Which scores better when comparing MoneyGram vs Wise? See how each provider scores and who wins when comparing their services, fees, supported countries and customer service.
Moneygram
Overall score:
48
48
Wise
Overall score:
75
75
Personal Features
Business Benefits
Fees & Exchange Rates
Ease of Use
Support & Countries
Trust & Transparency
50
50
MoneyGram gives individuals the ability to send money to most 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.
Both equally compare in the Personal Features category.
11
11
MoneyGram provides very limited international money transfer services for businesses.
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.
8
8
Exchange rate margin fee - This can be an additional 5% on top of real time exchange rates. The exchange rate margin fee increases with credit card payments and cash pickup of funds.
Additional fees - MoneyGram money transfer fees vary depending on where you and the recipient reside, the mode of payment, the transfer amount, and the transfer method.
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 |
64
64
Signing up - Fairly easy, using either the MoneyGram app or website.
Payment options - Bank account transfers, debit cards, credit cards and cash.
Speed - Up to 4 business days, and even more in some instances.
Multilingual website - Use the MoneyGram website in a number of languages.
Mobile apps - Available for iOS and Android.
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.
69
69
Supported payment currencies - Accepts local currency payments from its customers in North America, Latin America, the Caribbean, Europe, Africa, Asia, the Middle East and Oceania.
Supported destination currencies - MoneyGram lets you send money to more than 200 countries and territories, and offers payouts in local currencies.
Customer support - Local phone and chat support provided in several countries.
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.
44
44
Regulation - Regulated by financial regulatory bodies in different countries.
Average customer service - Gets a rating of Great on Trustpilot. However, several customer reviews highlight issues with the company's customer service.
Poor exchange rate transparency - The markup on existing exchange rates can be more than 5% for some currencies.
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.
WinnerMoneyGram is no match for Wise in this comparison with 48 to 75 respectively. Although they tie in their individual offerings, Wise is no match for MoneyGram with their superior business services and cheaper fees and exchange rates.
