OFX vs TransferWise: Which One Should You Choose This Year?
Do not know which popular money transfer service to choose? Wondering how TransferWise stands against OFX and which one is better for you? Wondering whether these companies are secure enough to trust them with your money?
All these are legit questions and my TransferWise vs OFX review should help you to answer them!
I am an online entrepreneur and it means I need to be able to transfer money easily and cheaply between different countries. That’s why I am always looking for the best money transfer solutions on the market and then write reviews like this one to share my knowledge with you.
So in this post, you will read the comparison of OFX vs TransferWise.
Both are very popular money transfer companies. I will talk about their fees, rates, and other important features. Hopefully, once you finish reading my post, you will be able to choose the one that suits you the most.
Let’s dive in!
But before we start, I have to tell you that I am affiliated with OFX and TransferWise. If you register via my links and start doing transfers on either of the platforms, I will get a small cut.
At a glance
In a rush? Here’s a comparison table that shows the main features of the services.
How to read it:
if only one company has , it means the company is better in this aspect
if both companies have , it means they are equally good in this aspect
Feature
TransferWise
OFX
Cost of transfer
✔
Funding options
✔
Transfer speed
✔
✔
Security
✔
✔
Customer service
✔
✔
Customer rating
✔
What is TransferWise?
In order to transfer money between accounts, TransferWise uses a P2P (peer-to-peer) approach. In the nutshell, it swaps your money with that of others.
Check out their video for more details:
What is OFX?
Compared to its rival, OFX is more traditional and has been on the market longer. It was founded in 1998 in Australia and since then, it has grown to become a global company.
The company relies on the banking system to make money flow.
Let’s look at one of the most important parts, that is how much money each service charges you. In other words, what are their fees and commissions?
How I did the comparison:
converted CADUSD
used both services on the same day, December 11, 2018
used two sums, $1,000 and $10,000, to cover both small and large sums of money
Let’s see what each of them offers.
At a glance
If you are in a hurry, take a look at the comparison table (on mobile📱, swipe the tables left to see all columns):
For $1,000CAD:
Company
Send CAD
Rate
Fees
Receive USD
Better?
TransferWise
$1,000
0.74720
$8.45
$740.89
OFX
$1,000
0.74444
$0.00
$744.40
✔
For $10,000CAD:
Company
Send CAD
Rate
Fees
Receive USD
Better?
TransferWise
$10,000
0.74720
$57.71
$7,428.88
OFX
$10,000
0.74444
$0.00
$7,442.00
✔
TransferWise
To convert CADUSD, the service charges 0.5% commission fee plus extra fees.
For sending $1,000 via direct debit, the service offers 0.74720 exchange rate with the total amount of fees $8.45CAD. Your recipient will get $740.89USD. If you want to send money using a different method, the fees will be even higher with a maximum of $17.20CAD for a credit card.
For sending $10,000 via bank transfer, the service offers the same 0.74660 exchange rate with the total amount of fees $57.71CAD. Your recipient will get $7,429.87USD.
For this amount of money, only two payment methods are available, domestic wire transfer (bank transfer) and bill payment, and the fees are the same in both cases.
However, if you want to just transfer money between your own accounts in different currencies (countries), you can use TransferWise Borderless Plan. This will give you better exchange rates (the mid-market rate similar to what you can see on Google) and will reduce the overall fees significantly. Also, you will get a debit card in the currency of your account.
However, the Plan does not yet support opening a Canadian account (as of December 11, 2018).
If you are Canadian, you can still open an account in some other currency, for example, in USD in the case you need one.
Once the TransferWise Borderless Plan gets truly available in Canada, it might become a good competitor to OFX. All depends on their fees, of course.
At the moment, it seems that CADUSD commission fee of 0.50% is still a bit high according to this support article:
OFX
As you may already know from my OFX Canada review, if you register via my affiliate link, you will get a favorable deal. OFX won’t charge you any flat fee (normally, it’s $15 for the transfers below $10,000) and their commission will be as low as 0.40% (normally, it’s 0.50%).
For sending $1,000, the service offers 0.7444 exchange rate with zero amount of extra fee. Your recipient will get $744.40USD.
For sending $10,000, the service offers 0.7442 exchange rate with zero amount of extra fee. Your recipient will get $USD.
Verdict: OFX is cheaper
Based on the transfer cost, it seems that at the moment, OFX can offer a better deal than TransferWise. It might change later when TransferWise Borderless Plan will be available in more countries including Canada.
Funding options
In this chapter, we will take a look at how you can fund your transfer. What are available payment methods? Is it only a direct debit or bill payment – or something else?
At a glance
If you are in a hurry, take a look at the comparison table:
Payment method
TransferWise
OFX
Debit card
✔
Credit card
✔
Direct debit
✔
✔
Bill payment
✔
✔
Electronic transfers
✔
✔
Domestic wire transfer
✔
TransferWise
Payment methods available for a TransferWise customer vary per currency and the amount you are sending.
