Compare InstaRem and Wise for international money transfers. Compare the services they offer individuals and businesses, cost of transfers and customer service.
InstaReM
Overall score:
63
63
Wise
Overall score:
75
75
Personal Features
Business Benefits
Fees & Exchange Rates
Ease of Use
Support & Countries
Trust & Transparency
50
50
InstaReM provides reliable international money transfers services for personal customers from several countries.
50
50
Wise provides a simple easy to use international money transfer service with digital wallet capabilities. Their digital wallet, or Borderless account also gives the individual local banking details in 6+ currencies including, EUR, SGD, NZD, USD, GBP and AUD. Their Wise Borderless debit card backs on to their Borderless digital wallet allowing you to spend directly out of your multi-currency account balances.
44
44
Small and mid-sized businesses may benefit by using InstaReM's services.
56
56
In addition to the services Wise offers the individual, there are some features only available for a business. Unfortunately, as Wise is online only, a business customer does not have support with currency fluctuations and trends. Wise does however offer easy to use transactional foreign currency receipts and payments.
Scheduled transfers is a recently added feature. This can reduce admin for those standard monthly, weekly payments to suppliers and staff. A sufficient balance in the Business Borderless account is required. Wise will remind the account owner to make sure there is sufficient funds in the multi-current account. What is not supported is standing orders from a business bank account through Wise. This may mean that businesses need to alter their business structure to ensure continuous sufficent Borderless account funding.
34
34
The transfer fee you need to pay depends on the currencies being traded, the transfer amount and the mode of payment.
InstaReM uses Reuter market rates to process transfers and adds an FX margin that is typically below 1%. This essentially depends on the currencies being traded.
54
54
Wise offers the real time exchange rate at the time of your transfer. Therefore fees are visible in addition to the transfer amount. The fee structure is complex as it differs depending on the currencies you are sending from and to. Fees also apply to the type of Borderless account transaction. Fees can also apply on the use of the Wise Borderless debit card. Fees are briefly summarised below. Read the detailed TransferWise review for more details on Wise fees.
| Wise Service | Wise fee |
| Simple International Money Transfer | 0.4% - 2% Varies on currency and payment type |
| Adding to Wise Borderless account | 0.4% - 0.5% |
| Converting between Borderless account | 0.3% - 0.6% |
| Sending money out of Borderless account | Less than 0.1% in most cases |
| Borderless Account Debit Card | No fee for card issuance Fee free cash withdrawal limit of US$250, 2% thereafter Zero cost on spend from existing currency balance, 0.24 - 3.69% fee if there is no existing balance |
72
72
Create a new account easily by using the InstaReM app or website.
Available for iOS and Android.
Speed - Some InstaReM reviews on Trustpilot suggest that transfers can take longer than the stipulated 1 - 2 business days.
Limits - Minimum transfer limits vary based on the sender's location. Maximum transfer limits vary depending on where the sender and recipient live.
Phone transfers - You can not carry out transfers over the phone as a personal customer.
83
83
The Wise app design and user experience of their technology is great with simple, intuitive processes.
Registration - Fast and easy account creation
ID verification - Instant in some countries
Transfer speed - It can be instantaneous in some countries. Fast payments to Wise comes at an additional cost.
Minimum transfer amount - $1
Mobile app - Simple and easy to use. Probably the best designed app of the international money transfer companies.
Payment options - Wise has the broadest range of payment options. Local bank transfer, debit / credit card and country specific solutions such as POLi.
75
75
Supported destination countries - InstaReM lets you send money to a number of countries across North America, Europe, Asia and Oceania. However, the list of supported destination countries might vary based on the sender's location.
Supported registration countries - InstaReM currently accepts customers from the US, Canada, the UK, Euro Zone countries, Australia, Hong Kong, India, Malaysia and Singapore.
88
88
Wise’s supported countries vary with different services having different supported customer countries and destination countries. These are detailed in the TransferWise Countries and Currencies article and is summarized below.
Send from - 23 countries plus the Europe SEPA countries
Send to - Over 60 currencies
Borderless account and debit card - Over 6 countries can sign up to their Borderless services.
50
50
Regulated - InstaReM Pte. Ltd. (now known as NIUM Pte. Ltd.) is licensed by regulatory bodies of different countries.
Safety of funds - Uses segregated bank accounts to hold client money.
Trustpilot - Rating of Excellent.
Transparency - Unless you carry out research on your own, you won't find out how much you pay as exchange rate margins.
Addressing customer concerns - A reasonable number of InstaRem reviews on Trustpilot and Google Play Store complain about delayed transfers and poor customer service.
63
63
Wise is fully regulated by the FCA and their customer funds are segregated from their business banking activities.
Wise is rated on TrustPilot as Excellent. Unfortunately there have been some poor reviews on TrustPilot indicating sudden account closures with funds being returned with no explanation.
Wise continues to raise capital through private funding. This could be a concern for the future when the shareholders are looking for aggressive growth and / or a return on their investment.
Winner
