How to Transfer Money Using TransferWise

Transferwise is an awesome service started by the same people who built Skype. Richard Branson is a major investor. Launched in 2011, it has revolutionized money transfer services with its low rates.

Because of this, more people are exploring how to transfer money using TransferWise. And, we’ll help you with that in this guide.

Let’s compare it to PayPal

Transferring via PayPal costs a minimum of 4.5% when transferring money across borders. MassPay, their cheapest method charges a 2% fee and then adds an additional 2.5% currency transfer fee.

Yep, that’s a total of 4.5% that you are charged. We provided more information on the hidden fees below.

But, just look at the difference for now.

If you send $1000 abroad PayPal charges $45. With TransferWise you are only charged a maximum of 1%.($10) That’s quite a difference!

Here’s the specifics

Every bank and almost every money transfer company such as Western Union make their money from a hidden currency exchange fee. TransferWise does not have any hidden fees and they declare all their fees upfront.

• 1% for transfers from the US in USD
• 0.5% for most other transfers
• 1% for some currencies, such as the Philippine Peso

More about hidden currency exchange fees. If you’re not sure what I mean by “hidden currency conversion” check out our explanation in this article.

Which countries can you transfer to?

The current list of countries is a bit limited. Here are the options (updated April 2016):

Here are the countries that you can transfer from:

How does it work?

It’s simple. Just click on the link to transfer at the top right of the page after you sign up:

Then they will confirm the transfer amount and show you the exact exchange rate then add your details:

You can select a previous recipient or add a new recipient:

The last step is for you to upload the money.

Here is the only downside to TransferWise. You will need to do this manually which means in the US you have to send an ACH payment to TransferWise. You usually need to wait 3-4 days for the money to arrive before it can be sent to the recipient.

This is the only downside we found for this lower priced service. PayPal costs a lot more, but your money is transferred automatically.

You have choices when it comes to transferring your money abroad.

So it’s up to you. You can save a substantial amount of money with no hidden fees or spend more and have your money sent immediately. You choose! If saving money wins out, we recommend you transfer money using Transferwise. You can visit their site and see for yourself.