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A quick overview of Remitly and Xoom
Remitly is a Seattle-based money transfer company founded in 2011 and currently valued at more than $1.5 billion. Through its innovative money transfer technology, Remitly allows users to send remittances from 17 countries to 57 destinations globally. Over 3 million customers use the service to transfer money directly to bank accounts, cash pickup locations, mobile wallets, or have it home-delivered to their families and friends.
Another American-founded company, Xoom is a secure, fast and affordable digital money transfer service. Founded in 2001 in San Francisco, CA, Xoom was later acquired by PayPal in 2015 and now operates as a separate service under the PayPal family. The service enables more than 1.5 million customers to transfer funds, pay bills, and load prepaid mobile phones for their loved ones across the world.
Read on to find out the best brand for your needs if you are looking to transfer money to your country fast, cost-effectively, and with the best customer support.
Which brand has lower fees?
Transfer fees are a major consideration when choosing a remittance service. To help you get the best deal, here’s a breakdown of the Remitly vs Xoom fees you’ll find.
Remitly’s fee structure depends on the transfer destination, the size of the transfer, and the delivery method you choose. For instance, when sending money from the US to Argentina via the Economy option, you’ll pay a flat fee of $0.49. For the Express option, you’ll pay anything from $2.99 to $14.99.
Xoom’s transfer fees depend on the destination, the amount you are transferring and the payment method. Transferring any amount under $3,000 from the US to Argentina will cost between $2.99 and $30 when you pay via bank or PayPal balance. Paying using a debit and credit card payments will cost you $46.70.
✅ Verdict: Remitly wins
For the same transfer routes and amounts, Remitly charges much lower transfer fees than Xoom.
Which brand offers better exchange rates?
When making an international transfer involving currency conversion, both providers charge you a margin above the mid-market rate to convert your transfer. Here is how Remitly vs Xoom compares.
Remitly adds a margin of between 0.4% and 3.0% depending on the currency pair and delivery method. For a transfer from the US to India, the provider charges 0.87% and 0.42% in margins on the Express and Economy options respectively.
Xoom charges a margin ranging from 0.4% to 3% depending on the currency pair and the amount sent. A transfer of $1,000 to India attracts a margin of 0.94% while a transfer of $5,000 is charged a margin of 0.44%.
✅ Verdict: Remitly wins
Between Xoom vs Remitly, both brands are competitive at higher transfer amounts and there is not much in this one, Remitly has the best exchange rate pricing across the board.
Which brand covers more locations?
The number of destinations a brand supports is an important parameter when choosing a money transfer service. Between Remitly vs Xoom, both are growing pretty fast in coverage and cover a variety of countries around the world.
Remitly allows users to send from 17 countries, and users in these countries have the option of 57 different countries they can send money to.
Xoom currently covers over 160 countries globally, enabling remittances which are a lifeline to many people around the world.
✅ Verdict: Xoom wins
Xoom has the advantage of piggybacking on the PayPal payment ecosystem which puts it head and shoulders above Remitly in terms of coverage.
Which is faster?
Depending on the reason for your transfer, speed can be indispensable. Here is what to expect from Xoom vs Remitly when transferring money overseas.
Remitly’s Express delivery option can deliver your transfer in an hour or less. On the other hand, the Economy option takes 3-5 working days.
Xoom transfers can take anywhere from instant delivery for cash pickups and mobile top-ups to 2-4 business days for direct bank deposits.
✅ Verdict: It's a tie
Between Xoom vs Remitly, both offer instant or near-instant transfer options. While Remitly gives a leeway of up to 5 working days on its Economy transfers, most payments hardly exceed 4 working days.
Which brand offers more transfer & payment options?
For convenience and ensuring your money arrives in a way that works for the beneficiary of your transfer, the payment and delivery options available with a provider are centrally important. Here are the Remitly vs Xoom options.
Remitly accepts debit card, credit card and bank transfer payment options. On the receiving end, the service supports bank deposit, cash pickup, mobile wallet deposit, and home delivery.
Xoom allows its customers to pay using their PayPal balances, bank account, debit and credit card. Payout options include bank deposit, cash pickup, home delivery, mobile phone recharge, and mobile wallet deposit.
✅ Verdict: Xoom wins
Xoom has a slight advantage in that it allows paying using PayPal, a global platform with over 295 million customers.
What do users have to say about each brand?
Reading through reviews on platforms like Trustpilot, social media outlets, and social news aggregation sites, you can get a feel for how customers feel about the level of service they receive. Here are the commonly-voiced Remitly vs Xoom opinions.
Positive
Great exchange rates to popular corridors such as India.
Simple to use application interface
Fast delivery times for cash pickup and mobile wallet deposits
Negative
Occasional transfer delays especially on the Economy delivery option
Customer support tickets take a while to be resolved
Positive
Convenient because of the PayPal-linked platform
Fast transfers for all payout options
Transparent fee structure based on an easy-to-use pricing calculator
Negative
Lots of verification hurdles before you can make a transfer
Poor customer service with phone calls taking long to be answered
✅ Verdict: Remitly wins - just
On Trustpilot, Remitly has close to 29,000 reviews with 90% of them rated 4 and 5 stars. Xoom has slightly over 21,000 reviews, so lags behind on this one.
