TransferWise Review
Established: 2011.
International Clients: ✓ Widely Accepted
Currencies Offered: 38
Minimum Transfer: £1 (UK) / $1 (USA, Canada, Australia)
Trading via: Online Platform, Mobile Application, Chat, Email.
Offices In: UK, USA, Australia, Estonia, Ukraine, Hungary, Japan.
Regulation: ✓ Financial Conduct Authority (UK).
Fees: No fees from the UK. Variable fees elsewhere.
Aggregated Client Reviews: 32,000+ reviews, mainly on TrustPilot’s platform, with
Average Rating: 95%.
Pros and Cons
- Highest Level of Transparency – Clear Pricing
- Large Trading Volumes
- Very Safe and Credible
- Client On-Boarding Online
- Best Online Platform and App for 2017
- Innovative and Exciting
- High Client Satisfaction
- Applicable for All Transfer Sizes
- New! Transferwise Debit Card – Multi-Currency
- No Dedicated Dealer Guidance
- No Discounts For High Volumes
- No FX Options Offered
- Does Not Handle Checks
Our Rating: 86.8%
Transferwise Editorial Review Summary: “Transferwise is the hottest startup in international payments bar none, and in just a few years, it has managed to become one of the most popular choices for expats and immigrants. It has one of the best online systems, transparent rate system, and small, fixed, margins on all transfers regardless of amount. Transferwise is indeed a Transfer Wise company for those who use it”.
Read More – Full Transferwise Review:
Is Transferwise Reliable? Is Transferwise Trustworthy?
Company overview:
Transferwise is one of the hottest startups in the world right now, and it is considered a market leader in the Fintech sector, with a valuation of more than a billion dollars. It has grown at a staggering pace of more than 100% in sales each year for the past 4 years, and has recently reported that it is moving more than $500m every month for its clients. There are currently more than 700 employees working for Transferwise in 7 locations around the world.
Transferwise has definitely come a long way since its inception in 2010 (and launch in 2011).
It was established by two Estonian Fintech innovators, Taavet Hinrikus, (Skype’s first employee) and Kristo Käärmann, both of whom were working in the UK, and experiencing the high costs of bank-powered international money transfers. Quite early on in their journey to lower the costs of cross border remittances, they received a massive shot of encouragement in the form of two mega-investors who believed in the idea, and jumped on the Transferwise wagon. These two investors were PayPal’s co-founder, Peter Thiel, as well as Virgin’s founder Richard Branson.
Here is a complete overview of Transferwise’s investment rounds:
| Series | Amount Invested | Investors |
|---|---|---|
| Pre-Seed | $68,400 | SeedCamp (VC) |
| Seed | $1,300,000 | Index Ventures (VC), IA Ventures (VC), The Accelerator Group (VC), Kima Ventures (BV), Seedcamp (VC), Max Levchin |
| Series A | $6,000,000 | SV Angel (VC), Valar Ventures (VC), Peter Thiel |
| Series B | $25,000,000 | Valar Ventures (VC), Peter Thiel, Richard Branson, Index Ventures (VC), IA Ventures (VC), |
| Series C | $58,000,000 | Anderson Horowitz (VC), Index Ventures (VC), IA Ventures (VC), Seedcamp (VC), Valar Ventures (VC) |
| Series D | $26,000,000 | Anderson Horowitz (VC), Valar Ventures (VC), Baillie Gifford (PLC Company) |
| Total to date | $116,368,400 | Anderson Horowitz (VC), Index Ventures (VC), IA Ventures (VC), Seedcamp (VC), Valar Ventures (VC), Peter Thiel, Richard Branson, The Accelerator Group (VC), Kima Ventures (BV), Seedcamp (VC), Max Levchin |
Information from Angel.co
October 2017 update: Transferwise raised another $280,000,000 making it one of the most funded startups ever with a total of $440,000,000.
The Transferwise Peer-to-Peer mechanism (How Does Transferwise Work?)
The concept behind Tranferwise is as follows – the platform tries to automatically match transfers from both ends of one currency pairing (for example: one client is buying Euros for Sterling, and another one is buying Sterling for his Euros). This approach enables the company to significantly drop remittances prices in many different corridors, and generally speaking, makes it one of the cheapest and most transparent payment providers in the world.
The entire process is performed below the surface, so transfers are executed instantaneously, and the margin is always fixed – whether Transferwise managed to match the trade using the peer-to-peer money transfer system, or whether it had to exchange the money itself. The user is completely unaware of what’s going on behind the scenes, and he honestly doesn’t mind as long as he is getting superior better rates than he would with other providers.
There are other companies using Peer-to-Peer technology, most notably Currencyfair. You cab view the following Transferwise VS Currencyfair comparison to learn more about the difference between these companies.
Transferwise’s advertising campaigns:
The company is advertising heavily on billboards (including in the London underground), as well as on television and online. It is constantly covered by financial and technology journalists around the world, and managed to get into the mainstream quicker than any other company in this industry.
Its campaigns were so effective, and so memorable, that even large banks began noticing them. The old slogan “YOUR BANK IS SECRETLY OVERCHARGING YOU ON INTERNATIONAL MONEY TRANSFER” was adjudicated by The Advertising Standard Authority, following complaints from these banks.
Update: Transferwise has suffered additional obstacles a result of its advertising campaigns. In May 2016, the advertising watchdog commanded Transferwise to be more specific about the savings it offers in each route, in comparison to banks, rather than saying that it helps clients save 90% of transfer costs. Transferwise has also been mocked by the AmericanBanker magazine, as the company is now seeking bank funding.
Our take on this? Transferwise is catching fire because it is growing in such a rapid pace. As a Branson-backed company, it appreciates any form of attention – positive or negative, and it works out perfectly.
Regulated By:
Financial Conduct Authority (UK)
Awards:
Conclusion:
Transferwise is probably the sexiest name in the whole money transfer industry. Established by notable entrepreneurs who became aware of a significant problem and sought to fix it, the company is taking an entirely different approach from the entire remittances industry.
Its low rates, transparency, great on-boarding process, and mind-blowing advertising campaigns have gained it a status as one of the largest payment providers in the world, as early as 5 years from its launch. This is a “startup” that is already moving billions across the globe and fighting with industry giants like Western Union and Moneycorp.
Is Transferwise safe?
There is absolutely nothing to be concerned about when you use Transferwise to move money abroad. It has a sound financial structure, a solid business model, and it is the absolute epitome of client transparency. The company has moved more than $5bn this year alone, and serves thousands of clients from around the globe with an extremely high level of satisfaction. Transferwise is not a scam, although some people tend to think it is because of the ultra-friendly rates, while in fact, it is one of the most credible companies in this industry.
Do Clients Like Transferwise? Transferwise Reviews From Across The Web
Research:
There are 30,000+ Transferwise reviews (more than any other company in the foreign currency payments industry) available on TrustPilot, netting the company a 9.5 / 10 rating.
Less than 3% of these reviews are complaints, and 95% of them are glowingly positive.
A small amount of the reviews seem to be placed by marketers who are promoting the service (trying to push their discount codes), but the amount is rather insignificant. Seemingly, Transferwise’s superb advertising campaigns have paid off and gained it such serious recognition.
Clients love the Transferwise concept. Why wouldn’t they? Here are the features users liked most:
- Works “as expected” – no glitches
- Easier to on-board with than other companies
- Better rates than other companies and banks
- Accurate and timely
- Responsive and kind support
- Polite and non-pushy approach
We have located fewer than 100 Transferwise compalints on the Internet, including one negative experience by one of our readers who responded below. These are some of the complaints dealt with:
- Excessive requirements for documents in order to sign up
- Some Debit and Credit Cards were not approved for use
- Delayed transfers
- Rude customer service
- Some currencies are not available in the system
Conclusion:
Clients are almost unanimously satisfied with every aspect of Transferwise’s service. Some students, expats, and immigrants have even said that this company has made a substantial change in their lives.
It appears that the main appeal of Transferwise for clients, even more than the superb exchange rates it offers, is the smoothness of the entire experience. An automated online on-boarding process is a huge advantage for the younger generation, and they have become avid users.
The relatively few complaints we have encountered don’t make much sense.
Those who are complaining about the rudeness of the customer service and making accusations are completely contradicting thousands of reviews that are glorifying how kind and respectful the support was. The same goes for the unpopular opinion that transfers are often delayed – this seems to be related to a specific problem at a specific time for a specific client, rather than an across-the-board problem.
Those complaining about excessive documentation appear to be unaware of the strict Anti-Money Laundering regulations that these sorts of companies must comply with. If additional documents were required, it is simply because the regulator (the FCA) demands that from the firm.
The part dealing with unsupported currencies is somewhat justified, as Transferwise doesn’t support as many currencies as some of its competitors like Currencies Direct, but we can’t downgrade Transferwise’s score based on that, as it’s very clearly stated on their website which currencies are handled and which ones are not. Clients who are complain about this have simply failed to read the information that is readily available.
