Personal Features

InstaReM

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InstaReM provides reliable international money transfers services for personal customers from several countries.

What InstaReM does

  • International money transfers.
  • Cash pick-up in the Philippines.
  • Multi-currency travel cards.

What InstaReM doesn’t do

  • Regular transfers.
  • Digital wallets.
  • Personal account managers.
  • Hedging tools.
  • Cash pick-up, other than the Philippines.

Wise

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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.

What Wise offers individuals

  • International money transfers
  • Borderless multi-currency receiving accounts
  • Borderless Debit Card - FX optimised debit card
  • Android and Apple apps
  • Send money to email address
  • Scheduled and recurring transfers - sufficiently funded Borderless account required for this to work.

What Wise does not offer individuals

  • Personal account management
  • Full support for regular transfers. Currently regular transfers or ‘scheduled transfers’ need to have a Borderless multi-currency account balance. Find out which countries support TransferWise Borderless account.
  • Cash pick up or international bill payments

It's a draw!
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Draw

Business Benefits

InstaReM

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Small and mid-sized businesses may benefit by using InstaReM's services.

What InstaReM business account offers

  • Company-branded travel cards.
  • Multi-currency accounts.
  • Batch payments.
  • Higher send limits than personal accounts.

What InstaReM business account doesn’t offer

  • Hedging tools.
  • Digital wallets.
  • Accounting integration.
  • Online seller solutions.
  • Business specialists.

Wise

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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.

What Wise offers businesses

  • Batch payments
  • Xero and Quickbook integration
  • FX optimised business debit card
  • Multi-user account access
  • Regular and scheduled transfers

What Wise for business doesn’t offer

  • Business account management
  • Risk management tools

Wise wins!
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Fees & Exchange Rates

InstaReM

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InstaReM fees

The transfer fee you need to pay depends on the currencies being traded, the transfer amount and the mode of payment.

  • Transfer fees increase in direct proportion to increases in transfer amounts.
  • Debit card payments come with higher fees than bank account transfers.

InstaReM exchange rates

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.


Wise

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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 ServiceWise fee
Simple International Money Transfer

0.4% - 2% 

Varies on currency and payment type

Adding to Wise Borderless account0.4% - 0.5%
Converting between Borderless account0.3% - 0.6%
Sending money out of Borderless accountLess 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


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Ease of Use

InstaReM

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What InstaReM does well

Signing up

Create a new account easily by using the InstaReM app or website.

Payment options

  • Bank account transfers from all countries.
  • ACH Pull payments from the USA.
  • Debit card payments from the European Union and the UK.
  • POLi payments from Australia.
  • FPX payments from Malaysia.

Mobile app

Available for iOS and Android.
 

Where InstaReM could improve

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.


Wise

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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.


Wise wins!
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Support & Countries

InstaReM

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What InstaReM does well

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.
 

Where InstaReM could improve

Supported registration countries - InstaReM currently accepts customers from the US, Canada, the UK, Euro Zone countries, Australia, Hong Kong, India, Malaysia and Singapore.


Wise

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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.


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Trust & Transparency

InstaReM

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What InstaReM does well

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.
 

Where InstaReM could improve

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.


Wise

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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.


Wise wins!
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The Result

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 Wise