Send Money To France

Q: What’s The Cheapest Way To Send Money To France?

The cheapest way is through OFX . OFX doesn’t have any upfront, stated fees, and their hidden currency conversion costs are very low. OFX comes with a focus on larger transfers, and they have a sliding scale from 0.4% for smaller transactions to 1% for larger transactions. The only real problem is that they have a minimum transfer amount. If you prefer sending smaller amounts of money, TransferWise is the second cheapest way to transfer money.

France receives over $25 billion in remittances from countries such as Spain, the United States, Belgium, Germany, and Switzerland. These are the top remittance corridors each sending over $2 billion per year.

This money is usually sent in hundreds of thousands of transactions through banks, online money transfer services, international cheques, money orders, PayPal among others. Every sender is looking for a channel that is simple, has the lowest possible risk level, offers the best exchange rates and lower transaction fees.

Whether you are sending money to your family, friends or repatriating your income, you need a transfer solution that responds to your needs. If you are one of the over 2 million French immigrants out in the diaspora looking for the best way to send money home, read along for insightful information on the various ways available to send money, the information you’ll need to provide, the features and benefits involved and so much more.

How To Send Money To France

Sending money to France is simple and easy. Follow these steps to get started.

Find a Trusted Provider

Use our comparison table to find the best provider for your needs.

Sign Up and Deposit

Sign up with the provider and deposit the amount you want to transfer.

Transfer Money

As soon as you're ready, you can start sending money online.

Ways To Send And Receive Money In France

There are multiple ways to easily send and receive money in France but these will largely depend on the provider you decide to use. Below you will find everything you need to know about sending and receiving money.

Ways to Send Money to France

There are three main ways you can transfer money from your country of domicile to France: the banking system, online money transfer, and in-store cash transfers.

The Banking System

Sending money through the bank is one of the most used ways to transfer huge sums of money. This is because of the perceived safety and reliability of the banking system. Barclays and HSBC are some of the top international banks with a wide presence in almost every city in France.

If you initiate a SWIFT transfer through a bank with a presence in France, your transfer will take a much shorter time to get to the recipient. However, if you make the same transfer to high streets bank in France such as Crédit Agricole (CA), Société Générale, Banque Populaire (BP), La Banque Postale, or Crédit Mutuel that have no connection with the sending bank, the transfer will have to go through correspondent banks. This can potentially cause delays and you may incur additional fees in the process.

Another aspect of the banking system is that it uses exchange rates that are far much lower, over 5% off the mid-market rate. This means you’ll get less of the other currency for every unit of the sending currency.

For you to send through the banking system, both you and the recipient must have bank accounts. If the bank doesn’t allow for telephone transfers and has no online banking option, you’ll have to make the transfer in person at the branch. You may pay up to $25 in transaction fees.

Online Money Transfer Service

Online money transfer companies such as TorFX, Currencies Direct, OFX and TransferWise have become the go-to solutions for both business and personal transfers. These companies give senders a clear advantage over banks.

Setting up a transfer on any online money transfer platform is very simple and fast. Save for the first time where your details will be verified, going forward, transferring money should even be a 5-minute task.

Once you set up your account, you’ll be prompted to pay for your transfer. There are various modes of payment dependent on the provider you’ve chosen and the country your sending from. Typical transfer payment options include debits cards, credit cards, direct debits, and bank transfers.

Paying via debit or credit cards is a little costlier, but it makes the funds available faster to the provider. In turn, this shortens the time the provider takes to send the money to the recipient.

The other bit that you’ll have to decide on when sending money via money transfer providers is the payout option. Some providers only allow for direct deposits to banks while some such as Xoom have 934 pickup locations in France from where you can collect your transfer in cash.

To make transfers more convenient, most online money transfer providers have developed downloadable mobile applications running both on Android and iOS platforms. Using these apps, you can make a transfer, track it, lock in exchange rates, add recipients, review past transactions and so forth.

In-Store Cash Transfers

Apart from banks and online money transfer services, there is another channel that is dominated by Western Union and MoneyGram, the cash transfer option. You can make these transfers from scratch at a designated store or begin the process online and then complete it at a store.

Through Western Union, you can send directly to the recipient's bank account at a fee that is as low as €1.90 per transfer. Alternatively, Western Union has 10,000+ agent locations you can send to starting from €2.90 per transfer.