Overall, client feedback is incredibly positive.
Read Enough?
OR
Transferwise’s Exchange Rates, Fees, and Markups
Research:
Fees: There are no fees with TransferWise from the UK now (previously, there was a £2 fee under £200, but that has now been rescinded). In addition, certain destinations require an additional £10 fee.
Exchange Rates:
Here is the complete fee structure:
| Destination | Transferwise Fee 2017 |
| Australia | 0.7% Of Amount Transferred |
| UAE | 1.5% Of Amount Transferred (Min. 11 AED) |
| Brasil | 2% Of Amount Transferred |
| Canada | 0.5% Of Amount Transferred+ CA$10 |
| Switzerland | 0.5% Of Amount Transferred |
| China | 1.5% Of Amount Transferred |
| Columbia | 2.5% Of Amount Transferred |
| Czech Republic | 0.7% Of Amount Transferred |
| Georgia | 1% Of Amount Transferred |
| Denmark | 0.5% Of Amount Transferred |
| Eurozone | 0.5% Of Amount Transferred |
| Japan | 1.5% Of Amount Transferred (Min. JPY 1,000) |
| India | 0.7% Of Amount Transferred |
| New Zealand | 0.7% Of Amount Transferred |
| Russia | 1.5% of Amount Transferred (Min. RUB 200) |
| South Africa | 0.7% Of Amount Transferred (+ ZAR 293) |
| Turkey | 1% Of Amount Transferred |
| USA | 0.5% of Amount Transferred Above $500 |
Compare Transferwise and Paypal Fees
As Transferwise is a completely “online” platform that enables people to send money abroad, it is often compared to Paypal, one the world’s largest online payment providers.
Here’s a simulation of the expected costs
USA 0.5% of Amount Transferred Above $500–
| Destination | Real Exchange Rate | Amount Received for £1,000 – Transferwise | Amount Received £1,000 – Paypal |
| Australia | 1 Pound is $AU1.73 AUD | 1,707.33 AUD | 1,650.30 AUD |
| UAE | 1 Pound is 4.87 AED) | 4,793.55 AED | 4,647.56 AED |
| Canada | 1 Pound is $CA1.71 CAD | 1,682.04 CAD | 1,630.82 CAD |
| Switzerland | 1 Pound is CHF1.33 CHF | 1,323.19 CHF | 1,270.00 CHF |
| Eurozone | 1 Pound is €1.14 EUR | €1,135.16 EUR | €1,089.53 EUR |
Exchange Rates Analysis
The exchange rates offered by the Transferwise currency transfer are among the best in the business, and in no way comparable to other remittances companies (i.e., companies with low minimum transfers used by overseas workers to transfer money abroad to facilities). For instance Ria Money Transfer and Transfast’s margins are at around the 2-3% mark!
In some particular countries, Transferwise is cheaper (for example, the UK), while in Australia and NZ, it is great, but not as cheap as in other countries.
In some countries, like Russia or Columbia, it seems that Transferwise isn’t particularly competitive. These are currencies that are usually more expensive to transfer money to (“exotic”) but at 2.5% the offering is still sub-par.
Is it possible to beat Transferwise’s rates with popular currencies like Euro, USD, AUD?
The fact that Transferwise is transparent and straightforward is generally very positive, but it is the company’s disadvantage when it comes to high volume transfers. Due to the fact that other companies like Currencies Direct have flexible pricing models, if the transfer is over GBP 25,000 (or equivalent in another currency), it is likely that they could offer cheaper rates than Transferwise. However. it’s always recommended to use Transferwise as a benchmark before you approach other recommended companies and negotiate your price.
Also, newcomer Lebara Money Transfer has been beating Transferwise on the GBPEUR route for remittances – have a look at our review of Lebara Money Transfer.
Transferwise First Trade Free
Transferwise offers new clients the chance to conduct their first trade for free up to a certain cap (the purpose of this is to check how the system works rather than moving tens of thousands abroad without paying a dime).
Limits: TransferWise has variable limits for each currency route.
| Currency | Limitation |
| NZD | NZD 85,000 |
| AUD | AUD 1,500,000 |
| USD | USD 1,500,000 |
| EUR | EUR 1,200,000 |
| RON | RON 5,300,000 |
| JPY | JPY 151,000,000 |
| SEK | SEK 1,000,000,000 |
| CAD | CAD 70,000 |
Conclusion:
Transferwise is cheaper than almost any competitor when it comes to small or medium-sized transfers inside Europe. Its 0.5-0.6% margin with up to GBP 3 in fees represents an average saving of approximately 0.5%-1% against the average quote from other companies for small transfers.
With some destinations, it is not necessarily the cheapest even for smaller transfers, but as long as the margin is at 1% or less, it will be around what other companies are offering.
For large transfers their pricing system is definitely beatable by traditional FX institutions, such as Moneycorp. Furthermore, some destinations like Canada, Australia or New Zealand have transfer limitations that prevent sending large amounts with Transferwise (or sending it in several instalments).
To summarise, this is a very good choice for remittances and small transfers. The company specialises in European corridors.
Global Reach & Service
Research:
- Dedicated Dealer: No.
- Offices: UK (Shoreditch, London), USA, Australia, Estonia, Ukraine, Japan, Hungary.
- Ways to approach: Email, Chat or Telephone
- Translations: Italian, French, Russian, German and Spanish.
- Accepts clients: Listed Below.
- Currencies Handled: 38.
- Client reviews: Love the support team.
Conclusion:
Transferwise has a great localised version of its website, and it’s truly refreshing to see the quality of their product, the FAQ’s they have, and of course the positive user experiences.
On the other hand, we are firm believers that large transactions should be executed with the help of a dedicated dealer who can provide assistance throughout the process.
Very few people would transfer tens of thousands, or hundreds or thousands, online, without speaking to a real person. In addition, a great amount of savings can be enjoyed when you have a currency expert recommending you on when to make the trade (especially with larger sums).
Transferwise operates with a different model in mind, and it absolutely rocks at what it does, but we cannot give them a perfect score without dedicated dealers.
New:
- Transferwise is now supporting the USD / MXN Corridor
- Transferwise is now accepting Canadian clients
- Transferwise has a new office in Australia (Sydney)
Clients accepted from:
| Continent | Countries |
| Europe | Euro Zone, UK, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Poland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Hungary, Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Georgia, Turkey, Northern Cyprus |
| America | USA, Canada, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico |
| Australia and Oceania | Australia, New Zealand |
| Asia | Singapore, India, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Philippines, Pakistan, Thailand, UAE, Indonesia, Russia, South Korea, China, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Japan |
| Africa | Morocco, South Africa |
Additional Functionalities
Hedging:
- None.
Spot contracts (instant currency exchange) only.
Transferwise Debit Card:
Transferwise has just launched its multi-currency debit card that enables you to take money abroad with you, loaded with a certain currency with Transferwise’s amazing exchange rates.
For Online Sellers and Freelancers:
“Request Money” functionality – an option to send a payment request through Transferwise system that auto-generates a link enabling the person/company sending the payment to move money via Transferwise easily, similar to the Payoneer’s receive money system.
Transferwise App:
Incredible, attractive app, which receives a 4.5 / 5 rating from over 4,000 users on Google Play. The app focuses on the actual functionality of sending money, and does so well, with very few bug reports.
Conclusion:
The app is definitely ideal for immigrants and expats who are sending money constantly. However, using hedging tools such as forward contracts, and limit orders, is really problematic if you want to use Transferwise for a large transfer (or for your business).
There’s very little offered by Transferwise besides sending money using credit cards, or bank transfers.
Review Summary
-
Credibility Score - 90%
90%
-
Client Feedback - 95%
95%
-
Fees, Exchange Rates - 97%
97%
-
Global Reach, Availability, Service - 85%
85%
-
Added Values - 67%
67%
Bottom Line
Transferwise is the new way to move money abroad. A simple on-boarding process, transparent fee structure, and sublime online platform make it the fastest growing company in this sector. With more than $116m invested into it by some of the world's most famous investors, constant media coverage and FCA authorization, your money is safe with Transferwise.
I’ve used this service and have saved a fair amount of money doing so. It is designed by the people who created Skype. I’ve transferred $8000 from the USA to the UK and the speed was about the same as an international wire transfer, but I saved $185 compared to what my bank was going to charge.
You can also get your first wire transfer for FREE , up to $4500 or £3000.
my first transaction has been cancelled
and my account deactivated,
NO REASON GIVEN !
And i have NOT had my £400 returned !
i hope you have a better service then me !
Looks like this group (Transferwise) has taken idea from a Patent filed the USA.
There is a lot of talk in the FX community that they will be hit with a major law suit that will shut them down in the USA.
