Where & How to Get the Best Exchange Rate?

While banks do offer a convenient and safe way to send money abroad, they often have significantly lower exchange rates compared to money transfer providers.

This combined with their high transfer fees and long wait times make banks one of the most expensive and time-consuming ways of sending money internationally.

When you pay for your money transfer abroad, you’ll normally have the choice between bank transfers, debit card and credit card payments.

Using your debit or credit card might mean your payment is processed faster, but you’ll often find that the currency conversion fees are higher than they would be with a bank transfer.

Credit and debit cards can also have other fees involved, so bank transfers might be the better option in general if you’re worried about cost.

Money transfer providers make their profits in different ways - some by charging fees and others by adding a markup on the currency exchange rate.

This means it might not always be clear exactly what you’re being charged.

One way to fight this and ensure you get the best rate for your money transfer is by focusing on the amount received by the recipient.

This will show you the entire cost of your transfer so you can see exactly how much money will arrive on the other side after fees and currency exchanges have been carried out.

If you find yourself frequently or regularly converting currencies, you might want to consider a multi-currency account.

These let you hold money in multiple currencies, and they offer better exchange rates on currency exchanges.

For example, Wise offers a multi-currency account and only charges a low conversion fee upfront - with no annual card fees.

You’ll be able to spend in multiple currencies and get paid like a local in dollars, euros, pounds, and more.

A currency exchange rate tells you how much your money is worth in another currency, so you could think of it as the cost of buying another currency.

You’ll normally see it written as a number with a decimal - for example, the GBP to USD exchange rate at the moment is 1.26. Meaning, that for every 1 Pound Sterling you will get 1.26 US dollars.

So if you’re sending money abroad, you’ll be buying currency - so you want a higher rate because you’ll get more for your money. However, a lower rate is better for those selling the currency as this is how they can make a profit.

Exchange rates are important as they affect how much your money is worth when sending it abroad. It’s particularly noticeable for big transactions, such as property purchases or inheritance matters, where even small changes in foreign exchange rates can impact how valuable your assets are.