CurrencyFair has a unique offering called the CurrencyFair Marketplace and Top-Ups to currency balances within CurrencyFair. It can be confusing at first but all will be explained below to decode their terminology.
What CurrencyFair offers
- International money transfers
- Currency balances & top-ups
- CurrencyFair Exchange Marketplace
- Rate alerts
- Regular transfers
International money transfers
This is CurrencyFair’s basic international money transfer service. It’s described as ‘Send Money’ within the CurrencyFair dashboard.
How to send money internationally with CurrencyFair:
- Create a money transfer by clicking Send Money.
- Set the amount to send, the source and destination currency.
- Select how to make your payment to CurrencyFair
- Send money to CurrencyFair
Currency balances & top-ups
It is possible to hold currencies within CurrencyFair. This is not a Digital Wallet. CurrencyFair is not licensed for Digital Wallets. You can hold 20 currencies within CurrencyFair.
AED, AUD, CAD, CHF, CZK, DKK, EUR, GBP, HKD, HUF, ILS, NOK, NZD, PHP, PLN, SEK, SGD, THB, USD, ZAR
Within CurrencyFair’s account, you can exchange between these currencies which will add to the currency balance. These balances can be Topped Up, using the Top Up wizard in the CurrencyFair dashboard.
At any time you can Transfer Out of these currency balances to a local bank account in a supported destination currency. It is important to note that CurrencyFair is not a bank and therefore balances within CurrencyFair are not covered under a government guarantee.
CurrencyFair Exchange Marketplace
You can use CurrencyFair Exchange with money held within the CurrencyFair currency balances.
CurrencyFair Marketplace allows you to choose an exchange rate. Other CurrencyFair customers who also use the Marketplace can also choose an exchange rate. This peer to peer marketplace allows customers to set and match rates with other CurrencyFair customers.
The CurrencyFair Marketplace allows customers to see exchange rates available in the marketplace and how much money is available at that rate. Open exchanges can be cancelled if they are not yet matched.
Rate alerts
When your configured rate alert is met, you will receive an email.
Regular transfers
For regular international currency exchange and transfers, set up a Regular Transfer. Then create a standing order from your bank account to CurrencyFair. CurrencyFair will automatically exchange the currency and send it to the foreign bank account.
What CurrencyFair doesn’t do
- Personal account management
- Digital wallet
- Personal FX optimized travel cards
CurrencyFair score
iCompareFX’s review of CurrencyFair’s Personal services and features highlight limitations for international money transfers. Although you can hold currency balances and top up these balances, they are not licensed for Digital Wallets. As CurrencyFair does not offer support through account management or currency experts, the customer is left to choose a potential future rate or exchange at the time of transfer. This has affected their review for Personal or individual services.