Saturday, February 25, 2017

TransferWise - Lowest Cost Currency Exchange!

(Click for full-view)
Since I've moved to Germany, there have been countless times when I need to exchange Canadian Dollars for Euros (or vice versa). Exchanging currencies through the banks or currency exchange shops can be excruciatingly expensive.

A friend recently introduced me to TransferWise. After trying TransferWise a few times, I've become a full supporter. It is by far the easiest low-cost way of exchanging currencies. You can use TransferWise to transfer money between yourself, family, friends, or anyone else with a bank account. Essentially you get the same exchange rate shown in Google's currency convertor plus a small fee.

The only caveat is money must be transferred between two bank accounts in countries that TransferWise operates in (over 40 countries). So TransferWise works best if you are transferring money from one bank account to another. This may not work for you if you are traveling for a short time to a foreign country, need a small amount of local currency, and do not have a bank account there. Alternatively, if you have a trusted friend in the foreign country you're traveling to, you could transfer money to them and have them give you that money once you arrive (to avoid high currency exchange fees).

Here's a short video on how TransferWise works: