Is Xoom Safe?

Company size:

Founded in 2001 in San Francisco, online payment processor PayPal now runs Xoom. Before then, they attracted multiple funding rounds, including two significant rounds of venture capital – an E-series round for $20 million in 2007 and an F-series round for $33 million in 2010. Backed by names like Sequoia Capital, they took Xoom public, attracting $100 million in investment capital in 2013.

Two years later, its founders sold Xoom to PayPal, one of the world’s most prominent eWallets, for $1.1 billion in 2015, the same year the firm reached 300 employees and generated $200 million in revenue. Since then, PayPal has been rather quiet about Xoom’s revenues with it being difficult to identify exactly what the transfer volumes and revenues of Xoom have been between 2015 and 2021. A calculated press release in 2017 told us that the number of active users had increased and that the adoption of its bill pay service was increasing, but again nothing on the headline figures, potentially suggesting performance has not been as strong as expected.

The firm enhanced its services in multiple countries throughout 2020, including adding transfers to mobile wallets in 12 countries in Africa, enabling real-time inter-bank transfers in India and launching direct money transfers to debit cards in the USA. All impressive functionality that would help to keep Xoom ahead of its competition but what’s strange is the lack of announcements from Xoom on new product development or geographical expansion in 2021. The firm has been particularly quiet on this front which has coincided with an increasing number of poor reviews left by its existing users.

Regulated By:

FinCEN (Financial Crimes Enforcement Network) oversees Xoom’s activities, as do regulators in all 50 states.

FCA regulates Xoom’s activities in the UK.

FINTRAC oversees the firm’s operations in Canada.

Conclusion:

When Xoom first launched in 2001 it was definitely unique – a smooth online money transfer experience that would make it easier to remit money to loved ones back home. Whilst the likes of Western Union and Ria understood the importance to part-digitalising cash pickups and remittance transfers, Xoom was attempting to get ahead of the game. What they perhaps didn’t expect was the launch of even more rival firms like Wise and WorldRemit who appear to be doing a better job than Xoom with handling payments and expanding to new parts of the world, despite being founded nine years later. Whilst Xoom is a trusted option that’s part of PayPal, we also have to question why PayPal does not publish Xoom revenues as standalone accounts.

Xoom Customer reviews

Research:

Clients have reviewed Xoom thousands of times on the internet. Most feedback was left on Trustpilot, though some shared their thoughts on Consumer Affairs or Reseller Ratings.

They left 287 reviews on Consumer Affairs, 1,567 on Reseller Ratings, and a whopping 22,000+ on Trustpilot.

The ratings were as follows:

1. Consumer Affairs – 3.9/5 – still an above average score but a number of 1* reviews in 2021, many complaining of difficulties in reaching customer service, perhaps due to covid issues.
2. Reseller Ratings – 3.6/5 – rating has gotten worse over recent years but does show a higher proportion of positive reviews in the last twelve months than on the other two platforms.
3. Trustpilot – 4.0/5 – most of its 22,000 reviewers had a great or excellent experience with Xoom, but ratings by clients seem to have dropped off a cliff this year. .

Conclusion:

Over recent years, Xoom’s customer review score has improved on the review site Consumer Affairs but has worsened on the review platforms Reseller Ratings and TrustPilot. Customer reviews in 2021 seem to be particularly poor and even as we’re on the Xoom website now it says “We are currently experiencing high call volumes and apologize for the extended wait time you may have experienced.” With a review score of 4.0 / 5 on TrustPilot, Xoom is still regarded as a ‘great’ service but if it continues with its current trajectory that score may start to downgrade even further. When transfers go through OK the first time it appears Xoom is a good option but if something goes wrong with a transfer or more documents are required for compliance purposes, it seems resolving these issues is taking far too long, leaving many customers wondering if they’ve been scammed.

