Sick of shelling out high charges for cross-border money transfers?
You’re not the only one.
The quest for cheap, safe, and easy cross-border money transfers has driven people to seek other options outside of traditional banks.
In this particular scenario, Wise and Xoom are two firms reshaping the international money transfer landscape. But which one do you use?
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In this comprehensive comparison of Wise vs Xoom, we’ll dissect all you need to know about these top transfer service providers. This includes the fee structure, security features, and much more.
By the end of it, you’ll have everything you need to make a smart choice based on your particular requirements.
This money transfer company was established in the UK in 2011 as TransferWise and renamed Wise in 2021.
Wise was built on one fundamental mission: to make money transfers overseas mainstream.
Now, the company is a global force, providing financial technology services to over 12 million customers.
But you might be asking yourself, what can you actually do with Wise?
In effect, Wise offers international money transfers with competitive exchange rates.
You can send one-off or regular payments using the mid-market exchange rate, which is the actual rate you receive on Google.
There are no hidden fees, as the fees are revealed before the transaction.
For US users in particular, Wise offers:
Multi-Currency Account:
Wise Multi-Currency Card:
Other Features:
Want to know the best part?
All transactions can be arranged online or through the user-friendly Wise mobile app, making it incredibly convenient regardless of your location.
Xoom, which was purchased by PayPal in 2015, provides a wider array of international financial services from its San Francisco base.
In addition to simple money transfers, Xoom provides:
Like Wise, Xoom is also about convenience, with clients making transactions at any time through smartphones, tablets, or computers.
Convenience is a great selling point of Xoom, especially for clients who need to send money abroad while traveling.
You may ask yourself – what’s the catch? What’s the actual fee charged by Wise?
Wise proudly flaunts its transparency with a simple fee structure that consists of two general sections:
What differentiates Wise from others?
It shows the fees totally and transparently before any transaction and does not come with any surprises in the form of hidden fees.
For big payments, Wise provides automatic discounts for savings that could amount to plenty of money as well. Discounts are available for those above the monthly equivalent of 20,000 GBP, which are tier-based.
And would you believe, opening a Wise account is totally free of cost?
The organization has also shown a policy towards charging lesser fees in the long term to get a better return on the customers’ money.
To get an estimate of the fee snapshot, you can visit Wise’s pricing page.
Xoom’s fee structure is a bit more complicated, with fees depending on several different variables:
Want to cut back on your expenses?
The lowest fees usually occur when funding is coming from a PayPal balance or a local bank account.
Keep in mind, though, that transactions funded from accounts can be slower because they include more financial institutions.
Credit or debit card funding is costlier but is processed faster.
For instance, if a sum of $500 to some country costs you $4.09 with a PayPal or bank account, it will be $15.49 with a credit or debit card.
It is worth mentioning that apart from the transaction fee, Xoom also charges a currency exchange fee.
The currency fee is based on the current exchange rate of the destination country plus Xoom’s margin.
You can try Xoom’s “calculate fees” feature to get an estimate of what your transaction would cost you.
Security is a top concern when sending international money transfers.
So how does Wise stack up?
Wise is generally considered to be a safe provider for international money transfers, with over 12 million customers worldwide.
The company uses robust security measures:
All these strict processes have made Wise attain an “Excellent” rating from customer reviews on Trustpilot, thus indicating extremely high levels of satisfaction with their security processes.
Simultaneously, Xoom is strongly committed to security for its cross-border remittance business too. Here are the details:
It should be noted that the security measures employed by Xoom occasionally entail additional verification processes which some clients find tedious.
Xoom has been reported for withholding money for extended durations and subjecting it to excessive additional paperwork.
Such aggressive procedures, however, are utilized to prevent money laundering and terror funding and ultimately tighten security even further.
While selecting between Wise and Xoom (a PayPal subsidiary), certain key factors will guide your choice:
Xoom facilitates sending to over 160 countries, which is pretty much the same as Wise.
If your destination country is less in demand, Xoom can be your go-to option.
Wise generally offers more transparency and potentially lower fees on bigger transactions. It can specifically come in handy when paying through the mid-market exchange rate.
Xoom can be cheaper on small transactions if paid out of a PayPal balance.
Xoom provides additional delivery options, such as cash pick-up and hand delivery in addition to bank deposit.
Wise explicitly offers bank-to-bank deposits.
Both services can facilitate rapid transfers, but Xoom credit/debit card-backed transfers are usually faster than bank-funded transfers.
Wise processing times vary by country.
In order to pay foreign family bills or just top-up foreign cell phones, there are such services available on Xoom.
Whereas on Wise, only money transfer services are available.
Ultimately, the best option for you will depend on your circumstances and requirements.
Although it provides services comparable to those provided by banks, Wise is not a bank nor a financial institution but a financial technology firm.
The Wise account is a multi-currency account and not a normal bank account.
It should be noted that even though PayPal owns Xoom, they function independently.
PayPal maintains an independent online transfer feature aside from Xoom, and it gives clients a choice of multiple options under the same corporate umbrella.
Want to save money with Wise?
The most effective way is to send more money less often, as the fixed fee element becomes proportionally smaller.
Also, taking advantage of the automatic discounts for bulk transfers can save a lot of money.
Need to minimize Xoom charges?
Sometimes leveraging a PayPal balance for funding transfers will exempt a service fee, but currency exchange fees would remain.
Credit/debit cards replaced with bank account funding will lower charges but perhaps at increased processing time.
Both Xoom and Wise provide worthwhile international money transfers with varying strengths.
The decision between Wise and Xoom will always come down to your particular destination country, transfer amount, delivery options, and additional services desired.
For value in currency exchange alone, Wise usually has the edge, but Xoom is more flexible in delivery options and destination coverage.
It’s most important to identify the best service to fit your individual transfer requirements so your money is received safely, quickly, and yes, economically.