Did you ever had to transfer money from a bank account in one country to a bank account in another country and used a friend as an intermediary to save on bank fees? Only problem is that you need a friend who’s got bank accounts in those countries. Well, one startup is now offering to be your friend who’s got bank accounts in (almost) every countries.
Meet TransferWise, a UK company launched in January 2011 by Kristo Käärmann and Taavet Hinrikus (first Skype employee) and which has already processed more than 10 million euros in bank transfers (you can read the full story on Wikipedia). They charge €1 or 0.5{5f676304cfd4ae2259631a2f5a3ea815e87ae216a7b910a3d060a7b08502a4b2} (whichever is larger) which is incredibly lower than what your bank will charge.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PntHmOt4dSI
Not every currency/country is available yet but you can ask to be notified when what you’re interested in becomes available. And, if you use this link to create your account, your first transfer will be free.
Great solution for freelancers and companies who work with international clients and nomads or expats who need to move money between countries.
Image Credits: TransferWise blog
Very good! I do it myself with my friends already between Italy/Europe and Thailand ;-)
Reliable and affordable solution to transfer money internationally. There also are analogous options as Paysera or transferGo. I like that these guys are offering a way around banks. International transactions through banks indeed are very expensive. It seems to me that people are paying for nothing.