Xoom Exchange Rates & Fees

Fees:

One of the reasons Xoom grew its business was by being upfront about payment fees. When transferring money, you have the option of viewing what you’ll pay. By clicking the ‘Show Fees’ link beneath the currency exchange calculator, you’ll see what it costs for each method. In that sense, it’s similar to other popular services like TransferWise. But you might want to gravitate towards no fee services like FairFX, OFX, TorFX or CurrenciesDirect.

By using the currency exchange calculator available on Xoom’s website we can see that payment fees are somewhat similar to WorldRemit – on some corridors Xoom has more expensive payment fees and on others Xoom has cheaper payment fees.

For example, Xoom charges £2.99 for bank-to-bank transfers from the UK to Mexico, which is the same as WorldRemit. For cash pick-up however, Xoom charges £3.99, whereas WorldRemit charges £2.99. Not much in it but WorldRemit is slightly cheaper in terms of payment fees on this route.

On the contrary, Xoom has cheaper payment fees for transfers to the Philippines. WorldRemit charges £1.99 for bank transfers to the Philippines and £2.49 for cash collection. Xoom on the other hand, charges £1.99 for bank transfers and £1.99 for cash collection. Again not much in it, but this time Xoom comes in slightly cheaper. Arguably Xoom’s biggest advantage over WorldRemit for the Philippines though is that users only have to pay a £1.99 fee to arrange door-to-door delivery.

In the USA, there are no transfer fees for bank-to-bank transfers to some countries (such as Philippines) if you pay via bank transfer or your PayPal balance, though there are fees for these settlement methods if you make a payment for cash collection. To other countries, payment fees are ranging from $2.99 up to $7.99 depending on the countries involved and the value of the transfer.

Exchange Rates:

Xoom publishes the exchange rate that it charges for each currency pairing beneath the exchange calculator. According to our analysis, there is a margin of 1.75%-3.7% for small transfers (e.g. $200), and 1.5-3% for transfers of more than $1,000.

As an example, on a recent check conducted in August 2021, a USD to MXN transfer of $200 attracted an FX spread of 2.3%.

For larger transfers it’s the foreign exchange spread where much of the hidden and more expensive costs can lie. For example on a $200 transfer 2% would work out at $4 but on a $2000 transfer 2% would work out at $40. Easily eclipsing the few dollars in payment fees you’d likely have to pay for a Xoom transfer from the US.

It’s in the exchange rate spread where Xoom comes out more expensive than both Wise and CurrencyFair. Wise provides users with the interbank or ‘real’ exchange rate and then charges a small percentage fee of the overall amount. It’s much like an exchange rate spread but a transparent way of charging it. Wise and CurrencyFair will average around the 0.5% mark but it must be said only bank transfers are possible with these two providers. For cash pick-up you’ll want to compare Xoom’s rates with WorldRemit and Azimo. All three of these cash pick-up providers have a transparent and easy to use currency converter so you can easily see who’s proving the best rate on any given day. It’s always worth checking as different providers are able to offer different corridors at preferential rates.

Limits:

There is no minimum transfer amount specified. However, there are maximum transfer limits on Xoom, and they can get complicated. The maximum you can send depends on three things: time frame, documentation, and your country of residency.

With minimum documentation, an American resident can send $2,999 per 24-hour period, $6,000 every 30 days, and $9,999 every 180 days. Under similar circumstances, a Canadian resident can ship $C999 per 24-hour period, $C5,000 every 30 days, and $C9,999 every 180 days.

However, if you supply documentation including (but not limited to) the following – utility bills, bank statements, driver’s license, passport, and PR/Green Card – you can send considerably more. Americans can transfer money abroad in the volumes of up to $100,000 and Canadians $80,000 per 180-day period if they have their documents in order.

Conclusion:

When it comes to cost, Xoom is pretty middle of the road in comparison to its competitors dealing with remittances from the USA, according to the Remittances Prices project by the World Bank. Xoom is often showing up wedged between other providers but it is rarely the most expensive option for remittance transfers.

