Money transfer companies compared: Singapore

Money Transfer Companies Compared: Singapore

Many online money transfer companies claim to offer attractive exchange rates, while some boast of fee-free transfers – but in reality, their exchange rates could be giving you less money to send overseas. International money transfers can be costly, with hidden fees and fluctuating exchange rates that impact how much you spend to send money abroad. For a more detailed look at sending money abroad, check out our guide: Sending money abroad: a guide to international money transfers.

Money transfer companies operate by charging an additional margin to the interbank exchange rate, transfer fees or a combination of both. Typically, banks add a margin of between 3% and 6% on top of the interbank rate. CurrencyFair, on the other hand, charges an average margin of 0.45%. You can access great FX rates in Singapore from any device, at any time, and send and receive international money transfers in over 20 currencies with a CurrencyFair account.

Some providers hide fees and charges in their exchange rate or make information on them difficult to find on their websites. Others use complicated terms and conditions around their fees. At CurrencyFair, our fee is always just S$5 (or currency equivalent), regardless of the amount you’re sending. We also empower our customers to choose their own exchange rates on our marketplace.

We investigated some leading money transfer companies available in the Lion City for anyone planning to send money from Singapore by comparing how much it would cost to send and convert 1,000 SGD from Singapore to euros.

When it comes down to it, CurrencyFair’s transparent fees and exchange rates will end up costing you less, as seen in our comparison assessment below. Read on to get into the details of each of the money transfer companies we compared.

Money transfer companies compared:

• OFX.
• PayPal.
• Western Union.
• Wise.
• WorldRemit.
• CurrencyFair.

Using OFX for money transfers from Singapore

OFX is a money transfer service founded in Australia in 1998. It offers international transfers in 55 currencies, including Singapore dollars. According to the FAQ on its website, OFX charges a 15 AUD fee if you’re transferring under 10,000 AUD, and may charge up to 1.5% on top of the mid-market rate for money transfers. It also has a minimum transfer amount of AUD 250.00 (or currency equivalent).

It offered an exchange rate of 1 SGD = 0.6125 EUR (15:56, 15 July). To transfer 1,000 SGD from Singapore to a eurozone country, the recipient would get 612.50 EUR, according to its “Check Rates” tool on the website. However, there was no mention of their standard 15 AUD fee and you need to register with them to be given a customised rate. If you’d like to compare the same amount using CurrencyFair yourself, our fees and exchange rates are available up-front using the calculator here.

Exchange rate and fee accurate as of 15:56, 15 July 2021

Using PayPal for money transfers from Singapore

PayPal is a popular digital payment system that offers money transfers and international payments. Despite its popularity, PayPal is one of the more expensive ways to transfer money abroad.

The PayPal fee structure calculates a currency conversion fee of up to 4% that is adjusted and retained by PayPal in its exchange rates. Then, there is a personal payment fee followed by a small fixed fee for the money transfer. The PayPal personal payment fee depends not only on the country of the recipient but also the country of the sender. Learn more with our guide: Avoiding PayPal's Currency Conversion Fees.

To transfer 1,000 SGD from Singapore to euros it offered an exchange rate of 1 SGD = 0.6035 EUR (15:58, 15 July), meaning the recipient will receive 603.52 EUR.

Exchange rate and fee accurate as of 15:58, 15 July 2021

Using Western Union for money transfers from Singapore

Western Union is one of the largest remittance companies in the world, with over 500,000 agent locations dotted across the globe. Its exchange rate changes depending on the delivery and payment method you choose.

Western Union doesn’t accept business payments, and you are limited to sending 5,000 SGD per day. When paying for the bigger things in life, such as buying property overseas, paying for education abroad or transferring your savings, this can be at best inconvenient and at worst, unworkable. Breaking up a large transaction over several days is not only annoying, it can also end up a lot more expensive thanks to fees getting incurred every time. At CurrencyFair, you can send up to 97,000,000 SGD per transfer, and we offer tailored solutions for our business customers.

Why choose CurrencyFair for your business?

To send 1,000 SGD from Singapore to euros, Western Union offered an exchange rate of 1 SGD = 0.6115 EUR (16:22, 15 July). With an estimated delivery time of one working day, the recipient would get 611.51 EUR.

Exchange rate and fee accurate as of 16:22, 15 July 2021

Using Wise for money transfers from Singapore

Wise, formerly TransferWise, is a money transfer provider in Europe. It offers bank, debit or credit card, or PayNow transfers for transactions originating from Singapore and charges different fees depending on which one you choose.

For example, to transfer 1,000 SGD from Singapore to euros it offered an exchange rate of 1 SGD = 0.625088 EUR (16:25, 15 July). If you’d like to pay by debit card and send money into the recipient’s bank account, it deducts 30.16 SGD in fees; meaning that for 969.84 SGD, and an estimated delivery time of four hours, the recipient will receive 606.24 EUR.

However, its fees can snowball when you send larger amounts and can fluctuate depending on which currencies you’re converting. The table below demonstrates how these fees can add up, particularly if you’re transferring a large amount.

Fees accurate as of 16:27, 15 July 2021

At CurrencyFair, our S$5 (or currency equivalent) fee stays the same, whether you’re transferring S$100 or S$100,000.

Exchange rate and fee accurate as of 16:25, 15 July 2021

Using WorldRemit for money transfers from Singapore

WorldRemit is a remittance company founded in 2010. It’s headquartered in London and operates globally in over 150 countries. Its transfer fees and mid-market margin markup vary depending on the country you’re sending to, the amount you’re sending and the delivery method you choose. It also has a daily transaction limit of 10,000 SGD so for large transactions, those fees add up quickly. At CurrencyFair, our daily transaction limit is 97,000,000. SGD — so unless you’re buying a few small islands, you’ll never encounter it.

To transfer 1,000 SGD from Singapore to euros. WorldRemit offered an exchange rate of 1 SGD = 0.6171 EUR (16:18, 15 July). If you pay by bank transfer and send money into the recipient’s bank account, it adds 6.00 SGD in fees, so for 1,006.00 SGD, and an estimated delivery time of one working day, the recipient will receive 617.12 EUR.

Exchange rate and fee accurate as of 16:18, 15 July 2021

Using CurrencyFair for money transfers from Singapore

CurrencyFair was founded in 2009 and offers secure money transfers to over 150 countries and over 20 currencies. Our exchange rate of 1 SGD = 0.6221 EUR (15:52, 15 July) includes our S$5 (or currency equivalent) fee, meaning when you transfer 1,000 SGD to euros, the recipient will get 619.10 EUR.

Exchange rate and fee accurate as of 15:52, 15 July 2021

You can choose to send money immediately with our quick, low-cost money transfers or set your own rate on our marketplace, and wait for the market to meet it — meaning you could even beat the currency market rate that you see on Google.

Join over 170,000 happy customers who have saved millions with CurrencyFair.

If you’re sending money abroad from somewhere else in the world, compare the money transfer providers available in the following countries below:

• Money transfer companies compared: Germany
• Money transfer companies compared: France
• Money transfer companies compared: Switzerland
• Money transfer companies compared: Thailand
• Money transfer companies compared: Australia
• Money transfer companies compared: India
• Money transfer companies compared: United Kingdom

For a more detailed look at sending money abroad, check out our guide: Sending money abroad: a guide to international money transfers.

Image courtesy of Andi Rizal via Unsplash