You can pay for your transfer in cash, through a bank transfer, a credit card or debit card. Cash and debit/credit card transfers are the fastest. Your money arrives in minutes.

Airtime Top-Up

Instead of sending money to the recipient's bank or to an agent location, you can give your family or friends the gift of talk. Mobile reloads take minutes and the recipient gets a text message that their prepaid number has been topped up.

In France, Xoom has partnered with Viber to allow for direct top-ups from abroad through the Xoom platform.

What is Needed to Send Money to France

When sending money to France, you’ll need to provide some information to ensure the transfer goes through to the right person. The information required varies from one provider to another but in general, you’ll need the following:

A government issued-ID document. Depending on the country you are sending from, you can use a passport, social security card or driver’s license.
The recipient’s name as it appears on their legal documents
The recipient's physical address and phone number
If you are sending directly to a bank account, the recipient bank details (bank name, branch and account number)
The amount of money you want to send, the transfer payment option and payout methods

Common Reasons for Sending Money to France

Looking at the descriptions senders give when making their transfers and how the recipients use the money, there is a clear trend on the push and pull factors behind the remittances. Some of the common reasons include:

Household Consumption and Support

Depending on the family arrangement, some French nationals leave their loved ones behind. This calls for regular remittance and income supplementation support hence the periodic remittances.

Mortgage Payments

Mortgages in France are more competitive than in the United States. Most of them are structured as fixed interest instruments necessitating regular remittance from beneficiaries to cover the periodic interest plus principal payments. You can get mortgages that last even up to 20 years.

Income Repatriation

Expats including French expatriates are often paid directly to their home accounts. The other option is for them to be paid in their host country accounts and then transfer the earnings back home. This calls for low-cost, and exchange rate-friendly transfer providers such as TorFX, OFX and Currencies Direct.

Pension Payments

French expatriates who live and work outside France can still invest in pension schemes in their host countries. Upon retirement, the consolidation of their pension dues can be transferred through online money transfer platforms.

Investment

France has one of the robust economies with attractive yields on investments. French nationals in the diaspora may send money home directly into investment accounts.

Paying Suppliers and Contractors

It is a common practice for suppliers and contractors to demand payment directly into their accounts in France. Depending on the business arrangement, such payment could be frequent or irregular.

Why Send Money with a Money Transfer Service?

If you want to send money to France either from the United States, United Kingdom, Spain, North Africa or any other region, using a money transfer service provider can be advantageous. Here are some of the benefits to consider.

Speed of Transfer

If you are transferring money within the EU, transfers can be delivered the same day. Even from other regions including Africa, transfers to France take a maximum of 3 days. If you pay for your transfer using a debit or credit card, it may take a maximum of one business day.

Multi-Currency Support

If you are sending from an EU or EEA member country, chances are high that you’ll use the euro. However, when sending from countries such as the United States, West African countries, or Asian countries, the need for a platform that supports multi currencies arises. Most of the providers support 50+ currencies both exotic and standard.

Safety and Reliability

To ensure that money sent via online providers is secure, several licencing and regulatory organisations monitor the financial activities of money transfer operators. The top organisations are the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the US’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC).

Low Transfer Fees

Depending on the model the provider uses, you may be charged fixed fees, variable fees, or fixed to a given point and thereafter variable. These fees are not just bank-beating, they are extremely competitive. For instance, you can make a transfer from the UK to France at only $6.50 as opposed to $25 in bank fees.

Higher Exchange Rates

Money transfer service providers usually charge a margin above the mid-market exchange rate. Depending on the provider, this could be between 2-3.5%. Providers such as TransferWise charge you 0% margins on exchange rates. It is always prudent to balance the exchange rate feature with the transfer fees for a complete picture.

Ease of Set-Up

Opening an account and verifying your details is a matter of minutes on money transfer platforms. Thereafter, you pay for your transfer and send to the recipient. Compare this with the Know Your Customer (KYC) procedures typical in banks, the time you save is evident.

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Things to Consider When Sending Money to France

Before you hit the ‘Send’ button on your transfer to France, there are certain things that you need to consider. They could potentially save you from lost opportunities or spare you the inconvenience.