What brand offers better ease of use, accessibility & security
Money transfer service customers prioritise the ease of use, security, and accessibility when choosing a brand. Here is the Xoom vs Remitly score in factors related to these crucial areas.
Languages available
The provider website is available in 11 languages: English, French, Spanish, Vietnamese, German, Polish, Romanian, Italian, Turkish, Chinese, and Korean.
Support
Users can access support 24/7 through live chat. Phone support is also available from 5:00am to 11:00pm Pacific Time (PT).
Mobile applications
The provider has an app available on the Play Store and App Store, which users can download for free and access their accounts.
Payment options
You can pay for your transfer using a debit card, credit card, or bank transfer.
Security options
Remitly servers are secured using two-factor authentication, Secure Socket Layer (SSL) technology and 256-bit encryption.
Languages available
The provider platform is available in 14 languages: English, German, Spanish, French, Italian, Hungarian, Dutch, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Vietnamese, Russian, Chinese, and Korean.
Support
You can email the company support at any time. However, phone lines are open 8:00am to 5:00pm in most countries including the US and Canada.
Mobile applications
The provider has a money transfer app on the Play Store and App Store which you can download for free.
Payment options
Xoom transfers can be paid for through your bank, using PayPal balance, or with credit and debit cards.
Security options
Xoom has 128-bit data security, two-factor authentication, and an SSL encrypted platform.
✅ Verdict: It's a tie
There is no way to pick out a definite winner as both Remitly and Xoom have covered their security, accessibility and ease-of-use grounds very well.
Additional features
Extra features are always welcome especially in money transfer services as they go a long way into adding value to both the sender and the beneficiary. Here is a look at the add-ons Remitly and Xoom offer.
Apart from its dedicated money transfer service, Remitly offers no extra features.
Xoom offers an international bill payment functionality and a prepaid mobile recharge feature.
✅ Verdict: Xoom wins
Xoom adds more utility and variety with its talk time top-up and bill payment features.
Case study: Sending a variety of amounts
While you can get a feel for a service from the figures it gives in terms of exchange rate margins and fees, it is not until they are modelled into real-case scenarios that users begin to see how they play out. This section looks at typical transfers from the US to the Philippines using both Remitly and Xoom.
Sending $200
Remitly users can choose either the Express or Economy option both of which attract a 3.1% margin. On top, Express includes a $3.99 fee while Economy charges zero fees.
Sending $1,000
The provider still maintains the 3.1% margin but you won't be charged transfers fees irrespective of the delivery option.
Sending $20,000
Remitly supports up to $10,000 a day. If you want to transfer $20,000, you’ll have spread it over two or more days.
Sending $200
Xoom adds a 3.56% margin on top of the mid-market rate and between $4.99- $5.99 in fees. However, if you choose bank deposit as the preferred transfer payout option and pay using PayPal balance or bank account, you won't incur any transfer fees.
Sending $1,000
The provider charges a 3.56% margin on currency conversion and between $4.99 and $7.99 in fees. Direct bank deposits paid for using the bank or PayPal balance attract no fees.
Sending $20,000
While the maximum daily limit on Xoom is $50,000, you can only transfer up to $10,000 per transaction.
✅ Verdict: Remitly wins
Remitly wins on both transfer fees and exchange rate margin for all transfer amounts save for its $10,000 daily limit.
Bottom line - who is better?
Both brands are competitive and compare pretty well on many factors including speed, ease of use, security, transfer payment and payout options. Having said that, Remitly has a slight advantage in exchange rates and transfer fees thus saving you money on your transfers more often than not when compared to Xoom.
Domestic payments: Remitly only supports international payments.
Overseas payments: Remitly supports 17 send countries and 57 receive countries through cash pickup, bank deposit, mobile wallet deposit, and home delivery as payout methods.
Business payments: Remitly is an exclusive person to person payment service.
Daily spending: Remitly doesn’t support daily spending.
Large transactions: Remitly transactions are limited to $10,000 per day and $30,000 per month.
Smaller transactions: Remitly supports transfers from as low as $10, but the benefits of lower fees start kicking in from about $200.
Domestic payments: Xoom launched a US-only domestic payment in November 2019 leveraging 4,700 Walmart and 175 Ria locations countrywide.
Overseas payments: Xoom enables customers to transfer funds to more than 160 countries globally. Transfer payout methods include cash pickup, mobile wallet deposit, bank deposit, and home delivery. It also offers prepaid top-up and bill payment services.
Business payments: Xoom facilitates P2P transfers, but for international bill payment services it supports person-business (P2B) payments.
Daily spending: Although Xoom is part of the PayPal family, unlike the Paypal brand it doesn’t have the privilege of issuing its users with debit cards which would have otherwise enabled daily spending.
Large transactions: Xoom allows its customers to send up to $50,000 per day, but for any single transaction the maximum is $10,000.
Smaller transactions: Xoom allows transfers starting from $10 in select countries. However, such transfers attract worse exchange rates and relatively high fees.