Xoom’s payment fees appear quite reasonable, particularly when you consider they have a door-to-door solution which will actually arrange for the money to reach the recipient’s home address.

With that being said, it’s the exchange rates that let Xoom down and Xoom is still expensive when it comes to transferring money abroad to a bank account in a country like the UK, Australia or the like. Regardless of fees, the margins taken from larger transfers of 1%+ is more than you’d pay with Wise, and more than if you negotiated a deal with a specialist foreign exchange broker such as Currencies Direct (in which case a whole other multitude of hedging solutions such as forward contract and regular transfers would be available too).

Here is a recent example from Aug 5, 2021, demonstrating a 1% margin on a transfer of funds from the UK to Australia:

The real rate for GBPAUD at the time was 1.8804 so that represents a margin of 1% by itself, not inclusive of fees. Not bad for a transfer of £10,000 but better spreads are available.

Xoom Global Reach & Service

Research:

• Dedicated Dealer: No
• Offices: Corporate offices in the USA. Affiliated agents all over the globe.
• Ways to approach: Phone, e-mail
• Translations: Spanish, Filipino, French (Mon-Fri, 9 am- 6 pm CET), Italian, German, Arabic (Mon-Fri 9:00 am – 6:00 pm CET)
• Accepts clients: Canada, USA, UK & Europe, 160 countries can receive.
• Currencies Handled: 79
• Client reviews: 4.0/5, per Trustpilot.com

Conclusion:

Concerning receivers, Xoom has impressive international reach. Dealing in 79 currencies and 160 nations, beneficiaries abroad are well-served by this service. The service is available to users in UK, Europe, USA and Canada which is good but still behind WorldRemit that is open to users from a number of developing nations too.

That said, Xoom focuses intently on its target market andin addition to the numerous currencies it offers and the nations it serves, it provides customer service in key languages. This is definitely a strong point as whilst many remittance companies will translate their website, few have customer support available in as many languages as Xoom. Filipino overseas workers and those of Latin American origin have access to CSRs in their mother tongue, 24/7. Xoom also offers French-speaking, German-speaking and Arabic-speaking CSRs who, despite not running 24/7, are available across the central European time-zone.

Despite being so accommodating with its language capabilities and a money-back guarantee, we can see a lot of reviews which are having difficulties engaging with customer service and whilst it’s helpful that Xoom tells us there is a long-wait time for calls on their website, it indicates users can expect to wait some time to speak with a representative.

Additional Functionalities

In terms of money transfers, Xoom allows for both bank-to-bank and cash delivery. And perhaps what we like most is the delivery-to-door service that it offers in some countries, such as the Philippines. Making it possible to send money all the way to a recipient’s home address, just by clicking a few buttons. Xoom is of course reliant on a number of agent partners in these countries so the service in each country will be highly dependent on the quality of that partner.

Xoom also does more than just money transfers. They offer two additional services – mobile reloads and online bill pay.

In 100+ countries, including Argentina, Morocco, and Vietnam, you can send money to a loved one’s phone. This act will replenish their balance, allowing them to interact with you via voice or text.

In some countries you can pay off the utility bills of friends or family. All you need is an account number and within two days, the balance will be paid off. Bill pay is currently available in:

• Costa Rica
• Dominican Republic
• El Salvador
• Guatemala
• Honduras
• Jamaica
• Mexico
• Nicaragua

Xoom also boasts one of the most popular money transfer apps in the world which is quite usable and friendly. With over 800,000 reviews on the App store and over 178,000 reviews on Google Play it shows how popular the service still is in the USA. The Xoom app is currently much better reviewed than the overall review on TrustPilot. The app receiving a 4.8 / 5 score on the App store and a 4.7 / 5 score on Google Play.

Conclusion:

Xoom is a prominent name in the money transfer business for a very good reason. There are a lot of functionalities that the company offers that surpass the run-of-the-mill currency broker we would normally review on MoneyTransferComparison.com.