Sending money overseas from NZ is more complicated than it should be.

Bank to bank transfers are usually expensive, and most cash-pickup services are prohibitively expensive.

This has been a large issue for me over the years, as I am constantly sending and receiving money to and from foreign countries. I've tried most international money transfer services online, all of them work fine, but many are costly and some take longer than others.

I've had times where more than 10% was chopped off my transfer on the other end. 

In this guide below, I'll be doing a comparison between the best services I know. 

I'll be comparing four online services: Wise, Western Union, World Remit and OrbitRemit and see which one offers the cheapest international money transfers.

I've chosen these three services because they all:

• Let you deposit straight into a foreign bank account
• Let you send via credit card
• Service most countries
• Can send money online

Some services I haven't included (but can still be good in some situations):

Paypal: Allows you to send money overseas quickly, but getting it into cash can be troublesome in many countries.

Bitcoin: Easily the cheapest and fastest way to send money anywhere, but very difficult to turn into cash for most people (learn how to buy Bitcoin here).

Moneygram: This is one of the most popular currency transfer services, but can't be used online for most people.

Bank/wire transfer: I've used my bank to transfer money overseas before, but it's always been unreliable. Sometimes it bounces back and sometimes (often) there are other intermediary banks that charge ghost fees in between. I've found using an online service is more reliable.

How I'll be comparing them:

The method I'll be using is simple - I'll take a nominal amount of foreign currency, say 500 pounds.

Then I'll go through each platform and see what it will cost in NZD (New Zealand dollars) to get exactly 500 pounds received on the other side.

I'm not interested in the specific fee amounts or exchange rates.

All I'm interested in is the final dollar amount that will be taken from my credit card/bank account, because that's all that matters. 

I'll be sending to countries on four different continents so we have a wide sample. I've chosen United Kingdom, Kenya, Philippines and USA.

Sending 25,000 Philippine Pesos in NZD:

In this example we're sending 25,000 Philippine pesos. 

For this particular transaction I'll share all the screenshots so you can see exactly how the figures are calculated.

Wise:

With Wise you will notice they charge a different rate depending on whether you pay for your transfer by credit card or by bank transfer.

Want to use Wise? Get your first transfer of 500 GBP free using this link.

Bank transfers are free, credit card payments incur a fee:

Western Union:

Western Union differs from Wise in that you can pay by credit card and it won't cost you any extra. 

Whether you pay via bank transfer or credit card won't matter, the final payment amount is the same:

WorldRemit:

WorldRemit also doesn't charge extra if you wish to pay for your transfer by credit card:

Want to use WorldRemit? Get a free $35 discount on your first transfer using this link.

OrbitRemit:

OrbitRemit doesn't offer a credit card option.

The only way is to make payment via bank transfer.

Which Is Cheapest?

Since I think it is quite a big advantage to be able to pay via credit card, I've included two columns - one for paying via credit and one for paying via bank transfer.

Paying by credit card is advantageous because you can earn reward points on your payment, and also you don't need to front up the cash for the transfer right away (most credit cards give you around ~55 days interest free).

You can check out my guide on NZ's best free credit cards here.

For this particular transfer, we can see Wise is the cheapest overall at $712.84.

If you want to pay by credit card, Western Union is the cheapest at $719.49.

Sending 50,000 Kenyan shillings in NZD:

In this example, the person we're sending to should receive 50,000 Kenyan shillings:

For this particular transfer, we can see Wise is the cheapeast overall at $644.11.

If you want to pay by credit card, Western Union is the cheapest at $651.44.

OrbitRemit is not included as it does not offer international currency transfers from NZ to Kenya.

Sending 500 British Pounds in NZD:

In this example we're sending 500 British pounds:

For this particular transfer, we can see Wise is the cheapeast overall at $954.53

If you want to pay by credit card, Western Union is the cheapest at $966.12

Sending 1,000 USD in NZD

For this particular transfer, we can see Wise is the cheapeast overall at $1,582.12

If you want to pay by credit card, WorldRemit is the cheapest at $1,596.43

Cheapest Way To Send Money Overseas In NZD?

From the transactions above which covers transfers to four different continents, we can see the cheapest option across the board - if you pay by bank transfer - is Wise.

However, if you would like to pay by credit card, you're better of choosing a different service.

Whether it's WorldRemit or Western Union depends, as they come pretty close, and sometimes one is cheaper than the other depending on the destination.

If you plan on transferring and pay via credit card, it's worth your while to check out both options first and see which is cheaper.

One thing is for certain - a traditional bank will charge you a wire fee and will take a big chunk on the foreign currency conversion, so all of these options will be much cheaper than sending a wire transfer from your bank.

Other Things To Consider:

Cash Pickups 

If your receiver doesn't have a bank account, you may want to send their funds via a cash pickup.

A cash pickup is when you send the money to the provider (e.g. Western Union), then your receiver can go to a physical Western Union branch and pick up the money in person.

This is a very common thing in less developed countries.

Since Wise does not offer cash pickup, you will need to use either WorldRemit, OrbitRemit or Western Union.

When sending via cash pickup, the cost usually becomes more expensive. 

Compare these two cash pickup options for 50,000 Kenyan shillings.

Western Union:

World Remit:

Western Union: $693.91

WorldRemit: $674.21

Also recall that to send this amount via bank transfer was $644 via Wise, so the cost difference is significant.

Mobile Money

Using mobile money is very common in some countries.

For example, in Kenya most people will have an M-PESA account which is basically a bank account attached to your phone number.

Wise does not allow you to send to mobile money wallets, however Western Union, OrbitRemit and WorldRemit do.

Therefore, even though it's more expensive, it may be more convenient to use these services so your receiver can get the funds straight to their mobile wallet.

Where Are You Sending?

Each service provides transfers to a limited set of countries.

Therefore, you will need to check if the service you want is able to send to your desired destination.

Sometimes, you will have no choice as only one provider will be available for the country you want to send to.

Get started!

If you would like to make a transfer using Wise, you can a free 500 GBP transfer using this link!

If you would like to use WorldRemit, you can get a free $35 on your first transfer using this link!

Unfortunately I don't have any freebies to share for Western Union or OrbitRemit, but you can sign up for an account here and here.