XE Transfer Account Pros
- Excellent support available in the USA, Canada, UK and Australia
- Leading exchange rate tools
- Transfer in 60 foreign currencies to over 170 nations
- Multilingual
XE Transfer Account Cons
- Card payments not endorsed
- Online trade focus rather then telephone
- Foreign exchange rate provided only once you transact
- Unclear regards local bank accounts they deal with which may save in fees
Is XE best for you?
XE is an efficient, secure and affordable way to transfer funds overseas. There’s absolutely no transfer fee unlike many of its competitors, but like others the provider charges a small margin on the midmarket rates. If you transfer with XE, there is the opportunity to send money to over 170 nations in 60 currencies.
XE Money Transfer Exchange Rates and Fees
Before transferring money overseas utilising a service like XE, you have to know what are the actual costs involved are, otherwise, you could be paying too much.
Money transfer companies make their profits in several ways: either via transfer fees or by charging a margin on the exchange rate or both.
In XE’s case, they charge no transfer fee meaning they operate like many other money transfer businesses in making a margin on live foreign exchange rates or otherwise known as interbank prices , these would be the wholesale money prices or rates at which banks buy money. But this isn’t the rate you’ll receive for your money transfer.
To quote XE, they state the following;
“Our exchange rates are connected to the live foreign exchange markets. When the markets are available, the exchange rate you’re offered will often fluctuate up until the minute you confirm your transaction. Your exchange rate is only fixed as soon as you’ve confirmed your trade. The rate you’re offered isn’t the mid-market speed that’s shown at the free information services on our main XE.com site.”
When comparing their currency exchange rates to various banks XE competes very well for major currencies. In contrast to banks who may charge up to 2, 3 or 4% over the trade never mind the fixed that are added to this. In respect of their closest like for like competitors, they are also competitive.
To figure out the percentage they’re charging you simply find the rate they are offering and compare it to the interbank rate that may be seen on XE itself.
The business facilitates all its international transfers through SWIFT banking system. This gives them the ability to transfer funds throughout the world, but the drawback is that the receiver often must pay charges, which unfortunately XE doesn’t have any control over. In reality, this only applies for transfer amounts less than a couple thousand US Dollars. Above this transfer amount and what the receiving bank may charge is relatively minor.
XE Customer Reviews
The best way you can learn about a service is from actual reviews, especially the negative ones. Generally speaking, when you compare other money transfer providers XE enjoys excellent reviews with many customers appreciating the simplicity of setting up currency transfers, competitive exchange rates and amazing service. To illustrate this, 82 percent of those reviewers found the service excellent and another 12 percent believed it was terrific.
However, we can’t ignore the four percent who had an average or poor experience in this XE money transfer review. Of the 4 percent of negative reviews, we found three kinds of complaints represent about 1 percent of the entire number of reviews each.
Firstly, XE used to trade as HiFX as a result, therefore, following the merger, a small minority of HiFX customers encountered difficulties not least because of the change.
Secondly, as with all competitors, misunderstandings in respect of how long it takes to process an international payment with a very small minority of customers complaining of severe delays. Typically, such complaints are all too common and often delays are down to the local banks and not money transfer providers like XE. What is clear is that XE customer services are very proactive at resolving issues and do try to be as transparent as possible.
Thirdly, there were a very small number of cases where verification ID issues caused accounts to be unapproved. International money transfer companies like XE are governed by regulatory authorities all around the world meaning strict rules apply when it comes to ID compliance etc
XE Currency Solutions Service V Others
If you’re someone who’s transfer money on the move using your smart phone, XE money transfer provides an excellent option. That said, their UX on other devices such as tablets and computer is equally good.
Their commission rates are also competitive and there’s no minimum transfer amount. However, there’s a £300,000 or $500,000 limit on online transactions.
Not everyone is comfortable doing everything on the internet (such as uploading ID) and XE is very much geared towards transacting online but they do have client support teams which can answers questions and troubleshoot if needed.
Although establishing XE account and transferring funds around the world online is quite simple, lots of folks prefer speaking to a person than doing it completely online. An alternative to XE if you require a phone based company is TorFX. OFX is a mixture of online and phone support and if you’re in North America they have a strong presence there in addition to the rest of the world.
If you’re comfortable online, and transferring amounts less than $7000 USD/£4000 GBP/$4500 EU/$9500 CAD/$9500 AUD) with a P2P company like TransferWise is worthy of consideration. However, like most other money transfer providers, you won’t understand the exchange rate being offered unless you’re logged in and ready to transact.
Signing up to XE Money Transfer Service
As with most international payment services, you will need the following to get you XE account up and running either very quickly or at most a few hours.
Have handy your address, ID in the form of passport, passwords and security question answers ready and then wait for the account to be approved.
After the account is approved, setting up the transfer process is easy. You simply register and provide payment information, the amount you wish to transfer, the money you wish to send it in along with the receiver information. When you submit this you’ll have the opportunity to examine the exchange rate and trade details. If you’re delighted with it, you can go ahead and send the money abroad.
XE Transfer Speed
When it comes to sending money overseas, typically it may take up to 2-4 days for the transferred funds to reach the receiver’s account. This is because the transfer speed is dependent on a few factors eg the SWIFT network which is a worldwide network of banks which could include 1 to 3 intermediary banks before the money transfer reaches the recipients account. XE compared to some other competitors is actually is very transparent about the time taken for global payments to be sent and thus expectations are met when you use its service.
XE Secure Transactions
With over$18.5 billion of money transacted on behalf of 112,000 customers from across 117 nations, XE is one of the most trusted and secure money transfer companies around.
XE cash transfer is a reputable and reliable company with a wonderful history. In the United Kingdom, the company is registered with and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). They’re mandated by legislation to safeguard your capital and appropriately segregate them from company funds should there ever be an issue the company’s solvency. XE is also registered with the United States Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) and registered with (FINTRAC) – The Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada. They also hold licences with the Australian Financial Services License (AFSL) and Australian Securities and Investments Commission (AISC). XE is also a (QFE) Qualifying Financial Entity in New Zealand.
Final Word
If you want to avoid no transfer fees, XE money transfer is a great choice although be aware that they do make up for this by charging a reasonable rate on the midmarket foreign exchange rate. In addition, if you need a wide choice of foreign currencies, the ability to transact in 170 countries and 60 currencies offered by XE is a must along with their excellent online platform. However, If you are transferring funds of $7,000 or less, you may find that alternative providers are slightly cheaper to send money abroad, otherwise consider XE for amounts over $7,000 where they appear to be very competitive.