Money Transfer Explained

Money transfer services can save you a lot of money when doing international transfers compared to the ATM or the bank. How do they work and are they worth the effort?

Recommended money transfer services:

**1st choice**
CurrencyFair
https://www.currencyfair.com/?channel=RGN3H1
[Referral link. Free transfer + 30€ bonus if you transfer 2000€ or equivalent]

Usually the least expensive, but also the smallest list of supported currencies/countries.
Use CurrencyFair first if your money comes *from* Europe, UK, Australia or any country where CurrencyFair has a local bank account.

List of supported currencies to ‘send in’: https://app.currencyfair.com/support/en/sending-in/16
Check if they have a local account to ‘send in’ your currency: https://www.currencyfair.com/how-it-works/exchange-process-times/
(For example, they do not have local accounts in the US, Canada and New Zealand even if they accept the respective currencies.)

**2nd Choice**
***Wise*** (formerly named TransferWise)
Get your first Wise transfer free! (up to £500 or equivalent) by signing up using my affiliate link:
https://wise.prf.hn/l/n0lwDlz

Use TransferWise first if your money comes *from* the US, Canada, New Zealand or any supported country with a local account.

List of supported countries here:
http://bit.ly/creativenomad_TW12

List of supported currencies here:
http://bit.ly/creativenomad_TW13

Transferwise Borderless Account and Debit MasterCard here:
http://bit.ly/creativenomad_TW14

How to make a transfer step-by-step here:

**3rd Choice**
XE.com
http://www.xe.com/xemoneytransfer/
Use XE.com if you need to transfer from a currency/country that is not supported by CurrencyFair or TransferWise, like sending money *from* Mexico.

List of supported currencies here: http://www.xe.com/xemoneytransfer/ca/#currencies

**EXTRA INFO**
Good post comparing various money transfer services:
https://www.currencyfair.com/blog/money-transfer-companies-compared/

Excellent website that compares various services including spread and fees for a given trade:
https://moneytis.com/

Tips:
** You need a bank account at both ends of the transaction. The receiving account usually doesn’t have to be yours, so you can use a (trusted!) friend’s account if your are in a pinch.

** Compare your particular trade between services, pricing varies a lot depending on countries and currencies.

** Money transfer services are usually slow. The delay can be from a few hours to a few business days to more than a week in some cases. Plan ahead.

** Always test a new transfer service with a smaller amount first (a few hundred dollars or equivalent) to make sure everything is working as expected.

** Break down very big transfers into smaller chunks. It minimizes risk if anything goes wrong and it avoids getting flagged by government checks (usually around 10000US$, varies by country). It also evens out variations in the exchange rate if you do multiple transfers over a few weeks instead of all on the same day.

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