Citing Patent Filing date Publication date Applicant Title
US8121923 Mar 10, 2011 Feb 21, 2012 Automated fulfilling of currency exchange requests over a computer network
US8301533 Feb 15, 2012 Oct 30, 2012 Automated fulfilling of currency exchange requests over a computer network
Very interesting information. We appreciate the feedback, and it’s interesting to know about it and perhaps cover it. We would be glad to receive more information. How do you reckon will it affect them in the UK, and Europe, where they mainly operate?
So now that over a year has passed since your ridiculous statement, and Transferwise is still booming, are you starting to feel silly yet?
At the bottom of TransferWise.com home page there is a video called “How TransferWise Works” yet the video does not explain anything how actually TW works… Also, can I or can I not send money by email (like Paypal does) using TW? More clarity would be useful?
Hello John, thank you for your comment! We would be very happy to assist you with understanding the TransferWise model.
In regards to your question – Transferwise is nothing like Paypal. It’s not an eWallet but rather a company that helps with bank-to-bank transfers, and does so quite efficiently. If you are looking for a smaller international transfer, you can also load your account with a debit card, and then commence a transfer (but it will arrive a the recipient’s bank account, rather than his “Transferwise account”).
We would be glad to hear if it eventually worked out for you, how easy it was to sign up, etc. We do our utmost efforts to provide accurate information based on clients’ experiences. Your experience can help people with making the right decisions.
Send money abroad with TRANSFERWISE,they charge only a small fee compared to the banks,the exchange rate is excellent and you can get your first transfer for free(no fee charged)
I’ve been using TransferWise to send money abroad. Really easy and a lot cheaper than the bank! Sign up now and get your first transfer up to £3000 for free.
I made 2 transfers so far and very good service overall
Really easy, secure and super fast.
I’ve been using TransferWise to send money abroad. Really easy and a lot cheaper than the bank! Sign up now and get your first transfer up to £3000 for free. I’ve made three transfers so far and it’s very easy, super fast and secure
Dear Sergio stop spamming this website trying to sell your Vouchers for Transferwise.
Saw the advert in Facebook. A bit anxious to transfer £1,000 to Republic of Ireland. On my first attempt it didn’t went through because my bank block the transfer. I email them, have a reply the next day. Really helpful. So I try again and it went through. Only take a day to transfer through to Ireland. Really please with the service and its rate. Only regards is not knowing it earlier. Will definitely used it again in the future. Will update the next transfer if it’s as good as the first. So far I’m upsolutelymover the moon.
Mrs K, Thank you so much for sharing your experience with us. Many of our readers are anxious as you were before trying Transferwise, and other companies reviewed on our website.
This sort of feedback help them take the extra step, and once and for all get done with their banks’ unproportional fees on money transfers and foreign exchange.
If you could publish how much you ended up paying in fees, and whether the exchange rate was truly mid-market exchange rate as advertised, it would help. Cheers.
There’s something I’m still not clear.
I understood TransferWise will match 2 people in 2 different countries, each wanting to send money to the other country. I understood too that TransferWise only operates in USA and Europe. I noticed that it seems to be possible to transfer / exchange EUR in MYR (or, at least, this pair of currencies is available to match in TransferWise).
How does this work then? If this service is not available in Malaysia how can money be transferred / exchanged into MYR? Isn’t it needed a customer with a bank account in Malaysia and willing to transfer MYR to Europe? Am I missing anything?
Hi. To address your question – Transferwise will deal with MYR. They can send money to Malaysia but unable to take on Malaysian clients who want to send money out of the country. I hope this clarifies what you needed to know. I’m afraid very few companies will take on Malaysian client (unless they are expats who currently leave in Malaysia).
I am trying to use transferwise from Jamaica to send to India and I’m unbale to do so. Could you please explain how do I go about using transferwise because I am very interested.
Hello, thank you for your inquiry. Transferwise doesn’t accept Jamaican clients (nor Indian clients). Other Foreign Exchange firms we have reviewed won’t either. I’m assuming you’ll have to use local remittances services. I mean, Jamaica is a huge remittances corridor but usually the other way around, money is being sent into Jamaica (and that you can easily do with companies like World First).
worst website ever to transfer the money ,, hold the funds for ages ,rude customer care services
Hello Olah, and thank you for your comment. To get a specific reply from Transferwise we would like you to send more details about yourself and the transaction you made. If you are uncomfortable publishing them, find this contact form on our about us page.
Look around you, every single other review of Transferwise is a 5 star one.
So either you’re doing it wrong, or everyone else in the world is wrong and you are right.
I know which one my money is on . . .
Hi Olah!
We´re sorry for any inconvenience. Don´t hesitate to contact us on [email protected]. We would be more than happy to have a closer look and get it sorted.
Best regards!
I sent a not really big amount of money to test how the service works and do some transfers with it and for my surprise they lost my money or it what seems.It was already few days ago and noone of the parts has recived nothing.They said is bank fault and bank says I must speak with them….
They are obviously liable to any transfer conducted by them. This is very weird, and we appreciate if you keep us updated. We have not encountered similar complaints throughout our extensive research of the company.
I have used Transferwise for moths and have done it many times and I can say that I am so happy with this company Sometimes the money gets into my account in the same day. Never problems. I will continue using Transferwise. Very good rate and simple to use. So happy.
I wish I have discovered this company earlier. I would have safe hundred of pounds. Thank you. So happy honestly.
Just adding onto the question from Filipe above
How does transferwise match p2p payments to Malaysia if they are not present in Malaysia and cannot accept Malaysian currency
Best
They way I understand it they do have a bank account in Malaysia. They are able to deal with the currency. So if you need to send money to Malaysia, you send money domestically in the UK to their UK bank account, and they would send funds from their bank account in Malaysia to your destination in Ringgit. The fact they not able to take on local clients is a whole separated topic – it requires regulation, risk assessment, a designated staff, etc.
Hi,
I have used the service to transfer to Russia from UK, and I should say that I am completely dissatisfied. The transfer gets delayed without any explanation (except standard security checks) for over 2 days. I know there is always the a “reason” behind it, but you are never informed beforehand about such delays, even more, the initial screen says you that you will receive within a day but it has been more than 2 days the money has not even left transferwise and afterwards it will take extra 3 days to arrive.
Very dissatisfied, Unistream or the banks standard swift transfer is much better.
Martin, thank you for your feedback. You should look into other services recommended on our website, as banks usually charge high spreads on the GBPRUB pair. Using a service like World First should be much more cost efficient for you (as would Transferwise, but you were not satisfied with their service, doesn’t say others wouldn’t be better).
Just wondering if you can use TW to send money from Australia to the US?
That is definitely possible for a fixed rate of 0.7% above 285AUD with additional AUD10 to SWIFT destination. Overall it’s a good choice. If that helped you use our “Get Your Free Quote” button. Cheers.
No comments seen up to now for expats living in Spain. At the present time my pension is paid direct to my Spanish bank. My main concern is the exchange rate, never knowing what it is at the time of payment. If I instructed the Pension service to pay in to my UK bank then transferred to me by yourselves, would I be much better.
Hi Peter, thank you for your comment. Yes you should be much better with Transferwise than you are with your bank. Banks LOVE to prey on people who don’t even know what’s the exchange rate they are getting. With Transferwise the exchange rates would always be 0.5% on Pound to Euro. The problem is that you cannot do this automatically as Transferwise do no support regular transfers. You can deposit your pension in your UK bank and manually transfer it every month (it’s online, and after verifying your details it will take you less than 5 minutes to do so every month).
Alternatively, you can contact companies like Currencies Direct that enable regular transfers. You can have your pension deposited directly into your segregated client accounts (in the UK) and transferred automatically to your Spanish banks in Euros. We are certain they will demonstrate saving of upwards of 50% in comparison to your bank.
Thanks very much that sounds like a win win situation.
Regards Peter
If you would eventually use Currencies Direct or Transferwise, or both, please come back here to share your experience (on the relevant review page). It can help others if who are in similar positions.
Also if you do choose Currencies Direct be sure to ask for the nearest office – they have 18 spread all over Spain so there must be something fairly close. It makes the experience so much better – knowing your dealer in person.
Do you think it safe to send a large amount, over £100,000, from the UK to New Zealand using Transferwise?
Also. In the help section they mention a limit of $85,000 nzd (£38500 gbp) per transaction when sending to a New Zealand account.
This would mean making 3 separate transactions. Is this true and also is this the case when sending from my own UK bank.
Thanks.
Hello Craig, thank you for your question.
1. Transferwise is completely safe. As noted on our review it is reporting trading volumes of £500m per month at the moment, so £100,000 is nothing they can’t handle, to say at the least.
2. Indeed the limit on NZD transfers is $85,000 nzd, regardless of the bank account you use to fund the transfer. That means 3 separate transfers as you indicated.
3. Is Transferwise the best company for you to make this transaction considering the limitations? Possibly, but it’s always great to shop around. Other firms will not limit you on the money you can transfer in one go (they might break the transfer down to 3 separate payments, but it will be a seamless process to you). High rated companies on our website include World First, Currencies Direct,
Moneycorp and TorFX. There a reasonable chance they could beat Transferwise’s 0.7% fixed margin on a transfer of more than 100,000.