Monitoring of Cash Payments - In a bid to fight terrorism and its financing, the French government put in place cash handling measures and caps. People living in France are not allowed to make cash payments exceeding 1,000 euros. Any withdrawals in cash that exceed 10,000 euros a month are automatically flagged by the Intelligence Processing and Action Against Illicit Financial Networks unit ( TRACFIN) and the account is monitored.
Pension System Unification - As part of the economic reform agenda, the French authorities are planning to unify all the 42 pension schemes in the country into one scheme that will cater to both private and public workers. The benefits will be points-based. This is expected by the end of 2019 or the beginning of 2020.
Tax Relief - The government legislated to reform the tax system by giving significant tax reliefs that will encourage purchasing power and investment. For those in diaspora sending money for investment, this is an opportunity to consider.

With its diaspora population continuing to grow, remittances to France will become increasingly significant. Therefore, there is a need to fully understand the money remittance network and how to save on fees, maximise on exchange rates, and reduce the time taken to send money to family and friends in France.

Your Questions Answered

What’s The Fastest Way To Send Money To France?

The fastest way is through the faster services offered by industry leaders such as Western Union. With Western Union, you can expect your money to arrive on the same day, often in a matter of minutes. The main drawback is that this option is very expensive.

The other option available to you is Ria Money Transfer. The only thing you need to remember is to use their faster option. Ria Money Transfer’s fast option is significantly more expensive than the slow version, but they still offer competitive rates.

What’s The Cheapest Way To Send Money To France?

The cheapest way is through OFX. OFX doesn’t have any upfront, stated fees, and their hidden currency conversion costs are very low. OFX comes with a focus on larger transfers, and they have a sliding scale from 0.4% for smaller transactions to 1% for larger transactions. The only real problem is that they have a minimum transfer amount.

If you prefer sending smaller amounts of money, TransferWise is the second cheapest way to transfer money.

What’s The Easiest Way To Send Money To France?

The easiest way is through TransferWise. TransferWise is a newer, peer-to-peer money transfer service that allows you to send money with three simple steps. First, you just tap in the amount of money you need to send, then you tap the destination. After that, you just complete the necessary payment to TransferWise, and your money is on the way to its French destination.

Current Exchange Rates For France

The current exchange rate for the Euro (EUR) is 0.9070 EUR per American Dollar (USD) as of the time this was written. The average exchange rate for the EUR was 0.9014 EUR per USD over the last 90 days. The EUR reached a high of 0.9087 EUR per USD, and a low of 0.8913 EUR per USD during the last 90 days.

The average volatility rate of the EUR against the USD was 0.27% over the last 90 days. This is a moderate volatility rate, and the EUR exchange rate has been fluctuating moderately over the course of the last year. Going forward, you can reasonably expect minor fluctuations to continue, barring any unforeseen circumstances.

What’s The Overall Best Way To Send Money To France?

The overall best way is through TransferWise. While OFX may be cheaper, and other options are faster, TransferWise is more generically useful and lacks the minimum transfer limit that OFX carries.

When it comes to transfer speed, it does take one or two days to reach the destination. However, their ease of use and reasonable rates make them the overall best method for sending funds to France.

How we compare

What do we mean by the top provider?
The top provider is the money transfer service that we believe is the most suitable for the country you’re sending money to. In order to keep our service free we factor in the commercial agreements we have with partners into this ranking.

How do we choose providers to display?
We make sure that each table displays the most relevant brands to the country you are sending money to and from. We consider many factors when choosing the providers to display in the table.All of the providers we display are fully regulated to provide money transfer services in the jurisdiction you are searching, relevant regulatory authorities are the FCA, ASIC, Fincen, FINTRAC & AMF. Alongside being regulated the services are manually checked by our team for both quality of service and online trust from such platforms like Trustpilot and Google reviews.We base our rankings primarily on the quality of the service provided, the benefit to the consumer and to keep our service free - the commercial agreements we have.

How do we order our comparisons?
We are affiliated with some of the partners displayed in the tables. However, the order of the providers is based on the quality of the service for the particular country corridor followed by the commercial agreement in place. You don’t pay any extra and the deal you get isn’t affected by our commercial agreement with the money transfer provider. We may receive a commission when you click through to a listing or when you make a transaction.We aim to find the balance between the quality of the service, customer satisfaction and the commercial agreements we have, and continue comparing services in a transparent way.If you have any questions about our listings, please don’t hesitate to email us at contact@moneytransfers.com

Looking to Send Money Somewhere Else?

Sending money anywhere else in the world is as easy as sending money to France. If you're looking to send money to another country, here is the list of the most popular destinations.