HopefulWanderer

I've seen lots of mention of Wise and, more recently, Atlantic money. But I'd not seen mention of how to compare and make sure you're getting the best deal.

In searching, I stumbled on https://www.monito.com/ which I've not seen mentioned on the forum yet. It seems to be a good comparison and covers going GBP to USD and USD to GBP so hopefully it helps some people out.

Not commenting on the reputability of the merchants mentioned in the comparison, as I've not used them — just wanted to share the comparison in the hope it's useful

PetrifiedExPat

Familiarity and trust weighs heavily with me, even vs a few 000's in potential differences. Wise is my go to for these reasons...

HopefulWanderer

Definitely no substitute for trust. That's why I wanted to be clear I wasn't endorsing companies I'd not personally tried.

But I think people might be willing to try a new provider. In the right scenario, for example, I'd be open to trying a new service for a small amount (e.g. sending money back to the UK for a birthday).

For larger amounts (e.g. moving your savings from the UK to the US when you move) I'd still say do all your research and even if there is a provider you are confident with (like wise) breakdown into smaller amounts to reduce the impact if things go wrong.

durham_lad

I agree. In the past I’ve used a few including HiFX and XE plus my own bank (HSBC US to HSBC UK) but I now find Wise to be so familiar, trustworthy and easy to use that there would need to be a compelling reason to try something else. Always worth looking though so I appreciate OP’s link.

porkedpie

Agree I now have a lot of trust in Wise having used it many times sometimes for large sums. Their price is usually very close to the best if not actually the best. Their website still compares themselves vs all the other providers *except* for Atlantic Money. They have some justification for that which I can't quite follow.
Having said that I have used Atlantic a few times and they also worked well, if not quite a seamless or fast as Wise. But for big transfers, their flat fee is unbelievably cheap.
All the others see-saw wildly, from being cheapest to being a lot more expensive. So it's not worth the hassle to open a dozen accounts for the rare occasion they are the best.

MidAtlantic

I routinely use Wise also, but recently received a survey from them asking my views on them expanding into investment products. If they do this, I hope it doesn't mean that they neglect their basic money transfer service. Their failure to include Atlantic Money in their comparisons is that it would always show Atlantic Money as being a more economic service. Porkedpie, are you resident in the USA? I didn't think Atlantic money was available if US resident.

lansbury

On their sign up page the US is omitted from the list of countries it is available in.

lansbury

This plus they pay interest on savings. I now have a sterling and dollar account with them and take advantage of rate changes and earn almost 5% interest.