EDIT FROM EDITOR: THIS IS A FAKE REVIEW FROM SOMEONE WHO TRIES TO PUSH HIS AFFILIATE CODE FOR TRANSFERWISE.
A GOOD EXAMPLE HOW SOME CLIENT REVIEWS FOUND ONLINE COULD BE DISHONEST.
“Great Rates and First Transfer Free
TransferWise has the best exchange rates and lowest fees I have seen for both personal and business transfers. I have already saved so much money by using TransferWise, and I have never had any problems with them. Transfers are secure and fast.
Get your first transfer completely free up to $4500/£3000/4000 Euro by using this link”
Bad experience. I signed up and transfer $3,000 from us to my sister in Scotland. they wouldn’t deduct money asking me to send photo of my id beside my face. i did but the computer will not accept, before i came back from 4 days business trip to Canada my TW account has been closed. that was too fast and not too accurate of TW
Hey Angila, thank you for sharing your experience with them. Definitely sounds like closing an account within 4 days is too soon. Could be growing pains for the U.S office. Have you tried using other companies? World First and Currencies Direct are extremely U.S oriented and regulated on vast majority of states (and operating there for years already, unlike Transferwise).
It’s quite simple.
It is standard practice for TransferWise to verify the identity of all its customers sending money with them.
It is clearly explained in the FAQ’s and in the emails that you receive during the sign up process, that everyone needs to go through this, before they can send any money. They therefore have a feature for you to pre-complete this process , ahead of any future transactions.
Clearly, you hadn’t done this, not only that, but the very first transaction you try to do is from a country that you don’t live in, and you wonder why it didn’t work????
Thanks for that SimonM, that’s true, but 4 days just sounds a bit harsh. She simply did not have the time to verify her identity.
Hi Angila!
Thank you for the feedback, it´s appreciated as we´re always trying to improve. We´re very sorry for the inconvenience. Please contact us on [email protected], so we can have a closer look on the case.
Best regards!
TransferWise works fine. However I have discovered there is very little difference in the exchange rates between the overseas funds withdrawn from my Chase bank and Capital One debit card accounts, and having the funds sent direct to my overseas banks through Transferwise. I think they overestimate the projected savings quite a bit. For me the savings have been miniscule.
Hello Scott, Thank you for your reply. Their USD exchange rate markups are a bit wider than the Pound and Euro, but still saving against bank should have been very noticeable.
Could you share what was their markup in comparison to the inter-bank price, and which currencies were transferred?
Currencies transferred were US dollar to Indian Rupee. I did a test. I took 1000 Rs from my Chase bank and Capital 1 bank accounts at a local ATM. Chase Bank charged me $15.06 (Rupee 1000.00 X 0.01462000 (EXCHG RTE) + 0.44 (EXCHG RTE ADJ).
Capital One charged 14.60 (I guess there is a significant difference between these two so forget about Chase bank in this equation}
TransferWise was advertising a rate of 68.70 per dollar on this day (2/25) which is slightly better than Capital One, but if you were to take the TransferWise fee into account, Capital one would have had the better deal.
Thank you Scott! Useful information.
– The services are non-comparable. Debit card foreign exchange withdrawal charges in comparison to an international money transfer between banks. Sending money from Chase or Capital One via wire to India would have costed you $15-$30 per transaction on top of the FX margins.
– You happened to use the most expensive currency pairing at Transferwise. For Indian Rupee transfers Transferwise is as 3 times more expensive than its cheapest currency pairings. You can view the complete fee overview on our review.
– The exchange rate changes rapidly throughout the day. Feb 25 is a great example for that as USD/INR started at 68.42 and peaked to about 68.88! Quite a difference. So in order to truly compare you need to do it at the exact same moment (or at least within 30 mins from each other).
– Services we cover are more suitable for $x,xxx transfers (in Transferwise’s case), or $xx,xxx-$x,xxx,xxx transfers (other recommended companies). In such transfers even a slightly cheaper rate is very meaningful.
Hope that helped you, cheers.
Well I disagree. They are comparable in the sense that my outcome is to get the least expensive exchange rate whether that be through ATM withdrawal or Wire transfer. Yes, the ATM transfer is limited to $300, but still, in the case of Capital One, on this one occasion anyway, it had a slightly better rate than TransferWise. So I guess for smaller amounts I will go with the ATM, and for larger amounts I will use TransferWise into my Indian Bank. If you find fault with my logic please let me know.
Hi Scott, thank you for your continued participation. We really appreciate that. Of course that in YOUR case, as an expatriate living in India you can definitely compare between the two and choose the one that fits you better. What we meant to say is that this comparison is not applicable for most people as they use services like Transferwise to make payments abroad.
Your conclusion is definitely reasonable to us. We suggest you compare other services for your larger transfers, because as we mentioned Transferwise aren’t the cheapest when it comes to INR. Currencies Direct for instance, will allow you to fix current rates using a forward contracts so you won’t have to worry at all about the rate’s fluctuations. The thing about FX companies is that you can lay out your requirements to them and they can suggest the best course of action (their guidance is free of charge). Feel free to browse further through our site and learn more about the services they offer.
Hi,
My name is Phillip Victor Mills from Australia. I deposited AUD 1400 yesterday to send it to India but I see my account is deactivated. Why did you deactivate my account and when will my recipient get that fund? I just saw your mail that you received my money and since then, I couldn’t access to my account. Is that how you guys work? I was using Orbit Remit and thought to give you a try seeing your great currency conversion rate. I want you to give me a valid reason for my account deactivation and status about my payment which is with you at the moment. I have sent my bank statement which was used to send money to you along with my ID proof to you.
Kindly look into the matter and reactivate my account so I can transfer more and can check my account status. Don’t play with your customer for god sake. I will be very much thankful to you.
Thanks,
Phillip
Philip thank you for your feedback. I’ll ask Transferwise to send a representative to come here and respond.
I used TransferWise for the first time last week. Personally, I have only positive things to say. I wanted to test it out first, just to ensure that my money doesn’t get lost anywhere.
So I decided to transfer £36.90 (which was equivalent to $50) to an indonesian bank account and was charged £2. The money was sent on the 2nd business working day.
I then sent £591.73 (which was equivalent to $850) and was charged £8.74. I’m new to transferring money abroad and I wouldn’t know if I was getting a fair deal or not but to me it seemed fair to be charged £10.74 to transfer £628.63 ($900) especially after Paypal was charging £40. I also checked out my local MoneyShop and they were charging £25. So obviously, after knowing that TW would only charge £10.74 I decided to go with them.
On a side note, their exchange rate was pretty decent when compared online with XE.com and with Google.
Another thing I loved about them is their “app”. Brilliant it is. So much information on the app. Tells you exactly what is happening with your money, ie. being converted, being sent etc. The best thing I liked about it was how it stored the previous recipients details and in a few clicks, I sent my second transfer with so much ease. All I had to do was tap in the security code on the back of my card and that was it.
Will I use TransferWise again? you bet ya I would. Would I tell my friends about this app? Is that a question to ask? I’ve already told them! ha!
Thanks TransferWise. Keep up the good work.
PS. I did’nt really have a “free” period as claimed by some of the earlier posts. It might have stopped now. Nevertheless, I would still use them.
Mohammed, thank you for the elaborated feedback, we genuinely appreciate it. Did you experience with any other commercial foreign exchange companies that you can compare your experience to?
Hello,
I gone through most of the reviews and their respective replies.
Thanks to Scott, as he found out more cheaper way to transfer $ to INR. (under special circumstances)
My question is I want to transfer £ to INR, would still TW is the best option you suggest or I need to do more surfing to get the best deals.
Regards
Kushal
Hi Kushal and thank you for your review. Many of the companies reviewed on this website handle the GBPINR pairing. Currencies Direct have a local office and bank settlement in India, for example, and also a very low transfer minimum of £100. World First also handles the INR and has a best price guarantee for UK-based clients, meaning that if you approach them with a lower price they should match – the only problem is that they won’t transfer anything below £1,000.
The very best way to conduct a thorough research is browse through the reviews and sign up with 3-4 to your liking; then, you can compare their real-time rates and negotiate the pricing, and only then, make a decision on the matter. Good luck!
Hi guys, great job on this review & the comments have helped a lot. I haven’t tried out this service yet but I intend to. I need it primarily to send money to the UK from India. Does TW handle those transactions? I’m sure my bank charges me a bomb & hence if I could use this service, it’d be really helpful since I can always transfer anytime, anywhere. Do give your inputs. Thanks!
Hi Ankit, you welcome, happy you enjoyed this review. Ineed Transferwise supports the GBPINR corridor and many of its clients use it for remittances to Asia. The rate markup is slightly worse than sending Pounds to Euro (0.7% as opposed to 0.5% on routes like GBP to Euro), but still is a very effective mean of transfer. Please do give it a go and let us know your thoughts on the service. Cheers!
