CurrencyFair Vs Transferwise

Not sure whether to use CurrencyFair or Transferwise (now called Wise) for your next international payment? This guide has you covered.

We’ll run through all you need to know about CurrencyFair vs Wise including:

• A full side by side feature comparison

• Which provider is cheaper?

• Which is faster?

• Which is safer?

• Which gets better customer reviews?

Summary: CurrencyFair supports payments to more countries than Wise, and has a novel feature allowing you to set your own exchange rate for peer to peer transfers. However, based on our comparison, Wise is slightly cheaper than CurrencyFair and faster too. Both providers are licensed by the FCA.

CurrencyFair Vs Wise: side by side

So, to summarise:

• Wise supports more currencies, but CurrencyFair offers more receiving countries

• CurrencyFair’s multi-currency account supports 20+ currencies while the Wise multi-currency account offers 50+

• Wise has a debit card on offer for customers - CurrencyFair does not have that option

• CurrencyFair offers peer to peer exchange services - Wise does not

• Both providers are fully regulated, and offer both personal and business services

CurrencyFair and Wise have similar features - both offer international payments to bank accounts and both have their own multi-currency account - what separates the two is speed and pricing. Wise can be faster, and has a more flexible multi-currency account. Wise exchange rates don’t include any margin. CurrencyFair has a bank beating rate - but it does include a small margin of around 0.45% on average.

Go to WiseGo to CurrencyFair

The important bits

Rates: Wise uses the mid-market rate, whereas CurrencyFair offers customers the option to set their own rate for a peer to peer transfer, or arrange an instant payment for a small margin

Fees: Both providers have variable fees which are based on the destination country

Speed: CurrencyFair transfers may take a day or two to arrive while Wise payments can be instant

Service: Both providers offer multilingual service in a range of languages, online, in-app and by phone. Wise has more languages covered than CurrencyFair.

Safety: Both providers are fully licensed and regulated

Reviews: Both providers score Excellent review ratings on Trustpilot - but Wise has significantly more listed customer reviews showing

Pros and cons

CurrencyFair Vs Wise: The verdict

Whether CurrencyFair or Wise win for you will depend on the specific services you need.

If you want to make a peer to peer payment - where you set the exchange rate you’ll accept and wait for another customer to match it - CurrencyFair could be a good fit. If you’re looking for an instant payment, Wise will probably work out cheaper because there's no exchange rate markup to worry about.

And while both providers offer multi-currency accounts, the CurrencyFair account is more about holding and converting currencies, whereas the Wise international account - with its linked debit card - has more functionality. If you want to make ATM withdrawals when you travel or shop online with international retailers, go for Wise.

About CurrencyFair and Wise

CurrencyFair was founded in Ireland in 2010, and has 150,000 customers[8]. You can send payments in 20 currencies with CurrencyFair.

While CurrencyFair already offers business accounts to small businesses, it has also teamed up with Australian company Assembly Payments to launch Zai, its service for mid-market and enterprise level customers.

Wise was launched as TransferWise back in 2011[9] as a low-cost international payment provider. These days, Wise has upwards of 10 million customers, and also offers personal and business accounts to hold and manage currencies, accept payments and spend using a linked debit card.

With Wise you can send payments to 80+ countries, in 50+ currencies.

How do they work?

To use CurrencyFair you’ll need to first register and verify your account. You can then make a payment online or in the CurrencyFair app[10]:

1. Set up the payment by entering the amount, the pay in currency, and the pay out currency

2. Enter your recipient’s details

3. Choose how you’ll deposit funds to your CurrencyFair account - this is usually a bank transfer

4. CurrencyFair will convert the money once it arrives and pass it on to your recipient

To use Wise you’ll need to create an account, and depending on the type of payment you want to make you might need to provide some ID for verification.

Once your account is up and running make payments online and in the Wise app[11]:

1. Log into your account

2. Type in how much you want to transfer, or how much you need the recipient to get

3. Enter the recipient’s details - bank account number or email

4. Check over the details

5. Fund your payment using a card or bank transfer

6. Confirm and your money will be on the move

Wise transfers are made through Wise’s network of local bank accounts, so they arrive faster and don’t incur intermediary fees. When you want to pay for your transfer in pounds you’ll send the money to Wise’s local UK account. Then Wise will make a payment of the equivalent amount in your preferred currency, from their account in the destination country. No money actually moves across borders, so it’s faster and cheaper than traditional international payments.

