Which scores better when comparing TransferMate vs TransferWise? See how each provider scores and who wins when comparing their services, fees, supported countries and customer service.
TransferMate
Overall score:
51
51
TransferWise
Overall score:
75
75
Personal Features
Business Benefits
Fees & Exchange Rates
Ease of Use
Support & Countries
Trust & Transparency
17
17
What's clear to see in the iCompareFX TransferMate review is that the company provides rather limited services for personal customers.
50
50
TransferWise 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 TransferWise Borderless debit card backs on to their Borderless digital wallet allowing you to spend directly out of your multi-currency account balances.
44
44
Businesses may benefit by signing up with TransferMate. The benefits are explained in further detail within the TransferMate review.
56
56
In addition to the services TransferWise offers the individual, there are some features only available for a business. Unfortunately, as TransferWise is online only, a business customer does not have support with currency fluctuations and trends. TransferWise 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. TransferWise 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 TransferWise. This may mean that businesses need to alter their business structure to ensure continuous sufficent Borderless account funding.
21
21
Business customers need to pay fixed fees when transferring less than fee-free threshold amounts. Both vary depending on the country from which a transfer originates.
All personal transfers come with fixed fees. From the US, personal transfers attract $15 as fees. A standard €15 fee applies for personal transfers from the European Union. If you set up a personal transfer from Australia, you need to pay AU $25 in fees.
TransferMate rates include markups/margins that the company applies on existing mid-market/interbank exchange rates.
54
54
TransferWise 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 TransferWise Borderless debit card. Fees are briefly summarised below. Read the detailed TransferWise review for more details on TransferWise fees.
| TransferWise Service | TransferWise fee |
| Simple International Money Transfer | 0.4% - 2% Varies on currency and payment type |
| Adding to TransferWise 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 |
39
39
Signing up - Creating a new account is fairly straightforward.
Transfer speed - Transfers to major currencies can go through on the same day. Most other transfers take 1 - 2 business days.
Payment options - Accepts payments from personal customers only via bank account transfers. Business customers can set up direct debits.
Phone transfers - You can not initiate transfers by speaking with an account manager over the phone.
Minimum transfer limit - Region-specific minimum transfer limits apply.
TransferMate app - There is no TransferMate app for Android or Apple yet.
83
83
The TransferWise 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 TransferWise 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 - TransferWise has the broadest range of payment options. Local bank transfer, debit / credit card and country specific solutions such as POLi.
63
63
Supported countries and currencies - Use TransferMate to send money in more than 130 currencies to over 160 countries.
Customer support - Provided via chat, email and phone.
Phone support - Local phone support provided in the US, the UK, Ireland, Bulgaria, Canada, Hong Kong, Singapore, Dubai, Australia and New Zealand.
Multilingual website - Use the TransferMate website in different European languages.
Local settlement accounts - Depending on where you live, you might need to send your payment to a local TransferMate bank account.
88
88
TransferWise’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.
56
56
Regulated - TransferMate is licensed by regulatory bodies of a number of countries.
Trustpilot - TransferMate rates as Excellent on Trustpilot.
Transparency in exchange rate - The company does not inform customers of the exchange rate margins it applies.
63
63
TransferWise is fully regulated by the FCA and their customer funds are segregated from their business banking activities.
TransferWise 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.
TransferWise 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.
WinnerWith both providers tying with the personal and business services they offer, the winning decision came down to the other four categories. TransferWise's ease of use and cheaper fees and exchange rates significantly bumped them ahead of TransferMate across the scoring. Their supported countries and trust and transparency also assisted in their almost 20 point win.
