ask for a quote at the same time. We don’t compare real-time money transfer rates on this website, but that comparison will be much more viable if the client would perform it himself whenever he requires to transfer money abroad.
Payments are optimised, and payment schemes are bespoke:
Each client is assigned to a unique foreign exchange specialist in order to create a bespoke plan that will optimise savings, leveraging an array of technological tools and hedging tools like Forward contracts, embedded inside their online platform. The international money transfer routes will be orchestrated in a manner in order to avoid unnecessary bank fees (such as intermediary and recipient bank fees). In most cases, the international money transfer companies that made it to the top of our comparison, will be transferring the funds between two bank accounts owned by them and transact to the recipient’s account from a domestic-currency account located in the same country
Guidance on currency rates:
Clients don’t have to make uneducated choices about the right timing of exchanging currencies. Instead, a dedicated FX staff member will guide each client and aid him in making his international bank to bank transfer when the timing is right, according to the client’s needs, allowing him or her to get the most bang for their buck (or Sterling).
Currency Exchange Comparison: Foreign Exchange Companies Vs. Commercial Banks
Here is a simplified table demonstrating the differences between a top-10 international money transfer service and a bank. To view a full fx companies vs banks comparison piece follow the link.
| Top Money Transfer Company | High-Street Bank | |
| Service | Dedicated per-client account manager with FX expertise. | A banker with no particular knowledge in fx. |
| Fees | No international outbound transfer fee. | Up to £25 / €30/ $50 per transfer. |
| Security of Funds | Client accounts are segregated and safeguarded for any company authorised by the FCA to handle clients’ funds. | Protected by the PRA up to GBP 75,000. Other protective measurements are in place outside the UK. |
| Rates | Wholesale. Anywhere between 0.3% and 2.5% spread, depending on volume and corridor. | Sub-par. Up to 5% margins on exotic currencies, and up to 3% on standard pairings. Rarely under 1.5% markup! |
| Speed | Most destinations within 24h with most companies. | By default, transfers can take up to 3 days. You need to pay a premium to get a quicker delivery. |
| FX Options | Readily available for all clients, private and corporate (with providers offering them). | Reserved normally for large corporations. |
| Nationalities Accepted | Clients from UK, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, or the EU are always accepted. Rest of the world (USA, Singapore, Hong Kong) are normally accepted too. | Only local residents of the country where the bank is in. A few banks like HSBC will allow clients to interlink international accounts. |
Best Money Transfer Offers for 2019
We have teamed up with some of the top 10 largest money transfer firms, based on our rating, to provide some unique money transfer offers for our readers. View the slider below and discover some of our hottest deals. Please contact us if any of the firms fail to stand up to their word. We will do whatever we can to help out and get you the result you want.
Moneycorp, a world leader in international payments, one of the top 10 money transfer companies list in the world, offers free international transfers, and online and offline. All fixed fees will be waived for readers who sign up through our referral link.
Duration: Until December 10th, 2019
Global Reach Partners, one of the top 10 money transfer companies in the UK, offers online and telephone transfers without any fees fees, exclusively for readers who sign up via our referal link!
Duration: Until Dec 31st, 2019
Currency Index offers a fee-free international money transfer, in addition to a free receipt, exclusively for our readers who sign up through us. This freebie is valued at £12-£17.
Duration: Until December 10th, 2019
Currency Index offers fixed margins of %0.495 for all overseas transfers above £50,000 for our readers exclusively. That includes all currency pairs. Currency Index accepts clients from the UK, Europe, and Australia.
Duration: Until December 10th, 2019
CurrencyFair, one of the hottest money transfer startups in the world today, offers an exclusive deal for MoneyTransferComaprison.com readers – a first FREE transfer.
Duration: Always
We Compare International Money Transfer Services For:
Overseas Property Buyers:
Individuals needing to transfer money internationally to a bank account abroad, usually for an asset located abroad. Money is paid either instantly, through a single transfer, or in instalments.
These individuals require high levels of safety and trust, as well as solid guidance on how to hedge future payments. The larger the transfer, the better the money exchange rates that the property buyer should expect.