Hello, i want to join transferwise, but since i’ve found that i need to be a European client, i have a doubt:
I’m european, but i have money in Brazil which is under my wifes account (shes brazilian).
On the site it says that i can transfer money from BRL reals to Euros. Is it possible to make this transfer from my wifes acccount in brazil to my account (in portugal) using transferwise?
Hi Hugo, good question. If you are European you would be able to use Transferwise but we assume they won’t have a local settlement in Brazil. That means you would have to send money from Brazil in Real to a bank account in the USA / Europe, pay the full wire fees (probably 30-50 dollars), and get Transferwise to exchange these funds and move them forward to their final destination.
For a transfer of 1,000 or 2,000 it won’t be worth it. For larger transfers it might. Be sure to read about Currency Solutions that have a local trading partner in Brazil (but they won’t deal with you if it’s a small transfer). Good luck!
Thats good one
DO NOT TRUST TRANSFERWISE!
I tried to use them and was given a “guaranteed” exchange rate… After I deposited money for the transfer, they did not give the recipient the option to accept and then decided to change the exchange rate they had just “guaranteed” for the transaction. Instead of honouring our “guaranteed” agreement and keeping up their end of the transfer, TransferWise then tried to cancel my initial transfer and charge me a significantly higher amount than the one promised.
Still in shock that they would “guarantee” an exchange rate and change their mind/ charge me much more for the transfer after I had already deposited my money.
USE A DIFFERENT COMPANY!
Thank you Max! Did you check the “Fix Rate” box upon transfer? This is the first time we hear something like this.
I signed up with TransferWise and tried to send money from my CAD account to my EUR account. To set up direct debit in my CAD account, TransferWise asked for my internet banking login and password. That is, they asked me for full, unrestricted access to my bank account. Every bank in the world has a clause in their contract that forbids the customer to reveal their password to anyone. Providing my password to TranserWise would immediately void the protection I get from my bank against fraud. I’ve set up direct debit with several businesses in the past, and no one ever asked for my internet banking password. TransferWise poses a huge security risk. Let’s give them the benefit of the doubt and say they’re not crooks harvesting bank account login details with the purpose of stealing money. Still, they have to store this information somewhere. What a beautiful target for hackers! Ashely Madison, LinkedIn, Vodafone, Gmail, Tumblr all had user data and passwords stolen by hackers. Heck, even the FBI and the IRS (USA’s tax bureau) have been hacked. The day hackers will crack into TransferWise’s database and empty your account, your bank won’t cover the loss, because you will have breached the contract.
Hi,
This is the first time I ever heard about Transferwise or any other company asking for a client’s banking details, and I am not sure they are permitted to ask that due to the reasons you have stated above.
If it’s true, it is indeed a concerning issue. Let me try to get their response on that.
I’ve contacted them and their response was:
I don’t quote follow their logic. Because any company with my account number can take money in my account pretending that I’ve authorized direct debit, it will be more secure if they have my account number and my password? Um, no it won’t!
The need to give them my internet banking password was a complete show-stopper for me in Canada. I contacted my bank about it and they confirmed that giving them my login details would violate the terms and conditions on my bank account, and they said they did not approve of the TransferWise approach. This make TransferWise expensive in Canada, as the only other option to send them money is a Swift wire transfer.
This absolutely sounds unreasonable. I never heard of any company requiring the internet banking password from anyone. The cost of sending them the funds via wire wouldn’t make serious dent in the overall cost if you are sending $10,000+.
Actually, I just did a couple of TransferWise transfers to Canada, and your information seems to be incomplete. They also offer direct deposit into bank accounts: all you need is standard bank account info that you can get from a cheque–that’s what I used. I certainly agree with you about not giving them your bank login details: I don’t know why they would even offer such a ludicrously insecure option. However, Swift is certainly not their only other option.
Hi FXer, thank you so much for your feedback. This is definitely the standard procedure – to send money domestically to a segregated bank account. This is also what we know.
Hi,
I like this comparison. Thanks a lot!
You welcome! Thank you for the heartwarming compliment.
Hi!
I recently send £500 to my account in the Philippines and expected to receive today 29 July but until now has not been credited to my account as I have an online account from the Phils in which I am updated. Kindly assist. Thank you!
I am unable to assist you but request a Transferwise rep to go on-board, and hopefully they will be able to do so. Please let us know how it went through.
DO NOT USE THIS SERVICE. They quote one rate and then use a different rate. I would not trust them.
Hi Sam could you elaborate on that more?
Have a look at our review if you haven’t. You can SECURE your right when you book the order, if you don’t – they will choose the rate upon receiving your funds.
IF you did secure your rate and it was the one you booked, then we would like to know about it.
Dear Sam.
Thanks for leaving your feedback and our apologies for any misunderstanding or if the information wasn’t clear enough since the beginning.
We always use the mid-market rate to convert your money and there are no extra fees for your recipient.
At the beginning of the payment process we show an approximate amount the recipient will get and will convert your money using the mid-market rate at the moment the conversion is done.
For certain currency routes we can offer a guaranteed exchange rate, although this only happens for payments from GBP, USD, EUR and AUD, only for specific routes and if we receive your money during a specific time frame.
There’s also the possibility to make Specific Amount Payments, so that your recipient will get an exact amount (this also applies to certain routes and currencies). You can read more about it on our FAQ (help) section of the site.
In any case, you’re more than welcome to contact us directly so we can help you with any payment.
All the best
The TransferWise Support Team
I recently done a years working holiday in Australia I used TransferWise to send my Australian Dollars back to the UK twice whilst I was there and once when I arrived back just to get the last bits of my cash.
The process was very very simple to do using the app for my iPhone I never had any issues which great as this can be scary to put your trust into a company and not just use banks.
They also stayed in contact with me via email throughout which was reassuring.
I’m glad I used TransferWise and saved a lot of money in charges and transfer rates.
Overall I’m very impressed and would recommend to anyone.
Thank you so much for your valuable feedback! We appreciate the time you took to write this comment. Cheers!
Transferwise Is a Scam in terms of time since they claim that their given time is an “estimate”, I gave them a test run with 5 dolars from Canada to Mexico, took them 2 days to get the money from my bank account to theirs (in 2016 when an electronic transfer would take tops 2 hours and a payment with my debit card would be instantaeous), then, contrary to what I would have expected told me that the transfer in order to be completed would take 6 days (natural days of course, because in their own words, they do work with financial institutions monday through friday and no holidays), still, tried to get a smarter answer other than this corporate bullshit, even stated a few long stablished competitors and they sticked to their same poor answers. If you search for reliability on dates DO NOT ENTRUST TRANSFERWISE, THEY DO NOT STICK TO WHAT THEY OFFER!, yeah they might give a slighlty better exchange rate but how good is that if a money transfer overal (including the excuses) would take 7-9 days to actually have moved the money from one country bank account to another???, yeah, some others rate is terrible and expensive but at least they stick to their word and transfer the funds from one country to another in 2 hours, So it would cost me 15 USD to transfer 500 USD from Canada to Mexico in an Hour, and about 8 USD to transfer from Canada to Mexico in 7-9 Days, are 12 dollars really worth the wait? I’ll just leave that question open.
Thank you for your opinion. Money transfer companies are not people who require the quickest possible service. Obviously since they use banks to wire funds across the globe, interacting directly with banks would always be slightly faster (and a whole cheaper). I can tell you what I think happened in your case – you sent through only *5* dollars from Canada to Mexico – so they probably waited on a larger transfer to come through using the same currencies, and made the two transfers in one go (to minimize their costs). If they would have not done this – the fee they charge on a measly 5 buck transfer would not even cover their own payment costs!
You are absolutely wrong on the fees you paid with Transferwise in comparison to banks. Have a look at RBC’s site. Min. $20 wire fee per transfer, which does not include their exchange rate. We’re talking about x10 the fees using banks on small transfers… and about 80% saving against the banks. For 500 CAD to MXN you would probably pay 1.5% i.e. 12.5 CAD and with banks probably 4% margin + wire fees = $CA 50. Quite a difference, don’t you think?
To summarize, this service is geared towards people who are interested in saving. They will usually get a fast service of 24h to any destination when they are sending at least several hundreds of dollars. If you need to send 5 dollars abroad and you need the quickest possible mean of doing that you can use Paypal or a bank wire and pay a lot more, but your use case is quite unique.
Thank you so much for taking the time to give us your feedback, and we want to extend our apologies if the information didn’t seem to be clear since the beginning.
When sending money from certain currencies, such as USD or CAD, customers have the choice to make the payment using ACH Bank Debit. This method is the cheapest one, but it may take a few working days for us to receive the money.
With Direct Debit, the money is taken by your bank and sent to us, but the time frame may vary from 1 and up to 4 working days (it can take a bit longer if a weekend gets in between). Once we receive the money, we can do the conversion and proceed with sending the payment to the recipient.
