XE Money Transfer lets individual and business send money abroad without any transfer fee. Their service is available to residents of the US, UK, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Switzerland, as well as most of the EU (except mostly eastern European countries where you might prefer other services such as TransferGo).

About XE

Xenon Laboratories Incorporated (what will later become XE) was founded in 1993 in Canada by two high school friends, Steven Dengler and Beric Farmer, and quickly becomes one of the most popular currency site. This is one of the oldest online money transfer operators on the market.

XE Money Transfer is a fast-growing money transfer company handling around US$10 billion in transactions each year for half a million personal customers and 6 thousand businesses. XE is owned by Euronet Worldwide Inc, a publicly-traded money transfer company that employs over 4,500 people worldwide and has partnerships with hundreds of companies, including Amazon, Visa, MasterCard, PayPal, Apple, and Google.

Regulation

XE Money Transfer is fully regulated by the FCA in the UK and is duly authorized in every region in which it does operates (i.e. licensed by regulatory bodies in the US - FinCEN, Canada - FINTRAC, Australia - ASICand New Zealand - Reserve Bank of New Zealand).

Currency exchange rates and fees

Exchange rate

XE Money Transfer applies an exchange rate margin on existing mid-market rates. Like other money transfer companies the % margin reduces as amounts increase. The average exchange rate margin that XE Money Transfer charges is less than 1% (usually between 0.4% and 1.2%) while the big banks charge up to 5% plus an additional fee on top. Bear in mind that these exchange rate margins are higher for smaller transfer amounts and more favourable for larger ones.

Their Currency Converter allows you to check live foreign currency exchange rates, but you will see that the rate is different if you went to effectively send the money. It includes the margin that they apply to the rate toward the final step of your transfer, and that margin is not explicit, thus lacking transparency.

Transfer Fees

Transfer fees are determined by the country where you are registered and the transfer amount you wish to send and on small transfers, XE will charge fees. It will be charged on top of the amount you decide to send (for example, if you want to send €100, you will be charged €102). For transfers usually over €250 or US$500, there is no fee and the amount you decide to send to Germany is what will arrive. As small amounts can become less competitive to exchange, this is what XE is recommended for larger transfers (especially above $7000 USD/£4000 GBP/€4500 EU/$9500 CAD/AUD).

Type of transfer and how long it takes

You can use bank transfers, but also Visa or MasterCard to fund transfers using their online service. In addition, unlike many other providers, XE can also carry out over-the-phone transfers. They also support ACH payments (mainly high-volume but low-value payments). However, they only supports bank-to-bank or card-to-bank transfers!

Upon receiving payment, XE Money Transfer can take from 1 to 2 days to exchange currency and send money to a foreign recipient's bank. However, most transfers are completed within one working day.

Top destinations for transfers

Payments can be sent to more than 170 countries, in over 60 currencies. The currencies you can send from are GBP, USD, AUD, EUR, CAD, NZD, CHF, JPY, AED, CZK, DKK, HKD, HRK, HUF, ILS, KWD, NOK, DOM, PLN, SEK, SGD.

XE Money Transfer provides local phone support in a number of countries, including the US, Canada, the UK, Australia, and New Zealand. You can get support in English, French and Spanish.

Limitations

At the time of writing (Dec 2021) customers based in Asia and Africa are unable to register with Xe to send money from their country. However, their website is available in Chinese and Japonese.

In addition, although you can send money to about 170 countries, the service is only available to customers based in the following countries: the US, the UK, Canada, Austria, Australia, New Zeland, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Guernsey, Ireland, the Isle of Man, Italy, Jersey, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain and Sweden.

How it works

1. Create your free account online or over the phone
2. Verify your identity by providing details from your driver's license or passport.
3. Enter the amount you wish to send and the destination country - You will get an instant quote with XE rate.
4. Provide the recipient's local bank account details (the receiver must be a bank account)
5. Pay for your transfer and send the money.

Business Services

XE Money Transfer is available for businesses of all sizes (from micro-businesses to large corporations), but as for individuals, they perform better for larger transactions. They provide different forex-based solutions for business clients, including:

• Forward contracts
• Market orders
• Mass payments
• Payments API
• Business account managers

Businesses can choose between Spot Orders (if you're ready to transfer now), Forward contracts (to lock in a favourable rate for a defined period), or a Market Order (transfer when your currency pair hits the desired rate).