TransferWise vs OrbitRemit

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.

What TransferWise 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 TransferWise 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

OrbitRemit provides international money transfer services for personal customers from Australia, New Zealand and the UK.
 

What OrbitRemit offers

• International money transfers.
• Regular transfers.
• Cash transfers to some countries.
• Payments to government bodies in New Zealand.

What OrbitRemit doesn’t offer

• Account managers.
• Travel cards.
• Digital wallets.

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.

What TransferWise offers businesses

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

What TransferWise for business doesn’t offer

• Business account management
• Risk management tools

As an OrbitRemit business customer, you get basic international money transfer services.
 

What OrbitRemit business account offers

• Spot transfers.
• Regular transfers.

What OrbitRemit business account doesn’t offer

• Business account managers.
• Currency hedging tools.
• FX optimized travel cards.
• Unique local multi-currency receiving accounts.
• Accounting integration.

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.

OrbitRemit fees

OrbitRemit fees vary based on the currency in which you pay and the transfer amount.

OrbitRemit Exchange rates

OrbitRemit rates come with markups added on top of existing interbank exchange rates. The markup is typically around 0.45%.

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.

What OrbitRemit does well

Signing up - Signing up for a new OrbitRemit account is fairly simple.

Transfer speed - Most transfers carried out through OrbitRemit take 1 - 2 business days. This does not account for the time it takes for your payment to reach OrbitRemit.
 

Where OrbitRemit could improve

ID verification - Some OrbitRemit reviews on Trustpilot mention that the ID verification process takes longer than expected.

Payment options - As of now, you can make payments only via bank transfers or POLi (if you live in Australia or New Zealand).

Phone transfers - You can not set up transfers over the phone.

OrbitRemit app - You can use the OrbitRemit app for Android or Apple to set up transfers and track progress. You can also use it to make free payments to the IRD, MOJ and MSD in New Zealand.

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.

Supported Countries 

You can register with OrbitRemit from the UK, Australia or New Zealand.

There are approximately 20 countries you can send money to online.
 

Customer Service

OrbitRemit gets an average score of 9.3 out of 10 on Trustpilot.

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.

Supported registration countries - You can sign up as an OrbitRemit customer from the UK, New Zealand or Australia.

Supported destination countries - OrbitRemit supports transfers to the following countries in currencies such as AUD, BDT, DKK, EUR, GBP, INR, IDR, LKR, MYR, NPR, NZD, NOK, PHP, PLN, SGD, THB, USD, VND and ZAR.

Maximum sending limits - Maximum sending limits apply if you're sending money to Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nepal, Singapore, Sri Lanka or Thailand.

Languages - The OrbitRemit website and app are only available in English.

Customer support - Provided via the OrbitRemit app and website.