I fully understand this might seem too long, especially if you’re just sending 5 dollars, but due to the nature of the ACH Direct Debit, then we’re unable to speed up this process. This process is a bit long, but it’s definitely the cheapest one.
We’re working on adding new and faster payment methods to our platform, and hopefully this process will be much faster.
Once again, we want to apologize if the information wasn’t clear since the beginning or if this time frame wasn’t clearly explained in the payment flow.
Please, don’t hesitate contacting us on [email protected] so we can help you and make your experience much easier.
Best wishes
Juan from TransferWise Support
They kept my money for 16 days, and they still owe me.
I live temporarily in another country, and use to transfer money at least twice per month. I found Transferwise a great solution to do that, but my experience was totally different.
I paid the max amount allowed to transfer, after few days I received an email form the Transferwise regarding some problem in my transaction, I did the adjusts to continue and they didn’t. Immediately I canceled the process and asked for refund, then all my nightmare started.
Everytime that I started to talk with “support”, nobody recognised my case, most of them said that I never paid the Transferwise. I almost had a colapse….
After tons of proofs and tons of emails with all “support team”, they “FOUND” my case and decided to refound my money.
But for my suprise, they return an incorrect value, with a couple bucks less…..
I’m still fighting with Transferwise to return all my money.
In resume, Transferwise:
– No support.
– Nobody knows what’s happening with the clients.
– They keep your money as they wish.
– Strange methods
Hello Eduardo could you provide more details about your case? I’ll ask a Transferwise rep to join on-board, and will try to pace things up for you to get refunded as soon as possible. Help me get to the bottom of this by providing all the necessary details. If you don’t want to publish them publicly shoot us an email via the contact form on our About Us page.
Dear Eduardo
Thank you so much for your feedback.
We are very sorry for the inconvenience and hassle you have faced. Our aim is to make the transfers as smooth and easy as possible.
Unfortunately sometimes there are still some unexpected difficulties and we need some documents to solve them. We are working hard to avoid that kind of trouble in the future.
Our support team sent you an email with further information about your refund. Refunds to some currencies (e.g. BRL) take some time due to the way banks are regulated and can also carry a fee (charged by the bank) which unfortunately we cannot avoid, but we’re doing the best we can to improve this situation.
In the meanwhile, if you have any questions, don´t hesitate to contact us on [email protected], we would be happy to help.
With best regards,
TransferWise Support
You response to Eduardo is inadequate. You advertise a crystal clear transparent system with no ‘hidden fees’. You have not kept to those terms. Further, if payment does not complete there should be a 100% refund, no quibbling, no excuses.
Hi there,
The system seems to be great, but I would need to transfer Euros from a Spanish account to USDs in a Zambian account. Is this feasible? The geographical coverage of the service is not quite clear to me.
Thanks in advance for your explanations!
Thank you for your inquiry Cristina. Of course Transferwise does handle the EURUSD corridor but they would not be able to transfer your funds to Zambia. I suggest you do use them but get the money in USD back into your Spanish bank account. Then transfer the funds to Zambia in the same currency which should not be that expensive.
Hey Cristina.
Thanks for your message.
At the moment we can only send payments in USD to bank accounts located inside the USA.
We hope to expand this service in the future and to be able to send USD to different places around the world, although there’s no ETA yet for it.
The way we manage to reduce costs around the world is by sending money in the local currency using the local banking system. We hope to offer a more varied and flexible offer to our customers, but the process may be longer than expected for it to happen. We’ll make sure to let everyone know about it once we can offer this kind of services.
Please, don’t hesitate contacting us via [email protected] in case you have any doubts or if you require any additional information. Always happy to help.
Best wishes,
very good company analysis!
Thank you Wilton, cheers.
I have been using Transferwise now for over a year now, I have done many transactions to My own account in Spain, and to other private individuals and businesses in Spain.
Every single time, it has been a fast, efficient service, the process has been smooth and simple, the funds have always arrived on time.
Once you have the details of your recipients set up, along with whatever different payment sources you wish to use, it literally takes a few clicks and less than a minute to send money to a regular recipient.
Thank you for your feedback SimonM.
This review seems disproportionately positive. For a British company a 5% or even a 3% complaint rate is quite high.
Further many of the complaints made are quite substantial. I found them to be intrusive, rude and quite arrogant.
They also cancelled my transfer with no explanation whatsoever.
Hi Brian. We feel the review has been very balanced pointing out the good and bad things about Transferwise, and even highly recommending other companies for larger transactions.
In terms of service, we hardly found any complaints online. In your opinion 3-5% complaints out of overall review count is much, but we feel we have a better ground for comparison, after reviewing more than 30 companies on this website and carefully reading almost any money transfer experience/review we could get our hands on online. No other company boasts as nearly as many reviews as they have, and the 3-5% complaints among them are in the same lines as with other fx companies. So Transferwise is definitely top 10% in the ratio of good versus bad reviews. In addition to the above, we sent through a mystery shopper who was very happy with the experience and rates, and we have collected a substantial number of comments on this page, most of which are positive. Also, the company has been extremely responsive to us. They are one of few companies who bothered responding to clients on this website.
If you are able to contact us with more details about your specific transaction we would be more than happy to send a representative from Transferwise over here to address it.
Personally I think that any problems that people have experienced, have been self inflicted, due to the user either not reading Transferwise ‘s terms and policy, or not understanding how international monetary transactions, can be affected by where the money is going from and to.
Every financial institution has a responsibility and obligations to limit and prevent the possibility of money laundering.
Many countries around the world, are associated with money laundering, fraud, or the funding of terrorism, and therefore will be subject to either extended controls, partial-sanctions or even full sanctions.
So, if for example, you want to suddenly set up a recipeint in Mexico, and then send $3,000 there . . . .
Mexico is the drug-trafficking and people trafficking capital of the world.
OF COURSE this is going to be problematic and difficult, it isn’t TW’s fault, it’s the users fault.
India and Africa, are responsible for more than half of all fraud committed online.
Obviously again, sending money to or from these destinations is going to be difficult.
Most of the middle-east is sanctioned due to the involvement in , or the funding of terrorism.
In a Nutshell , if you’re going to send money to:
India and other small Asian countries.
Africa
The Middle-East.
South America
Then don’t be surprised when you end up with issues or delays , especially with your first transactions to a particular recipient.
Every sending and receiving country has its rules and regulations.
Every money transfer company has it’s own rules and policies.
Every sending and receiving bank, has its own rules and policies.
If you haven’t checked what can and can’t be done, then it’s your own problem.
You cannot hold TransferWise responsible for your own mistakes.
You only have to look at how polarised the opinions presented here are, to see, that many people use TransferWise regularly with no problems whatsoever, contrasted by people whose only complaint is deletes or refusals, due to the source or destination concerned.
TransferWise is a brilliant service for those who use use correctly.
Unfortunately, having common sense, is not a prerequisite, to opening an account.
I agree with the majority of what you wrote. Risk management is the core of the business, and complying with the Anti Money Laundering rules (which we wrote in length about) is obligatory. Yet, closing down an account within 4 days seems too harsh.
Hi so you might be aware that recently in India 500 and 1000 INR notes are no longer legal tender and because of the backlash of this change, a lot of ATMs are running out of money really fast. Aquiring cash is extremely difficult at the moment and causing a lot of problems for tourists such as myself… I am from the US and have a Chase Bank account. I am staying at a hotel that doesn’t normally accept credit card payments but due to the difficulties with getting cash right now they said I can try and transfer money online to one of the staff’s Indian bank accounts. Essentially I will be trying to transfer less than 100 USD to an Indian account but I’ll be doing this from my iphone while I am here at the hotel in India. Do you expect this to work out without too many problems?
Hi Mark. In all honesty, the answer is no. Indeed an unfortunate situation in India, and bank wires seem like a good way to pay for your hotel, but signing up with Transferwise from the USA isn’t as easy as the UK. Not worthy of the time and trouble for the measly amount saved in the process. It is also very possible you would have to send some document scans through, which is impossible from your hotel in India through your mobile. If I were you, I would just send the funds directly from Chase, and forget about the $30 wire fees they would charge.
Hi Mark!
Sorry to hear about the hassle you are facing. As mentioned, due to the way we are regulated in the USA, we need to verify before you are able to make the transfer. However, if you have Social Security Number, the verification process is rather simple and you won´t need to upload any documents. You can read more about it here http://bit.ly/2gcioCd and if you have any questions, let us know on [email protected], we´re happy to help.
Best regards!
Thank you for the helpful comment, Transferwise guys!
I woke up this morning to a message from TransferWise that my transfer to my Philippine bank account has been completed. I logged in to find out that THERE IS NO MONEY THERE. I used the service before and am extremely disappointed. How can they mark a transfer completed when it is NOT? Plus, they changed the rate when I do not know whose fault it is that “The transfer took longer than expected.” Now I have been waiting for 2 hours for their customer support line to open.
