Is Paymentearth Safe?

Company size:  

Paymentearth itself is a very small entity, with only around 10 employees in their single-office (San Diego). The company was founded only 4 years ago in 2016, but that doesn’t tell the whole story. Its CEO and President, Jeff Scanlon, has been in the foreign exchange industry since 1989 — an impressively long time, which can only add to Paymentearth’s credibility. 

Prior to founding Paymentearth in 2016, Jeff had been working at the foreign exchange brokerage Commonwealth Foreign Exchange, sowing the foundations of knowledge in FX forwards and hedging. Most importantly understanding how these products can be a great fit for SMEs and individuals too.

As part of its senior management team, Paymentearth has a Blockchain specialist, perhaps indicating the firm’s focus on technology and innovation. And in this regard, despite being a small business itself, it doesn’t appear to stand still as in its quest to expand its footprint and product capabilities. 

In 2019, the firm announced its expansion and regulatory approval in the states of Tennessee and Georgia. In 2020, Paymentearth announced the release of its Virtuwallet and IBAN solution. Providing customers with an online dashboard to access up to 28 digital currency accounts, where they can hold balances, receive incoming payments and convert these funds into USD. Note that you can’t make payments from your digital accounts but you can hold balances to net off against future exposure. If you’re looking for a digital account where you can both receive and make international payments then you should look to Transferwise or WorldFirst.

Regulated By: 

PE Global Partners LLC DBA Paymentearth Program is sponsored by Community Federal Savings Bank, though in some states they are a licensed money transmitter.

 MSB licenses are held in various states: DC, FL, GA, ID, IL, LA, MD, MA, MN, MS, MT, NJ, NC, OK, PA, RI, TN, VT, VA, WA, WI

“PE Global Partners is registered with FinCEN. Our registration number is 31000126701006”. say the website

 Paymentearth is a licensed money transmitter and is listed on NMLS

Awards:

None

 Conclusion:

Jeff Scanlon, founder of Paymentearth and CEO, has spent his entire career working for non-bank international payment providers. The firm also seems to adhere to all of the required regulations for the states in which it operates as a money transmitter. Other than that, there’s not much else we can say positively about the site’s reputation and credibility.

Paymentearth Customer Reviews

Research:

With Paymentearth being a relatively young company (4 years old) there is no expectation for many reviews. However, the fact there are no Paymenterarth reviews to be found online at all is concerning. Ultimately, it’s Paymentearth’s responsibility to work with a third party review platform and if they choose not to then we have to respect that, though it does leave a big whole in their acquisition cycle – there are some client testimonials on paymentearth.com which help to vouch for their credibility but obviously we can’t say for sure if they are verified clients. 4 years seems more than enough time to get at least some client feedback but it could have something to do with the fact Paymentearth seems to be more business-oriented. Review platforms are typically for private client offerings

Conclusion:

Not a good sign to see zero third-party client reviews about a company operating for that long. The client testimonials found on the Paymentearth website point to a broker which looks to understand its clients better than a bank and take the time to run through FX solutions which could be of benefit to their business. The testimonials also stress that they like having a pre-agreed margin on their international payments so they don’t have to worry about this each time they raise a payment.

Paymentearth Exchange Rates & Fees

The fees when sending money with Paymentearth change based on the type of payment you need. Wire transfers are $1, SWIFT transfers are $8 (unless the transaction value is greater than $5,000) and finally ACH transfers are $0.

Exchange Rates:

There is essentially a fixed margin that you will receive on every payment you make.. This will vary per client, and will be based on your FX volumes, but you’re always notified of what this margin is, and the interbank rate is always denoted when converting. 

Bottom line:

Minimum transfer is $1 and no explicit maximum upper limit, customers have flexibility when using Paymentearth. The exchange rate spread is reported to be as good as  0.5%, which is very reasonable and comparable to TransferWise’s dollar margins. Payment fees are also never going to be more than $8 (free when LOCAL) and is much cheaper than you would be receiving from a US bank. 

Overall, this is competitive pricing, though it is usually preferable for customers to have just a fixed conversion fee instead of two different ways of losing money. What is impressive is that they calculate the exchange spread (they call it a conversion fee) next to the interbank rate, which is going above and beyond in both transparency and functionality.

Paymentearth Global Reach & Service

Research:

• Dedicated Dealer: Yes
• Offices: San Diego (USA)
• Ways to approach: Online, Phone
•  Translations: None
• Accepted Clients: USA only
• Currencies Handled: 25
• Client reviews: None to be found

Conclusion:

Paymentearth are very much USA focused currently, seeing as they only have one small office in San Diego. The 25 currencies offered are satisfactory but far from impressive. In terms of bespoke service, it depends on exactly the service you’re after. There are individual accounts, and there are a number of more technical business services which are impressive.

Additional Functionalities

Paymentearth is certainly more than a simple bank-to-bank currency exchange service and this is where the company excels – particularly as there aren’t that many payment providers who operate as a traditional currency broker in the US. There are a variety of FX services backed up with good functionality. For example,Forward Contracts  are available, as are standing orders. 

There is a VirtuWallet multi currency account that allows businesses to hold GBP, EUR, CAD, CHF and USD online. Being able to hold multiple currencies means that you’re not forced to exchange currency, which can be much more efficient for international businesses in the long run. Businesses may start to find a natural currency hedge as they hold multiple currencies they know they’ll need for payments in the future.

Functionality is solid at Pamymentearth, though nothing out of the ordinary. Forward contracts, spot transactions and an online trading portal are all available to both private and business clients. Whilst businesses can also benefit from batch payments and the Paymentearth virtual IBAN solution, both accessible via Patmentearth’s Virtu Wallet online platform. The former can be a very handy tool for monthly payroll and the latter as we’ve explained can help you run balances in other currencies and manage when you want to convert funds back to your base currency. 

In truth, these are all things offered by the long-standing UK currency brokers but it’s impressive to see this from a firm of under 10 employees. If you’re from the states and looking for a more local solution, that’s provided by a local team, then Payment earth could be the right option for you. If you’re interested in the same service provided by a more established provider then you’ll get all the same functionality and more with OFX, who happen to hold their US offices in San Diego too.