Why do money transfer services & banks charge high fees, and what can you do to avoid them?

1. Most money transfer services are ancient and based on dying businesses. They haven’t improved their services meaningfully in years, and many have legacy cash-based businesses with high overhead (think airport cash stores, physical shops in holiday towns, etc.)

2. Banks have your money captive and use wire transfers and currency conversions to monetize your account. Given that banks make very little money these days on deposits and interest, they pay for this by marking up currency conversion, often without much transparency.

3. Even many first-generation fintechs hide their fees in bad exchange rates as they try to squeeze every bit of fees they can.

What can you do to avoid these business models that ultimately make you overpay for money transfers? There are a few services that are giving great rates these days:

For smaller transfers and a broader set of currencies, Wise and Revolut have strong infrastructure. But as you start sending over £1000, they get pretty expensive.

For large transfers in major currency corridors, we’re your best bet. With just a £3 flat fee and zero FX markup, Atlantic Money is the cheapest in the market.

Most importantly: Don’t spend more money than you need to, to move YOUR money.