Sending Money AbroadSmall/Medium Businesses:
SME’s that either import/export goods, receive payments in foreign currency, or pay salaries to employees abroad. Business owners and money managers look for nothing but top-notch companies. These are the largest organizations that have been in business the longest, are highly regulated, and possess the highest liquidity, which will allow them to provide the best money transfer rates.
Business Foreign ExchangeExpatriates:
It is estimated that there are over 50,000,000 expats worldwide, all of whom need to internationally transfer salaries or pensions, and make small or large payments, on a regular basis.
The company that these expats will choose must have a wide global reach, an easy sign-up process, and intuitive online platforms. These traits can make the expat life so much easier!
Regular TransfersTravelers:
It is estimated there are over a billion travelers every year. They need to exchange cash. Exchange beauruex provide horrible rates, so they seek an alternative.
What these individuals are looking for is pretty simple: save on expenses. The process must be easy, quick and secure. They sign up, load funds from their debit or credit card, and a receive cash delivery.
Work Immigrants:
With over 230m working immigrants worldwide, remittances impose a large effect on world economy (read more about the world remittance market here).
Working immigrants need remittances services that have high global reach, and do either bank-to-bank or bank–to-cash transfers with minimal fixed fees, and best currency exchange rates on the market.
Immigrant RemittancesTechies:
There are 123 mobile phones for every 100 UK citizens, which says everything. People are accustomed to perform all their daily tasks through their mobile devices, and international money transfers should be no different.
Techies expect a smooth mobile experience, by a native app that enables users to set a market watch alert on certain currency pairs and transfer promptly.
Money Transfer Apps
Reaching above our scope
Moneytransfercomparison.com is far more just international money transfer comparison. We also cover other areas extensively and in particular, banking, and the economy. These areas have a direct impact on the foreign exchange rate, and hence, are crucial to become well-versed and up-to-date in as an expat or an internationally-trading business.
Below are some of our guides about banking and money transfers:
- How Long Does it Take for an International Money Transfer to Arrive
- How Electronic Wire Transfers Work
- How International Money Transfer Companies Operate
- UK Bank Scandal List
- How Much Money is Transferred Globally Each Year
Below our some of our guides regarding the economy and the exchange rate
- How Does the Economy Affect the Exchange Rates
- Overvalued and Undervalued Economic Indicators
- What is the LIBOR Rate
- What is the Trade Account and How it Impacts Currencies
- How Does Terror Impact Currency Rates?
- The Link Between Inflation, Gov Bonds and Exchange Rates
- What is Exchange Rate Pegging?
Last Week’s Highlights:
- USD gained ground during the week due to caution ahead of the Fed meeting with a fresh dip in confidence surrounding other major currencies also supporting the dollar.
- EUR retreated sharply amid fresh expectations that the ECB would take more aggressive policy action.
- GBP was hurt by very weak industrial data and on-going political concerns as the Conservative leadership battle got underway.
- JPY and CHF maintained a strong tone as confidence in the global outlook triggered fresh demand for defensive assets.
Next Week’s Predictions and Events:
- USD will gain some support if the Federal Reserve is less committed to interest rate cuts than expected by markets, but will tend to remain dependent on weakness elsewhere to sustain gains.
- EUR is unlikely to secure more than a limited corrective recovery given an underlying lack of confidence in the outlook and very low yields.
- GBP will remain fragile on political grounds, but the Bank of England statement is likely to trigger a limited correction.
- JPY losses are likely to be limited given underlying concerns over the global growth outlook.
More: View The Full Analysis and Prediction for this Week
Final Words: More than Transferring Money Internationally
MoneyTransferComparison’s aim goes above and beyond helping customers finding the most adequate and best-tailored money transfer service to match their needs by comparing them. That is indeed our main objective, but we strive to also guide people on how how the process works. This is why we have created an extensive learning centre, authored by experts in the field and written in a objective, and sometimes even critical manner.
Without further ado, we would like to present our Learning Centre with more than 30 articles on the process of international money transfers which will help you understand how things work behind the curtain!
Additional Reading? We have That Too!
We have written an extensive guide for expats, immigrants and small business owner in a variety of topics that go beyond the scope of money transfers.
