Personal Features

XE Money Transfer

33

33

XE Money Transfer serves personal customers from a number of countries, giving them easy means to send money to more than 170 countries.

What XE Money Transfer does

  • International money transfers
  • Forward contracts
  • Market orders
  • Regular transfers

What XE Money Transfer doesn’t do

  • Personal account managers for low volume transfers
  • Cash pickup
  • Unique local multi-currency accounts
  • Digital wallets
  • FX optimized travel card

WorldFirst

50

50

WorldFirst offers international money transfer services for individuals. They also offer tools for business clients.

What WorldFirst offers individuals

  • International money transfers
  • Forward contracts
  • Firm orders
  • Rate alerts
  • Personal account managers
  • Mobile apps for Android and Apple
  • Regular transfers

WorldFirst does not offer individuals

  • Access to multi-currency accounts (World Account) to individuals
  • Foreign currency optimised travel debit cards

WorldFirst wins!

WorldFirst scores better in the Personal Features category.

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Winner

Business Benefits

XE Money Transfer

56

56

XE Money Transfer gives business clients the option to choose from varied services.

What XE Money Transfer for business offers

  • Mass payments
  • Payments UPI for receiving online payments
  • Forward contracts
  • Market orders
  • Account managers

What XE Money Transfer for business doesn’t do

  • Business travel card
  • Multi-currency receiving accounts
  • Digital wallets
  • Solutions for online sellers
  • Accounting integration

WorldFirst

89

89

WorldFirst has an excellent offering for business and promotes partnerships with businesses operating in a global environment. There are solutions for online sellers, import / export and global human resources payments.

What WorldFirst offers business

  • Multi-currency receiving accounts
  • Forward contracts
  • Firm orders
  • Xero integration
  • Business account management

WorldFirst World Account

Through the WorldFirst World Account you can leverage unique banking details in 10 different currencies and reduce costs on receiving money from customers and paying suppliers. Local banking details are available in GBP, EUR, USD, CAD, CNH, HKD, JPY, NZD, SGD and AUD.
 

What WorldFirst doesn’t offer business

  • Business debit card for foreign currency transactions from the WorldFirst World account.

WorldFirst wins!

WorldFirst scores better in the Business Benefits category.

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Fees & Exchange Rates

XE Money Transfer

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46

XE Money Transfer fees

Personal customers pay no transfer fees when sending money through XE Money Transfer.
 

Are there additional XE Money Transfer fees?

Yes, these come in the form of the exchange rate margin that XE Money Transfer applies on existing mid-market rates.


WorldFirst

79

79

WorldFirst has a super simple fee structure for international money transfers. The WorldFirst fees are additional to the real exchange rate. 

WorldFirst World Account fees also have the same simple fee structure and fees only apply when withdrawing funds from virtual multi-currency accounts.

Annual Transfer Amount£0 - £500K£500K - £5M£5M+
WorldFirst Fees0.60%0.35%0.25%

WorldFirst Australia currency conversion fees for small transfers

WorldFirst Australia has introduced (March 2021) new fees for small currency conversion amounts of less that AUD$10,000. These fees can make it prohibitive for small businesses to conduct day to day business payments. 

WorldFirst Australia fixed fee for FXFee
< $2,000$20
$2,000 - $10,000$10
$10,000 +$0

WorldFirst wins!

WorldFirst scores better in the Fees and Exchange Rates category.

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Winner

Ease of Use

XE Money Transfer

79

79

What XE Money Transfer does well

Sign up process - Register online or over the phone, by providing some basic information.

Payment options - Bank account transfers, debit cards and credit cards.

Phone transfers - Initiate transfers over the phone.

Speed - Most transfers process within 1 - 2 business days.

Mobile app - Available for iOS and Android. 
 

Where XE Money Transfer could improve

ID verification - This process can take 1- 4 business days.


WorldFirst

57

57

WorldFirst account creation and registration is simple and straightforward.  Unfortunately there is room for improvement in some areas:

ID verification - This can be slower outside of the UK taking up to 24 hours. 

Payment options -  Basic by only supporting bank transfer payment options. 

Mobile apps - The World Account uses a different mobile app than their international money transfer app. This can be cumbersome for account management.

Minimum transfer amount - This is quite high for individuals at $2000 / £1000. There is, however, no minimum for business clients.


XE Money Transfer wins!

XE Money Transfer scores better in the Ease of Use category.

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Winner

Support & Countries

XE Money Transfer

81

81

What XE Money Transfer does well

Supported destination countries and currencies - XE Money Transfer supports transfers to over 170 countries, in over 60 currencies.

Customer support - Customer support is available via email and over the phone, in English, French and Spanish.
 

Where XE Money Transfer could improve

Website languages - You can use the XE Money Transfer website only in English.


WorldFirst

56

56

  • WorldFirst supports over 130+ currencies. Their website supports five unique languages. Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, Dutch, English, French and Japanese.
  • WorldFirst World Account supports 10 currencies. That means your business can have a local banking presence in 27 countries. 
  • WorldFirst customer support is global and can be contacted by email and phone. Additionally the UK has an online chat facility.

Unfortunately, USA residents are not eligible to create a WorldFirst account. This is a major let down for WorldFirst supported countries. This point has impacted the WorldFirst supported countries iCompareFX score.


XE Money Transfer wins!

XE Money Transfer scores better in the Support and Countries category.

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Winner

Trust & Transparency

XE Money Transfer

69

69

What XE Money Transfer does well

  • XE Money Transfer is fully regulated in different countries.
  • Rates as Excellent on Trustpilot.

Where XE Money Transfer could improve

Exchange rate margin transparency - XE Money Transfer’s exchange rates include margins that customers find out only after confirming their transfers.


WorldFirst

94

94

  • WorldFirst is fully regulated by the FCA. 
  • Client accounts are segregated from the business banking accounts.
  • Fees could not be more transparent with their simple fee structure.
  • Many online sellers and SME’s have discovered WorldFirst’s World Account to reduce their costs in the global market.
  • WorldFirst TrustPilot score has an overall rating of Excellent.

WorldFirst wins!

Both equally compare in the Trust and Transparency category.

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Winner

The Result

Winner ribbon iconWinner

 WorldFirst

With a draw in two categories, it really is a close call for these two providers but WorldFirst wins.  While XE's ease of use is a stand out, WorldFirst takes the lead with its personal and business features and competitive fees and exchange rates.