Should I use Lebara for money transfers?
Pros:
Cons:
Services Offered by Lebara
Official Website:
Lebara Review: Executive Summary
Lebara was a money transfer service that allows users to send and receive money internationally. In the latter part of their existence, Lebara had become a white-label for WorldRemit before it gradually stopped its money transfer services in 2019.
2,168
88Not Top 10 Ranked
Where is Lebara Available?
Our Top Rated Lebara Alternatives
On Money Transfer Comparison, we have reviewed 80+ money transfer services, 40+ of which could be considered direct Lebara competitors. View our best rated Lebara money transfer alternatives which have received higher ratings below:
Wise (Previously TransferWise): Best to Remit Money Abroad for Cheap
- Largest Money Transfer Provider of its Kind
- Fees for Most Routes under £1
- Fully-Online Journey with Transparent Pricing
OFX: Remittances Kings of Australia
- Excellent Reach - Transfer to Any Country with no Fixed Fees
- Intuitive Online System, Easy to Understand and Use
- 24/7 Support Wherever You Are on The Globe - Be Treated with Respect
Currencies Direct: Best for Large or Repeat Transfers
- #1 Rating on MTC for the Past 2 Years - Tailored to Larger Transfers with Excellent Phone Service
- No Fees on any Transfers, Ever
- Very Friendly Online Platform
One of the Hottest Money Transfer Startups
- No Fees on GBP payments, EUR Charged at €3
- Very Low Margins, Down To 0.33%
- Great Reputation And Client Reactions
Azimo: Fees from £0.99, 4.6/5 on TrustPilot
- Very well known
- Good online system
- Tight margins
TransferGo: Rated 4.8 / 5 from over 22,000 reviews
- ltilingual Support Team
- Excellent Client Feedback
- Over 2.5 million Customers to Date
Is Lebara Safe?
Company size:
Lebara is a London-headquartered mobile company with more than 1,000 employees across the globe, boasting more than 5m active customers and £500m in sales. The company offers SIM cards, top-ups and bundle deals, as well as international entertainment services.
The company has dabbled with international money transfers since as early as March 2011, and have been using several companies as white label service (their most recent provider was Moneygram in 2013).
In October 2016 the company launched its own money transfer service, and its website is getting more than 100,000 hits each month.
Regulated By:
Financial Conduct Authority (UK)
Awards:
Conclusion:
Lebara is a pretty big company. Especially compared to most UK currency transfers who have been around for less than 10 years and employ dozens of people at most. That by itself is a good start – it’s an established company that doesn’t seem to be going anywhere anytime soon.
Money.Lebara.com is a relatively new service. Its trading volumes are not a big figure even compared to a medium-sized brokerage, but it’s still quite impressive when you take the clientele into consideration. As a smaller remittance based solution it still means several thousands of transfers each month. Similarweb estimates the site’s traffic at an impressive 150,000 users each month (of which 90% is based in the UK), comparable numbers to big time competitors like WorldRemit with only 14% of its 1.8m visitors based in the UK.
To summarise, Lebara is an established company which seems to be on the right track as a newcomer to the money transfer space. We don’t find it trustworthy to the same level as Moneycorp who have operated in the money transfer business for the past 30 years, or even relative newcomer Transferwise which is already boasting £1bn in transfers monthly, but we do think it’s credible. MoneyNet magazine thought the same way and honoured Lebara money transfer with the 2017’s Best New Money Transfer service award.
IN 2018 LEBARA MOVED TO A NEW MODEL IN WHICH ALL THEIR CLIENTS ARE TRANSFERRED TO THEIR PRIME COMPETITOR, WORLDREMIT… BUT THIS SETUP DID NOT WORK AS EXPECTED MOST LIKELY AND LEBARA DISCONTINUED ITS MONEY TRANSFER SERVICE.
Lebara Customer reviews
Research:
There are definitely not a lot of Lebara money transfer reviews to be found online, as you would expect after less than 12 months of operation. All the reviews we have discovered and thought were credible are on Trust Pilot.
Conclusion:
After reviewing all the complaints submitted about Lebara Money services we have concluded most of them were submitted by people who do not understand the nature of service and regulatory requirements Lebara needs to comply with. Very few of these complaints actually dealt with aspects of services, and were completely contradicting to the majority of reviews we have discovered about the company.
We predict Lebara will continue get good reviews and that eventually their rating will be much better than the 8.0 it is today.
Lebara Exchange Rates & Fees
Research:
Fees: Changes based on the amount and corridor.
Exchange Rates: Lebara has a nice calculator on the homepage in which you can see the rate you will receive and the fees you will be paying.
Based on some real-time comparison against Transferwise it seems that currently Lebara’s rates are better! They apply a really tiny margin if any, and take a small fee instead – only 4 Euro on a 1,000 GBP to Euro which amounts to 0.3% of the trade’s amount.
Limits: The maximum transfer amount is £3,000 which makes the service non-usable for medium or large transfers. It is limited to small amount remittances. The minimum is £10, similar to most other small remittances providers.
Promotion: First time customers are eligible for a first trade with a Zero Fees Offer over £100. Zero fees on all subsequent transfers over £100 except India which has 50% off.
Conclusion:
Based on the rates presented on the site, Lebara is the cheapest remittances service on the market at the moment.
Lebara Global Reach & Service
Research:
- Dedicated Dealer: No.
- Offices: UK.
- Ways to approach: Email and Telephone.
- Translations: Polish.
- Accepts clients: UK only.
- Currencies Handled: 12 only.
- Client reviews: 80% positive.
Conclusion:
Lebara money transfer is only starting off. It is not extremely global by any means. The only thing we would have expected of such company which is currently not supported is an online chat on the site, and a bit more thorough “About Us” section.
Additional Functionalities
Lock Your Rate for 30 Days: Lebara’s rate lock option is really incredible. No other provider offers it and it is indeed a very useful option, if you expect big shifts in rates in the near future. Ground breaking.
App:
Lebara’s app has received overall very good response on google Play Store, beating more other money transfer apps on the market.
Conclusion:
A strong area for Lebara money transfer with a very unique feature no other remittances provider has.
Lebara Review Summary
Bottom Line
Lebara money transfers has changed from an independent money transfer service, into a white-label for WorldRemit, and then discontinued its money transfer services circa 2019.