For small amount (for example, equal and below $3,000CAD) you have the following payment methods available:
direct debit
debit card
credit card
domestic wire transfer
bill payment
For medium-size sums (for example, above $3,000CAD and up to $9,500CAD), you have fewer ways to fund your transfer:
direct debit
domestic wire transfer
bill payment
For very large sum (for example, above $9,500CAD), you have only two ways to fund your transfer:
For OFX, there are only two ways to send them the payment regardless of the amount of money:
direct debit
bill payment
electronic transfer
Verdict: TransferWise is more convenient
If you need to be flexible with your payment methods and especially if you need to send money from a credit card, TransferWise is definitely more convenient than OFX.
Transfer speed
The amount of time your transfer takes can be pretty important when it comes to transferring money.
It seems that you will be quite well served by both these services. Whichever way you choose, it is quite likely that your transfer will be quicker than doing it with a bank.
TransferWise
The speed depends on the currency you are sending and how you are sending it (payment method). Since TransferWise supports a lot of payment methods, the speed can vary significantly. Usually, it’s 1-2 working days but may reach up to 4 days.
In order to find out the speed more precisely, check out their Help section. Here is the reference for USD and here’s one for CAD.
OFX
With OFX, transfers to most countries take 1-2 business days.
However, it also depends on the way you fund your transfer. For example, if you send a payment in USD via direct debit, it can take 2-3 business days to clear.
Verdict: Both services are equal
Both TransferWise and OFX seem to have the similar speed for transferring your funds.
Security
Security is one of the most important things when it comes to transferring money to a different country. In this case, it seems you have nothing to worry about using either company.
Both TransferWise and OFX are regulated by various bodies in the countries that they operate in. They are both trusted by businesses and consumers to send a significant amount of money to various countries each day.
TransferWise
Security of TranswerWise includes strong protective measures, such as 2-step login and their own verification procedures to protect accounts from unauthorized access.
TransferWise is regulated by various bodies across the world including:
Both TransferWise and OFX seem to have similar security measures implemented so it is safe to use any of the companies.
Customer service
When you trust your money to some company, you need to be 100% sure that in the case of troubles, you can reach out to them quickly. That’s why customer service is very important in the world of money transfer.
The phone number you can call depends on the office you want to contact. Each country has its own office, phone number, and office hours during which your call can be answered.
Here’s the list of the countries that have offices: UK, Germany, US, Canada, Spain, France, Australia, Brazil, Austria, Japan, Hungary, Singapore, Italy.
Each country has its own phone number, which you can call any time 24/7. Here’s the list of the countries supported for a call: UK, US, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Hong Kong, Ireland, Germany, Spain, France.
Verdict: Both services are equal
Again, when it comes to customer service, both companies seem to do a good job here. They both are represented in major regions and have more than one means to be contacted.
Customer rating
What do the other customers say about the companies? Which one has a higher review rating? Let’s see.
How I did the comparison: I went to trustpilot.com and compared the rating of both companies on the same day, December 12, 2018.
The reviews mention how fast and easy the service is plus the professionalism and helpfulness of the customer support available 24/7 and great exchange rate without extra fees.
On the flip side, the negative reviews mentioned the funds being delayed as well as a lower amount of money being received because of bank charges.
Verdict: TransferWise has better reviews; does it mean OFX is not trustworthy?
As you can see, both companies have a lot of positive reviews.
Most of the negative reviews seem to be about either some transfers taking longer than expected, having problems with getting approved or third parties charging unexpected fees, which is outside of their control.
You should keep in mind that the majority of transfers made with either of the services will be Ok. Otherwise, a money transfer company that constantly fails to deliver high service just loses its license.
Occasionally, there may be some hiccups.
That’s where good customer service plays a big role. Both TransferWise and OFX have excellent customer support as you could see above.
Moreover, it seems that both companies take complaints and customer dissatisfaction very seriously and reply to the majority of the bad reviews. This is what matters in the end.
OFX vs TransferWise: Who should you choose?
So, which money transfer company is better?
In my opinion, it seems that OFX is better in terms of the cost of transfer and TransferWise is better for convenience.
👉🏻 TransferWise allows you to do send money directly from a credit card and has more ways to fund your transfer. Also, their Borderless Plan seems to offer a great alternative to regular banks. You can get multiple accounts in various currencies and quickly transfer money between them. Might be a good solution for digital nomads!
👉🏻 OFX might be better in the case when you are looking for a cheaper way (if you register via my affiliate link) to send cash you already have and do not mind dealing with the banking system. If you need to transfer money to your relatives, pay for a purchase in a foreign country, or transfer money when relocating, this might be a good company to choose. Seems to be a good choice for winter birds or online entrepreneurs like myself!
For the rest of the features, both companies are pretty much equal.
You will be well protected from fraud and well served regardless of whether you choose one or another.
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, it means the company is better in this aspect
USD
