Transferwise: No-Hassle Remittance
Sending money home has been my problem for years. Well, there are remittance services out there, but the rates are not so good. I used to contact several remittance provider to get a better rate. Yeah, as you can imagine, it took forever! Oh, and I used to do this each month.
Thankfully, I stumbled upon Transferwise. For those who frequently need to send money back home this is a good app. I have been using this app about one year plus now. It allows us to send money to many countries with a cheap rate and in a practical ways.
Signing Up
Upon sign up, Transferwise will ask for several data, like your proof of identification, bank account details, proof of residency, etc. The very first transaction may take longer as Transferwise need to go through document verification. Once the first transaction is completed, it means that your account is verified and the subsequent transactions will be faster.
What I like from Transferwise
User-friendly UX
Transferwise app is straightforward. You can easily navigate yourself through the features. I can easily find the buttons of the service that I need. The app homepage shows my activities, including the date of transaction and the transaction nominal. This allows me to track my transactions easily.
The rates and fees are transparent.
When you press the send button at the homepage, this page will appear. You just need to type in the nominal you wish to send as well the currency, and the currency of the recipient. Based on the rate of that particular time, Transferwise will then calculate how much the recipient will get, including the fees. Fees are incorporated to the exchange rate, what we see in the app is what the recipient will get.
Exchange rate comparison made easy
Transferwise do the comparison job for us. By pressing the price comparison button, we will see the rates from multiple remittance providers. It saves a lot of time!
Quick transaction
With all the stored data, a transaction by Transferwise can be done in less than 3 minutes. From keying in the amount you wish to send, you're only 5 clicks away. The steps are:
- Insert the amount of money you wish to send including the currency
- Select a recipient. If you have a stored data, you just need to click it
- Choose your transfer purpose. There are a lot of options that you can choose from.
- Review details. This is the summary of your transaction. It will also inform the estimated time to reach the recipient account.
- If you confirm the transaction, then it's done. Wait until the money reach the destination account.
Variety of Payment Methods
There are several payment methods that you can choose from:
- Bank transfer
- Apple pay
- PayNow
- Debit card
- Credit card
Each method bears different fees. As of now, the lowest fee is by bank transfer.
Fast Process
The amount of time needed to complete the transaction until the money received depends on the banking operation. In a normal banking operation hours it would reach fast. From my experience, it took mostly 30 minutes. I once experienced a delay on the payment up to 10 days, because I made a transaction when the banking operation is off during Hari Raya festive in Indonesia. I am aware of it, as Transferwise informed me in the confirmation page.