SO SO SO SO SO DISTRESSING. I am not sure I will use the service again, to think that I even recommended it to a friend who is now using the service.
Hi Jewellyn. Since Transferwise’s representatives are onboard, I will let them respond directly but I have two notes.
a. Sometimes it takes an extra day for your local branch to receive an inbound payment from abroad.
b. Securing the rate is definitely possible. Read through our review and see how. The gist of it is that you need to tick the box that says “fix rate” and pay a small deposit with your debit card. If you don’t do that, Transferwise’s service might become a lot more expensive.
Hi Bunda. I will let them respond but from my perspective you clearly are not familiar with AML rules (please read here); In a gist – Transferwise and other similar providers must undergo very deep scrutinization of their business and thus they can ask for details and documents just to comply with that. If you refuse to provide sufficient documentation then it is only sensible they closed your account down. Any other money transfer provider would, as well.
Just used transfer wise for first time ,every thing ok with transfer,after reading your reviews you have not asked me for photo I’d,will this be a problem in the future
Great to hear about your positive experience Barry. Where do you live? Transferwise can verify your identity based on the information you have provided without the need for a photo ID, if you live in the UK or the EU (and possibly, Australia and USA – depending on your precise location).
In that case, could someone from Transferwise please explain exactly what kind of ID is required to sign up from Italy in order to receive occasional payments from the US? Having to send one’s SIGNATURE into the ether is ridiculous to my mind – I don’t think anybody can guarantee protection of data that sensitive at this point in time.
Thank you.
Hi Jane, I will send this inquiry over to TW’s people. Most companies can auto-verify EU-based accounts based on data without requiring any documents.
Thanks, that’s great! Would you mind asking whether the same is true for US residents? I might then be able to convince a customer to sign up.
Hi, the Transferwise representative will come here and address your questions fully (I hope!).
USA is a bit different than other destinations and it will probably depend on state law rather than federal law. In any case since, there shouldn’t be any particular issues signing up with Transferwise from there.
You can send your prospective client over to this page to read more about the company. Thank you!
Hi Jane,
Thank you for reaching out to us! Due to the way we are regulated, we need to verify all of our customers. However, if you would be the recipient and would like to only to receive the money and not to send, you don´t even need to sign up and therefore we wouldn´t need any documents from you.
If the person is sending USD from US, we will ask for the SSN verification. SSN check is required due to the way we are regulated in the US. If the SSN is not accepted, then they will also have an option to verify yourself via ID document. SSN verification is done automatically through the relevant page on our website and is completely secure.
You can read more about the verification procedures here http://bit.ly/2eXz6Es We hope that you and your client can give us a try. Please don´t hesitate to contact us on [email protected] if you have any questions, we´re happy to help.
With best regards,
Laura from TransferWise Support
Hi Laura
Thanks for getting back to me! I’ll talk about it with my client and hopefully we’ll both sign up. If I’ve understood correctly from the link to your site, with a bit of luck I should be able to have my identity and personal info verified without having to upload any documents. As I said at the outset, it’s the signature that worries me, all the rest should already be in the databases.
Many thanks, to you and to moneytransfercomparison.
Best regards
Jane
You’re welcomed, cheers!
Thanks, you do a great job. It’s been very illuminating reading through all the reviews.
I want to leave a very positive review about them. I have used Transferwise now over 10 times in the last month to make money transfers to Mexico. All I can say is that they have been flawless in their execution from customer service to the speed of the transfer. When I ran into some problems at the beginning for not being able to verify my account, they were always able to help me along the way by using the chat function with direct and live customer support. After that initial hiccup all my transfers have been completed in a matter of 2 days. Their rates are extremely competitive and their transfers are happening from a local Mexican bank which avoids some of the issues with account restrictions in Mexico e.g. having a freeze for 6 months of money transfers from abroad. I definitely recommend them to others, especially for money transfers to Mexico.
Very happy to hear that, Ariel. USA/Mexico is one of the largest remittance corridors in the world, and it is also heavily abused based on information from the World Bank; We are happy to hear Transferwise can accommodate that needs easily and fairly.
I was wondering if I could get some more details about how to would work sending money from my Canadian bank account to my Dutch bank account. What fees will be taken? Do I just give them my Canadian and Dutch bank info and they handle everything? Thank you!
Hi Jessica! Thank you for your feedback. It will cost you exactly 1% of the lump sum sent (minimum CA$3), up to CAD 9,500. Anything above that amount will be 0.7%. Not precisely as cheap as GBPEUR (0.5% for all amounts) but still a really good pricing as the North American currency corridors tend to be more expensive.
Just to say thanks for the very good comments and responses, its great to have this when using a new application or system and nervous. Been using ozforex for a few years now and very happy with their service but curious if can get better rates. I just created an account with transferwise, id authenticated within minutes and made a transfer $100 AUD->NZD. Deposited funds to TW and waiting now on the payment to go through. The only thing I don’t really like is that I can’t ‘lock in’ the exchange rate as with all other dedicated fx traders who give you a spot price guaranteed, but I understand this is a different way of operating using TW so I’ll see how this transfer goes and i set a rate limit to 1% as today AUD/NZD has been volitile so it could swing quite a bit in the next 24 hrs. Thanks again, CJ
Hi CJ, thank you for your feedback. There is a way to look the rate upon making a transfer. It is mentioned through this review, have a look. It is indeed very important to do so.
The transfer was made 7 business days ago and still hasn’t arrived. The recipient’s bank in Russia is saying they are unaware of any funds coming into the account or pending to be cleared and Transferwise support team was very unhelpful saying there is nothing they can do. They haven’t even tried to investigate what happened with the money.
Really problematic destination, but please do supply more information about the transfer. Transferwise’s representatives are around and can have a second look.
Transferwise is not reliable or trustworthy. They are holding $10K Australian of mine or JPY Y829443 for more than 2 weeks now. The money has not arrived even 1 week later after they said transfer completed. Probably be very lucky if I don’t lose the lot with another failed Forex broker. Reminds me of MX Global.
John, please provide more details about the transfer. It sounds very weird. Transferwise is anything but a “failed FX broker” and the chances of you losing your money are very slim in our opinion.
Can safely say one of the worse FX companies that I have come across. Will be using DailyFX from now. Customer service standards are shambolic. After spending an hour to them on the phone they completely ignored the problem. The matter is now being raised to the FCA, ICO and Financial Ombudsman.
What do you mean by “DailyFX”? That’s an informational site.
Could you share more details about your situation with Transferwise? We have representatives of theirs on board every once in a while to help prospective and existing clients.
Paid lesser than they guaranteed.
I used TransferWise and they have paid me lesser amount than they have promised. Liars !!
I am never coming back here again.
Could you provide details of your transfer? It is very unlikely that if you SECURED a rate and they have failed to grant it. On the other hand you might have NOT FOLLOWED on our guide, could this be the case, Ahmed?
I’m trying to make a transfer to Mex but it does not ask me for all the basic information. Like the name of the bank or account number of the person to receive this money. Not sure how they are going to be able to send this to the right person and bank? would you please assist with this? Is the first time I use your services.
Kind regards,
Hi Luis, we recommend you to go through with the transfer – don’t worry, you will have to fill in all these details before you fund the transfer.
They are one of the few fair alternatives to money transfer internationally.
The most of other services available are loan sharks.
I have appreciated a lot the low fees and the great, friendly and prompt customer support.
We have to support TransferWise because those guys are doing a great service to all of us, with not so much money, that need to transfer and are often victim of this crazy speculative bank system.
Thanks!
It was fantastic first, then nightmare began for my $10.000 transaction to Malaysia.
10 days had passed since the promised date, yet nothing received.
Waited 3 days to get response from support, I got a very vague statement. Appearantly printed from their internal system, there is not a hint for me to trace the transaction.
I had to ask my accountant friend and deduce from the ‘status’ that it might still under processing.
Now my only hope is the money eventually get there somehow.
The ETA on their APP is obviously misleading and just a wild estimation.
Very unreliable company, please avoid it for important transfer.
Very different from the average experience… I went through literally 10,000 Transferwise reviews online and haven’t seen anything about money being lost or delayed by 10 days. Please keep us posted.
My case is finally closed. This was how it happened:
10/7 – I initiated the transfer, provided documents, transmitted USD fund to TransferWise.
11/7 – Transaction status changed to “Completed”, eta 14/7. All seemed perfect.
20/7 – Early morning, recipient informed me on the missing fund. I contacted TransferWise support immediately.
21/7 – No news from the team, I submitted another inquiry through website.
22/7 – No news from the team, I posted on TransferWise Facebook page. 10 hours after FB post, i got a response indicating some progress.
24/7 – Received payment slip from TransferWise support, dated 18/7 and status is ‘compliance approved’. I forwarded it to my recipient, raised the question on the status.
25/7 – The fund reach the recipient’s account. Meanwhile, the Malaysian bank found a failed USD telegraph on 11/7, with the exact amount agreed between me and TransferWise.