Bottom Line: We Stride to Compare and Educate
We pride ourselves in thorough, fully detailed reviews and top-of-the-line currency exchange comparison. We devote a lot of time and resources into reviewing each individual provider that we deem worthy of reviewing. Unlike some of our competitors, we are not owned by a multi-million dollar company. Unlike our competitors, our aim is not to simply compare foreign exchange rates between different sites and recommend whoever offers the cheapest price or the lowest fees.
That’s a part of what we do, but it’s not our main goal.
We believe that international payment companies should provide safety and security, above all. This is why we are so focused on elements besides pricing. It’s a part of the overall rating that we provide each company, but it’s not everything. We do not treat the companies we review as “sites“; instead, we try to conduct our appropriate due diligence, just as we would do before engaging with any global business partner.
Below are the key aspects we scrutinise in order to establish trust with a company to the extent we can wholeheartedly recommend using it:
1
Legal Status
We look at the regulatory status of each company – Is it only registered with the FCA or is it authorised as a payment institution? Is it supervised by additional regulatory authorities across the globe? Has it been accused of fraud?
2
Track Record and Volumes
How long has the company been running for? How many clients does it serve? Where are its offices? What kind of volumes does it trade? Who owns it and who runs it? Does it have worldwide offices? Where are they?
3
Client Reviews
We browse hundreds or thousands of individual reviews for each company, and see what clients think of it, and whether they would recommend them. We also look at money transfer sites from the technical perspective – we only recommend those that have mobile-friendly designs, functional platforms and are appropriate for mobile devices (or have appropriate mobile apps).
4
Personal Assistance
We prefer companies that seek to create a personal interaction with you. Such companies assign one dedicated point-of-contact to help you with your trades. This is definitely a way for clients to feel more secure – being able to reach your dedicated fx dealer at any time.
5
Our Interaction With The Companies
Our business relationship (as referral partners) with some of the companies reviewed on this website can help us separate the whiff from the chaff. We are able to visit them in their offices, speak directly to the people who work there and assume their level of professionalism and integrity, enabling us to learn the financial standing of the company.
We believe what we see with our own eyes; and thus, we have met with 6 of the fx companies that have received the highest scores in our testing.
6
Dealing with Complaints
Even the best money transfer services in the world sometimes receive complaints. That’s only natural and we would be suspicious if none came up for companies providing their fx services to hundreds of thousands of clients.
The important thing is how they handle complaints. Are they open with the client when they have mistreated them? Do they take any inquiry seriously and spend time searching for complaints online and responding to them? Are they sharing case resolutions that we have referred to them with us? Do they bother to respond to complaints or comments left on MoneyTransferComparison.com’s reviews? Are they able to handle fx cases we had decided to research?
Geographic Focuses
Note: Our site can be used by people from most countries around the globe. The majority of our clients are UK expats, property buyers and small businesses, but the companies we review, and our recommendations, are applicable for a lot more people from almost every location in the world. We boast a significant amount of readership from EU countries, predominantly Spain, Germany, France and Italy, as well as North American readership in the USA and Canada. We are also vast popular down under in Australia and New Zealand, and in a variety of other countries across Asia, Europe and Africa. Transferring money internationally from Switzerland, Singapore, Hong Kong, South Africa, Sweden, Norway, UAE, Qatar and more than 100 additional companies is made easy with Money Transfer Comparison.
International Money Transfer Comparison: Editor’s Note
By Matt Di Vincere, Chief Editor, MoneyTransfercomparison.com
With MoneyTransferComparison.com becoming the leading site for international money transfer information since its establishment in 2014, we consider this a good time to thank our loyal readers.
Ever since our launch, we have attracted readers who are keen to engage. There are more than 1,000 comments that people left us over the years, more than 100,000 clicks on recommended company quotes, and more than £300,000,000 transferred through our partners following our referral.
We are absolutely stunned by the amount of love and respect we have earned in several different industries in multiple locales. MoneyTransferComparison.com has been rapidly recognised as an authority in the international money transfer industry.
Below are our New Years’ resolutions and aims for 2019, namely to give you, the readers, an ever-improving experience while using the site.
Stay tuned!
Thank you for reading,
Editor-in-chief, MoneyTransferComparison.com