Personal Features

CurrencyFair

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CurrencyFair for individual customers offers a range of services beyond just international money transfer. CurrencyFair adds to their service offering for individuals on a regular basis. Currently they offer only online international money transfer features.

What CurrencyFair offers

  • International money transfers
  • Currency balances & top-ups
  • CurrencyFair Exchange Marketplace
  • Rate alerts
  • Regular transfers

What CurrencyFair doesn’t do

  • Personal account management
  • Digital wallet
  • Personal FX optimized travel cards

XE Money Transfer

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XE Money Transfer serves personal customers from a number of countries, giving them easy means to send money to more than 170 countries.

What XE Money Transfer does

  • International money transfers
  • Forward contracts
  • Market orders
  • Regular transfers

What XE Money Transfer doesn’t do

  • Personal account managers for low volume transfers
  • Cash pickup
  • Unique local multi-currency accounts
  • Digital wallets
  • FX optimized travel card

CurrencyFair wins!

CurrencyFair scores better in the Personal Features category.

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Winner

Business Benefits

CurrencyFair

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Along with features for personal accounts, Currencyfair offers business customer benefits although there are gaps to their offering.  iCompareFX keeps in close contact with CurrencyFair management and Currencyfair’s scoring will be adjusted as new benefits are released.

What CurrencyFair for business offers

  • Receive international payments
  • Multi-currency accounts
  • Xero integration
  • Multi-user account access
  • Two person approval

What CurrencyFair for business doesn’t offer

  • Business account management
  • Currency risk management tools
  • Online seller solutions
  • Unique banking details for multi-currency accounts
  • Debit cards for FX optimised foreign transactions

XE Money Transfer

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XE Money Transfer gives business clients the option to choose from varied services.

What XE Money Transfer for business offers

  • Mass payments
  • Payments UPI for receiving online payments
  • Forward contracts
  • Market orders
  • Account managers

What XE Money Transfer for business doesn’t do

  • Business travel card
  • Multi-currency receiving accounts
  • Digital wallets
  • Solutions for online sellers
  • Accounting integration

XE Money Transfer wins!

XE Money Transfer scores better in the Business Benefits category.

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Winner

Fees & Exchange Rates

CurrencyFair

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CurrencyFair Fees

Exchange rate margin fee - Between 0.25% and 0.45% on top of the real exchange rate.

Transfer fee - Transferring out of CurrencyFair can cost €3 (currency equivalent).

International intermediary bank fees - Some currencies supported by CurrencyFair have the receiving account (the one you send your payment to), not in the home country of the currency. E.g. ZAR is located in London. This means that transferring ZAR to USD through CurrencyFair can attract an additional charge for the banks to send ZAR internationally. This can be up to US$20 currency equivalent. Currencies without local bank transfer payment support:

AED, CAD, HUF, NZD, USD, ZAR

Express deposit fee - In some countries, if you choose an express deposit or payment to CurrencyFair, it can be with an additional fee.

CurrencyFair free transfer offers - Yes! There are CurrencyFair coupons with up to 10 transfer fees free.
 

Are CurrencyFair fees negotiable?

No. CurrencyFair exchange rate margin fees are non-negotiable with larger transfer sums.


XE Money Transfer

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XE Money Transfer fees

Personal customers pay no transfer fees when sending money through XE Money Transfer.
 

Are there additional XE Money Transfer fees?

Yes, these come in the form of the exchange rate margin that XE Money Transfer applies on existing mid-market rates.


CurrencyFair wins!

CurrencyFair scores better in the Fees and Exchange Rates category.

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Winner

Ease of Use

CurrencyFair

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CurrencyFair’s focus on customer service and user experience is of very high standards. Customer onboarding and service process management are clearly well thought out and wrapped in great design.

Account registration - Fast and easy to follow wizard.

ID verification - ID checks can be completed within 24 hours. Sometimes instantaneously with some countries. Proof of ID can be uploaded directly within the CurrencyFair app. Use your phone to take photos of ID and upload with ease.

Transfer speed - 1 - 2 business days upon receipt of payment.

Payment options -  There are local bank transfer, local country payment solutions (e.g. BPay), debit card and express deposits available in some countries.

CurrencyFair mobile app - A very well designed Android and Apple mobile app. Very easy to use. New features are added regularly.

Minimum transfer amount - €8 equivalent.


XE Money Transfer

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What XE Money Transfer does well

Sign up process - Register online or over the phone, by providing some basic information.

Payment options - Bank account transfers, debit cards and credit cards.

Phone transfers - Initiate transfers over the phone.

Speed - Most transfers process within 1 - 2 business days.

Mobile app - Available for iOS and Android. 
 

Where XE Money Transfer could improve

ID verification - This process can take 1- 4 business days.


CurrencyFair wins!

CurrencyFair scores better in the Ease of Use category.

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Winner

Support & Countries

CurrencyFair

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What CurrencyFair does well

Supported destination currencies - 21 currencies. AED, AUD, CAD, CHF, CZK, DKK, EUR, GBP, HKD, HUF, ILS, INR, NOK, NZD, PHP, PLN, SEK, SGD, THB, USD, ZAR.

International presence - CurrencyFair local offices can be found in Ireland, UK, Singapore, Hong Kong and Australia.

Customer support - CurrencyFair’s customer support is very good. Local offices in Ireland and Australia provide 24/5 support.

Foreign language support - CurrencyFair’s website is available in English, French and German.
 

Where CurrencyFair could improve

USA support - No support for US residents. 

Local settlement accounts - Not all currencies support local bank transfer payments to CurrencyFair. This can mean higher fees by intermediary banks. (Read more in the CurrencyFair fees section).

CurrencyFair payment bank accounts - These have changed with some frequency. This can cause customer confusion and time while funds are paid to the wrong banks.


XE Money Transfer

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What XE Money Transfer does well

Supported destination countries and currencies - XE Money Transfer supports transfers to over 170 countries, in over 60 currencies.

Customer support - Customer support is available via email and over the phone, in English, French and Spanish.
 

Where XE Money Transfer could improve

Website languages - You can use the XE Money Transfer website only in English.


XE Money Transfer wins!

XE Money Transfer scores better in the Support and Countries category.

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Winner

Trust & Transparency

CurrencyFair

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Where CurrencyFair does well

Regulated by - CurrencyFair is regulated by ASIC Australia and the Central Bank of Ireland. 

TrustPilot - A rating of Excellent by TrustPilot. CurrencyFair monitors TrustPilot for negative reviews. They respond publicly and work diligently to correct legitimate customer complaints.

iCompareFX visitors - Customers referred by iCompareFX make thousands of transactions with CurrencyFair yearly. 
 

CurrencyFair challenges

Fees transparency 

CurrencyFair has low and very competitive exchange rate margin fees. There is no need to not be completely transparent. iCompareFX believes that showing the real time exchange rate and the margin fee clearly within their money transfer wizard would result in a more positive customer experience.


XE Money Transfer

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What XE Money Transfer does well

  • XE Money Transfer is fully regulated in different countries.
  • Rates as Excellent on Trustpilot.

Where XE Money Transfer could improve

Exchange rate margin transparency - XE Money Transfer’s exchange rates include margins that customers find out only after confirming their transfers.


It's a draw!

XE Money Transfer scores better in the Trust and Transparency category.

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Draw

The Result

Winner ribbon iconWinner

 XE Money Transfer

CurrencyFair and XE compete relatively evenly against each other but XE wins.  Despite tying in Support and Countries, XE provides superior services for individuals and offers enhanced trust and transparency to get them over the line.