During the course, TransferWise Facebook respondent is very helpful, I’m thankful for that.
Nevertheless, I have no idea what actually happened on the fund between 11/7 to 25/7.
Despite questions raised, all TransferWise support team did was asking prove from my recipient. This level of transparency and support quality is very troubling.
Did the fund safely reach designated account? Yes.
Am I going to use their service again? Probably not.
Thank you for keeping us updated. I can understand why you would not want to use Transferwise anymore, but I haven’t come across too many of such cases.
After using WU for years, it was a total pleasure using. Decent exchange rate, fair charges and quick bank transfer. Means I can take of my loved ones reliably, on time and securely. Impressed indeed.
Thank you for your positive experience. Could you provide some live examples for our readers showing the differences in rates between your WU online platform and Transferwise? Cheers.
Is it fully secure…meaning uploading passport for instance!
They comply to high security standards but of course uploading documents always has an inherited risk. Similarly to providing your private documents to banks etc.
Service is absolutely appealing STAY AWAY, unhelpful and under trained customer service representatives.
I have spend over an hour speaking to transverse today, no help at all. They are currently holding my 637 pounds with no intention to make the transfer. They promise to deliver within 7 hours and one of the transfers has not yet been completed and it has been 5 days. I have send a lot of money via this service but recently it has been unacceptable, hours pass by and no information is provided to me
I am an extremely satisfied Transferwise user.
It is by far the best way to transfer money in a fast, reliable way and with really low fees. I have tried lots of different ways in the past and I can say that is the best service of this type you can find in the market.
Can your service be use as a payment service…for example….I am setting up an internet based company offering English language exams…the payment method would be in US dollars worlwide….we are based in Mexico….??
Regards
Ian Pankhurst
Horrendous & draconian company. Despite using them for several years, and having my two accounts specifically approved by them, Transferwise deactivated my account for no reason, without any intimation or notice. No emails. No calls. No SMS. NOTHING! Just pfffft – “account closed”.
Arrogant support staff only respond with pre-formatted copy-paste emails, that explained the reason for deactivation as “Please note based on our Terms of Use Agreement agreement TransferWise has reserved the right to refuse or to accept any new user or any transaction at its own discretion.”.
In my 15 years of doing business, thats the lamest excuse of a response I have ever heard. “We are shutting you down because you agreed to let us shut you down!”. hahaha.
Pathethic joke of a company. They even removed my post on their facebook wall, when I posted about my experience.
Zero transparency, and draconian attitude from a company that claims to be transparent.
They are worse than banks. No bank will ever shut down your account after years of usage, without giving you a valid reason for doing so.
Dont ever work with them, unless you are ready to be shut down abruptly, for no reason, and no explanation. I do not even have access to my transaction history for tax purposes, because of these unprofessional incompetent jokers.
After doing several hours of research about this company’s new wonderous exchange rates, it seems that they just use one’s money for several days by delaying payments on purpose to make money rather than caring about their customers.
Their system to send money to their bank account seemed to be weird from the first place, but I gave it a chance. Yet the many major complaints by customers “loosing” their money is just scary.
Money transfer should be reliable at first. This is not what you get by using this service. I’m really none of the PayPal fan boys, and their exchance rate is terrible, but why excactly should I use this new service?
Thomas, good points, but if you look at the Transferwise reviews by clients (I have personally read thousands over forums and various platforms including dozens here on this review) they are generally very positive. Yes, delays can happen in the same fashion as they do with banks, but it’s overall very reliable. If you are looking for the next level of reliability you can use other recommended services on this website that offer dedicated dealers that will escort you through each and every trade and you could call them during working hours to verify exactly what’s going on with the transfer.
Now, comparing Transferwise to Paypal is like comparing watermelons to assault rifles. The difference in fees is so vast. If you are going to transfer substantial amounts via Paypal you have to be a madman! If you are talking about the occasional hundreds of pounds here and there then it’s up to you entirely.
I chose TRANSFERWISE (prior to transaction a very extensive homework has been done)over Worlds First, Currencies Direct,TorFX, and Moneycorp,( though I am still registered with all these companies!!)because of the highest level of TRANSPARENCY, NO HIDDEN FEES,VERY CLEAR PRICING -ABSOLUTELY NO MISUNDERSTANDING OF WHAT YOU GETTING CLEAR TO YOUR BANK ACCOUNT !!
VERY HELPFUL AND ATTENTIVE STAFF ANSWERED ALL MY QUESTIONS AND NEEDS DURING THE REGISTRATION AND APPROVAL PROCESS, BY THE WAY WHICH WAS DONE WITHIN 24 HOURS !! I WOULD LIKE TO EXPRESS MY APPRECIATION FOR THE SUPPORT TEAM,ARTJOM PROZOROV FOR THE INTRODUCTION AND CLEAR EXPLANATION OF THE REMITTANCE PROCEDURES AND ÁGNES AND BALOGH DÁNIEL FROM THE HUNGARIAN TEAM FOR THEIR SUPERFAST AND COURTEOUS FOLLOW UP AND APPROVAL PROCEDURES !! SINCE MY REGISTRATION TWO TRANSACTIONS DONE AND DUSTED AND LOOKING FORWARD TO THE NEXT ONE !!
FROM NOW ON MY MOTTO IS:
WISE PEOPLE CHOOSE TRANSFERWISE !!! THE VERY BEST DEAL AROUND !!…. JOB WELL DONE AND THANK YOU !! ANDREW SARUDY
Thank you for your helpful review. You are very excited about them, aren’t you? 🙂
Well, they have definetely offered the best deal by AUD 3,400.00 !! ompared to TorFX !! I was a fool at the beginning thought that the Giant Four will offer me the best value for money deal but NO !!
They asked me relentlessly to transfer my money to their Barklays HUF account and will offer me a good deal ! I knew that if I transfer money to the segrageted HUF account they can charge me 5% per cent or over easily !! And that is what almost happened ! I was smart enough to say NO to them !! You se they wont produce anything themselves its easy money just a touch of a button all from one office computer !! And.. NO risk whatsoever !! Our duty is to look after our hard earned dollar / Forint because no else will ! Watch out a lot of sharks out there !! AVOID THEM AT ALL COSTS !! Cheers and thank you for your very intuitive website !! Andrew Sarudy
Well I would say Transferwise is definitely up there in the top 4 in terms of volumes. Regarding TorFX we have sent plenty of clients there who were generally very satisfied, and we think highly of the company. It surprises us to believe they would charge 5% on any deal, let alone a large transfer. It’s also weird they have not provided you with a quote to begin with, but rather asked you to transfer your funds over to them and only then quoted you. This is not the (or their) normal course of business.
THANK YOU TRANSFERWISE YOU’VE DONE IT AGAIN !!!
JUST CONCLUDED MY THIRD TRANSACTION WITH TRANSFERWISE AND RECEIVED A SIX STAR SERVICE !!! THE FUNDS SHOWED UP WITHIN 48 HOURS AS PROMISED !!! THE CLIENT SUPPORT IS PROMPT AND COURTEOUS !! THEY REALLY PAYING ATTENTION TO THE” LITTLE THINGS” !!! A BIG THANK YOU FOR THE HUNGARIAN TEAM FOR THEIR EFFORT AND SPEEDY COMMUNICATION !! MANY THANKS, ANDREW SARUDY -SYDNEY AUSTRALIA
Your review is either not current or faulty.
My experience: In the pastI have used Transferwise for several years and had no problem with small amounts received and sent until last year. I have also recommended Trasnferwise to all my colleagues and international contacts. Now, the main problems: 1) the Receive money option that is reviewed in this report does not exist anymore. 2) the customer service number for the US just rings and rings and rings. No answer after the initial voicemail greeting. I had to call business support to get an answer. 3) the Borderless accounts process and profiles burdensome and does not include USD. Some question of legality in asking for the documentation upload for the borderless account. 4) Unfortunately, many complaints about “lost” money or deactivated accounts that make it impossible to get back the money transferred. Seems untrustworthy, and perhaps opens up users to identity or account theft, as apparently there is no indication that the transfer or process is insured. So, if they “lose” your money, you have no recourse to get it back.
We have removed the link you attached. We don’t trust this website and won’t base our review based on the few client reviews to be found there. The other information you have provided is helpful.
Hello, recently I have been using this service due to so many positive reviews. So in the first step, I registered to their service and verify my ID and ADDRESS. This process took 2 days to complete. After that I activate USD in borderless account. After all of that set up, I initiated transfer from Upwork to my Transferwise Borderless Account. It took 4 days until the money arrives in my Transferwise Borderless account. Then I transfered the money to my Indonesian Bank Account, then it took another 4 days until the money really arrived in my Indonesian Bank Account.
This service is not really fast, but to my experience they did keep the exchange rate, and really transfer your money. Since I transfer a substantially large amount of money, I had a nightmare due to slow transfer time.