WorldRemit is a great option for specific use cases. For example if you want to send to cash pickup or for airtime. However, costs are higher than with exchange rates from 0.5% and fees from $2.99.
As a comparison, Wise has fees of 0.33%, and no markup on the exchange rate. With Wise, you cannot send airtime or into a cash pickup location.
There's some decent features with WorldRemit, including an app to manage transfers. There's no multi-currency account or currency risk tools, like forward contracts.
By offering access to a wide range of African countries, which can sometimes be hard to find support for, WorldRemit has one of the biggest selection of countries.
With this, WorldRemit also has a customer service team that operates across 6 countries. You will not get this with many online only companies.
Overall, WorldRemit is a great choice for airtime transfers in particular, but for bank transfers, you'll be able to find a better price elsewhere.
WorldRemit vs banks for international transfers
WorldRemit has a higher starting point than many money transfer companies for pricing. Despite this, using the company would still be significantly cheaper than using a bank.
Here's how the company compares.
Comparison | WorldRemit (All) | Chase Bank (US) | Barclays (UK) | Emirates NBD (UAE) | Scotia Bank (Canada) | NAB (Australia) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Exchange rates | 0.5% | 2% to 7% | Up to 2.75% | Up to 4.6% | 3.35% | From 3% |
Fees | from $2.99 | $40-50 per transfer | £25 per transfer | 60 AED + 1.99% | 1.99 CAD | 30 AUD |
Speed | 0 to 3 days | 2 to 5 days | 2 to 5 days | 3 - 7 days | 2 to 5 days | 3 to 7 days |
Customer service | Help portal, Customer service team 24/7 | A chat bot and generic help articles which cover basics | Generic, non-specialized help articles. Ability to call which adds £15 to the cost of sending money | Generic help portal | Generic help portal, telephone assistance | Generic help portal only |
WorldRemit will usually be a faster and cheaper option than sending a bank transfer.
Also, where banks do not offer airtime or mobile wallet payments WorldRemit has a better product offering. This gives the recipient more choice.
With limits of $9,000 per day, large transfers are not supported. Using a currency broker, like TorFX or Regency FX would be the best choice here.
When sending money abroad, we always recommend searching ahead of your transfer. WorldRemit is cheaper than using a bank, but may not be the cheapest option for your transfer.
Searching the amount you want to send, and where you want to send it, will give you the best price.
Why are people choosing WorldRemit?
WorldRemit is suitable for many scenarios, here's why customers are choosing them:
For regular airtime payments: Sending to airtime is popular, especially in unbanked populations and developing countries. It allows a recipient to accept payments, without requiring a bank account.
For sending cash pickup: Similar to airtime, cash pickup locations provide a lifeline in developing countries. Offering this as part of the overall service again makes them one of the top money transfer companies for sending into cash locations.
For access to harder to reach markets: Africa and some parts of Asia can be difficult to reach for transfers. Costs can be higher, and sending money can be a little slower. However, with the range of payment methods, and options for receiving money, WorldRemit has a lot of scope to offer.
Why would you not choose them?
There are some scenarios where WorldRemit will not be the right choice.
For large payments: With limits of $9,000, sending with WorldRemit isn't suitable for things like buying property abroad. Even without the limit, even sending upwards of $1,000 can be more expensive with WorldRemit than it would be with a company like Wise, where the overall cost would start at 0.33%, vs 0.5%.
For multi-currency account access: Many money transfer providers offer multi-currency accounts. These come with cards for spending, and local bank accounts. These accounts are popular for people travelling or making regular payments. Wise, Revolut and Currencies Direct all offer multi-currency accounts should you need one.
Features
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Receive in a number of different ways
As we've mentioned there are a few different ways to receive money through WorldRemit. Here's each in more detail.
Bank transfer
This is one of the more common ways to accept a money transfer. Essentially, you'll send using your bank account, or through a debit card, and the funds will be sent to a recipient's bank account.
The cost of sending to a bank through WorldRemit, vs Wise, or other competitors is a little more expensive.
Cash pickup
Sending money for cash pickup means the recipient can collect the transferred funds from a partner location within the WorldRemit network.
Cash pickup is not available in Europe, the USA, Canada or Australia. This is because the method is generally for supporting developing, or more unbanked countries.
Here's the countries you can send to for cash pickup:
Africa
North America
South America
Asia
Middle East
Airtime top up
Like cash pickup, airtime top ups are not available everywhere. This being said, WorldRemit has one of the biggest scopes for receiving airtime top ups. You can send airtime to the USA as well.
Africa
North America
South America
Asia
Oceania
Europe
Middle East
Money transfer app
As standard most money transfer companies will come with apps, some have more functionality than others. WorldRemit has one of the better apps on the market, the usability is pretty simple and making a transfer to any type of receiving method is easy.
The app allows you to track exchange rates and set alerts, so money can be sent at a time when the recipient will receive as much as possible. The Xe app is the standard for this, with historical charts available as well. For comparison, the WorldRemit option offers a lot of similar points, but without the more in-depth charting you'd get with Xe.
For sending money the app is simple, and allows you to store recipients with a resend feature. This is similar to having a payee setup in your bank account.
Transfer speed
Within the WorldRemit network, transfers almost instant and most will be completed on the same day.
Harder to reach locations, and cash pickup for example, may take longer. In some cases up to 3 days to exchange and switch into a new currency.
A little like when we discussed the cost earlier, sending with WorldRemit will be faster than using a bank. But you may find some money transfer companies a little faster as well.
Regulation and security
WorldRemit's scope of countries and payment options means there is a huge amount of safety and regulation elements in place.
These include:
Regulatory Area | Description | Examples |
|---|---|---|
Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Counter-Terrorism Financing (CTF) | Regulations to prevent the use of money transfer services for illegal activities. | Globally: KYC checks, transaction monitoring, suspicious activity reporting. Nigeria: Compliance with Central Bank of Nigeria regulations on KYC and transaction limits. Australia: Adherence to AUSTRAC regulations on AML/CTF and KYC. |
Data Protection | Regulations governing the collection, storage, and use of customer data. | Globally: Compliance with data protection laws like GDPR (Europe) and similar regulations in other countries. |
Licensing and Registration | Requirements for money transfer operators to be licensed or registered with relevant authorities. | UK: Registered with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) as an Authorised Payment Institution. US: Licensed as a Money Transmitter in various states, including New York. India: Compliance with Reserve Bank of India regulations. |
Foreign Exchange Controls | Restrictions on the movement of currency in some countries. | India: Compliance with Reserve Bank of India regulations on foreign exchange transactions. |
Consumer Protection | Regulations to protect consumers from unfair practices and ensure transparency. | Globally: Clear disclosure of fees and exchange rates. UK: Compliance with FCA regulations on consumer protection. |
Not keen? There’s other options
Company | Features | Rating | Pricing |
|---|---|---|---|
Wise | Transfers at the mid-market rate, 0.33% fees, multi-currency account access | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ | No markup and fees from 0.33% - open an account |
Xe | Competitive rates from 0.5%, account manager for large transfers, transfers usually within a day | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ | No markup and fees from 0.5% - open an account |
OFX | Money transfer company serving bank transfers specifically, rates from 0.4% and no fees | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ | Markup from 0.4% and no fees - open an account |
Tor FX | Currency broker with rates from 0.4%, account managed service, forward contracts and app access offered | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ | Markup from 4% and no fees - get a quote |
