Best Way to Transfer Money Abroad

Welcome to our thorough overview discussing the best way to transfer money abroad. Every single service recommended on this page has been carefully and inspected by our staff, and we welcome you to read reviews of companies like World First, Currencies Direct and OFX on their respective pages.

All overseas money transfers service offered by these companies are fee-free, with local banking facilities in the relevant region, and most importantly – safe, secured, and regulated! We look not only for the cheapest way to transfer money abroad, but also for the most reliable, trouble-free, and smoothest way of doing so.

Transferring Money Overseas, Location-Based Recommendations: 

Local Offices / Local Settlements

The most prominent factor on our sending money abroad comparison for private clients page is the localisation of each firm. Most companies can handle clients globally, but few companies have local offices outside of the UK (90% are headquartered there).When a certain company has local offices in any region, it is a strong signal that the sign-up process for clients from that region would be easy and comfortable, and that the support would be provided from a local employee from that office.

In addition, if a client would like to meet up in person with his trader, but the company he is dealing with do no have local offices near him, he would not be able to do so unless he travels abroad to do so. Over the past few years, companies have opened local offices in expat hubs such as UAE, Singapore, South Africa and Canada – so wherever you currently reside, you are bound to find a solution.

Most importantly, local offices translate into local payment settlements i.e. bank accounts set up in the same country that you can move your money domestically to. If you are an Australian expat living in the UK, this is how the process will look like with a company that has local settlements in both UK and Australia, eliminating on intermediary fees and recipient bank fees and allow you to know precisely how much money should be received by the recipient after the overseas money transfer is initiated: How long will this take? View our speed of  international money transfers guide on the topic.

The same would apply for many other currency corridors. If you move money from Germany to USA, choose a company which is recommended in the EU, and also has American office. If you need to swap funds between UAE and South Africa, UK to Singapore, Sweden to USA, or New Zealand to Australia – just search for companies that has offices in both locales.

Top 10 Most Common Use Cases – When Is Transferring Abroad Cheaper Through FX Companies?

Based on data collected on our website, here are the most common corridors that people use our site for. We hope you can find use in that in order to discover the best way to transfer money abroad for your own specific needs.

* Approximate figures

** There are a lot more countries/ currencies which compose the remaining 15%

*** We did not list how long will it take any transfer to reach its destination, for that we have created a specific guide on the speed of international money transfers.

For Additional Information on the topic, including examples, view our FX Companies VS Banks comparison.

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Top 3 Reasons to Transfer Money Abroad by our Readers:

Are Currency Specialist The Best Way to Transfer Money Abroad?

There are hundreds of companies that allow you to transfer money abroad. We reviewed the largest ones here on MoneyTransferComparison, and analysed the advantages and disadvantages of each. Our top companies have demonstrated consistent cheap rates, high quality support, true global reach, and user-friendliness all across their platform.

Every choice we have made, whether its for international transfers to Canada, Japan, Spain or New Zealand is backed up by a thorough research.

 

How Much Can you Save On An Overseas Transfer – A Comparison

In addition to the above, you can avoid all sorts of “surprise” fees which some banks incur. The most common one is recipient fees for accepting an international wire transfer. You can avoid them easily through using companies which have local settlements in both sending and recipient countries. 

 

Who can use these services? Why some services are better in specific countries??

Well, the majority of large companies we work with will take on any client as long as he passes the compliance checks, and doesn’t reside in countries that are banned for trading. Some locations, mostly in Asia, Africa and the Middle East will require a bit more documents than UK, Australia, Canada, EU, Scandinavia or Mainland Europe.

The exception of that is the USA. Sending money overseas from the country requires the payment facility to be regulated on a state-by-state level. Many of the companies don’t handle USA-based clients at all. The companies we have selected for sending money from the USA and Canada are the ones that handle most states. 

Still, there are some variations in our company selection between different areas. Things we have put into consideration include the following:

• Whether company is dealing with local currency
• Whether the company has local offices in the country or nearby
• Whether the site is translated to the local language
• Whether we have received a clear verification from the company they have a client base in that country
• Whether there are promotions/offers specific to a locale

For instance, our recommended company to move money from the UK is World First, which is headquartered in London, and able to move money abroad to 120 different regions including sending money to Australia, Europe, USA, Canada, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Japan, Thailand and many more locations. The majority of its clients are UK-based or Brits abroad, and it also offers a price rate guarantee for this audience.

What’s the process like?

Sending money to a bank through an international wire is something a licensed payment facility can do. In the UK, the regulatory authority is the HM Revenue & Customs, and the Financial Conduct Authority. We, of course, only recommended companies that are registered with the FCA. Many of which are also registered with other powerful regulators like the Australian ASIC, or the Central Bank of Ireland.

The way the process works is as following:

1. Choose a company. Get to its website by clicking on the “Get Free Quote” button. You can choose several companies if you have a large transfer, and compare the costs. You will get quoted once you provide preliminary details about your identity, and before you have completely registered with the company.

2. Register. You will have to supply documentation (quite similar to the one you provide when you open a new bank account). This is imposed by the Anti Money Laundering Act.

3. Execute. Execute the transfer via an online platform (recommended for smaller transfers of up to  £5,000), or via telephone (recommended for larger transfers).

4. Transfer funds domestically. You will now have to send the money in your local currency to a secured, segregated clients-only account, owned by the company you have chosen to work with.

5. Money exchanged and sent abroad. Most transfers will happen in up to 48 hours, and money will be executed on the same day. The amount of money received will reflect the exact quote you were provided with, unless the recipient bank decides to charge incoming funds (won’t happen in UK, EU, Australia or the USA, but can happen if you send money overseas to Asia).

It also works the other way around with repatriation of funds, of course.

Learn more on our FAQ

 

Using our website to send  money abroad

MoneyTransferComaprison.com is the largest review and comparison site in this industry. In fact, we have more than 35 companies listed on our website, and over 50 apps on app page (including our own).

Our goal is to apply to the widest audiences we can. That’s why we have a special category for expatriates and immigrants, business FX, merchants and even an eWallet comparison and travel money comparison. That’s why we have listed so many different countries on this page – because our traffic is diverse and international.

Companies appearing on this page specialise at sending money abroad for purposes like property purchases, mortgage payments, luxury item buying from abroad, paying tuition fees, etc. (These are the same companies we recommend for receiving money from abroad, of course).

Be sure to check as many reviews as possible to find the companies best tailored for your needs. Do not be hesitant of contacting multiple companies to compare between their quotes, and may you find the way to transfer money abroad for your needs.