CurrencyFair Vs Wise Fees

CurrencyFair allows a couple of different transfer types - peer to peer payments, and instant transfers. If you choose a peer to peer payment you’ll set your own exchange rate and wait for another customer to match it - this may mean you’re paying a fee in the form of an exchange rate margin.

For instant transfers, CurrencyFair has 2 different fees[12]:

• Exchange rate markup: This is usually around 0.45%

• Transfer fee: This is 3 EUR, or around 2.50 GBP

One of the fees that CurrencyFair uses is an exchange rate markup - which is a fee wrapped up in the exchange rate being offered. That’s pretty standard across providers - and CurrencyFair do highlight this in their pricing page. However, in general rate markups do make it harder to work out the true cost of your payment.

Wise doesn’t hide any fees in the exchange rates used, but instead has a couple of different transparent costs:

• Fixed fee: covering the fixed costs associated with the transaction. For major currencies this can be in the region of £0.20 - £0.40

• Variable fee: covering the cost of the currency exchange. For major currencies this can be in the region of 0.35% to 0.45% of the transfer value

CurrencyFair Vs Wise: which is cheaper?

Choosing an international payment specialist is almost certainly cheaper than sending money using your bank. However, as fees and rates do vary, it still pays to compare a few providers before you pick. Let’s look at how a few different payments from CurrencyFair and Wise work out. This table looks at how much in GBP it’ll cost you to send a payment to a friend in USD or EUR:

*Fees and rates correct at time of research - 9th November 2021

As you can see, on all our comparisons, Wise worked out cheaper. However, the differences are marginal - so choosing between these providers may be a question of personal preference and convenience rather than cost.

CurrencyFair Vs Wise: which is faster?

CurrencyFair show their payment process in 2 steps -

• Send in - where you send money in pounds to fund your account

• Send out - where CurrencyFair send out the payment to your recipient

It can take up to 1 business day for your payment to reach CurrencyFair if you’re sending in GBP - and then it can take another day or two for the payment to reach your recipient’s account[13].

40% of Wise payments get to their destination instantly, and 80% arrive in 24 hours. However, the exact delivery time will depend on where you’re sending money to, and how you want to pay. You’ll see an estimated arrival time when you set up your payment.

Safety

Both CurrencyFair and Wise are fully licensed and regulated, and use both smart technology and dedicated service teams to keep customer money safe.

CurrencyFair was founded in Ireland, and is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland, the FCA in the UK, and the appropriate regulatory bodies in other countries it operates in.

Wise is regulated by the FCA in the UK, FinCEN in the US, and other global regulatory bodies around the world.

Ease of use

• Creating an account: Create your account online or in app with both CurrencyFair and Wise

• Making a transfer: Both providers allow customers to fund payments with a bank transfer. CurrencyFair may also allow other funding methods depending on the currency you’re using but does not support card payments[14]. Wise typically allows bank transfers, card payments and Apple Pay payments.

• Ways to send money: Send payments to your recipient’s bank account directly with both CurrencyFair and Wise[15]

• Languages: CurrencyFair services are available in English, French and German, with multilingual customer support. Wise offers 15 languages, plus multi-lingual support services.

• Minimum & maximum amounts: Sending limits can vary by destination country, and based on your account type.

Supported currencies

CurrencyFair supports 20+ currencies on major payment routes which cover over a hundred different countries. Wise supports 50+ currencies, and lets you send payments to over 80 countries.

Conclusion

Both CurrencyFair and Wise have some interesting features which will suit different customer needs.

CurrencyFair has its peer to peer payment exchange which is pretty unique. With this you can choose the exchange rate you want to sell currency for, which may mean you get a good deal if you’re matched with the right customer.

You can also make instant payments with both CurrencyFair and Wise - but Wise wins overall on the exchange rates and fees on offer for most transfers. Wise also has more currency options which can be a bonus.

Finally, Wise has its international account which has more functionality than the CurrencyFair equivalent. If you want to spend while you travel, make ATM withdrawals and shop online with international retailers with no foreign transaction fees, the Wise multi-currency account is the account for you.

FAQ

Is CurrencyFair or Wise cheaper?

For instant payments, Wise is cheaper, as it offers the real exchange rate with no markup, and low transfer fees.

CurrencyFair does have its peer to peer exchange service which lets you choose the rate you want to buy or sell at. It’s possible that you could snag a great deal there which makes it a cheaper service - but this relies on another customer agreeing to your preferred rate.

Is CurrencyFair or Wise faster?

Wise is faster for international payments.

How many currencies do CurrencyFair and Wise support?

CurrencyFair supports 20+ currencies and Wise supports 50+ currencies.