When it Comes to Money Transfer, are you a “Rate” or a “Date”?

We all have our own reasons driving us to seek out online money transfers. Maybe you’re making a big, special payment—such as paying for an overseas vacation or purchasing property in another country. Or you could be making one in a series of regular payments—for occasions such as study abroad tuition, international bills, or simply sending money to a loved one in another country. 

Depending on what you’re looking for, you’ll have different priorities in your money transfer. You could be aiming to get the best possible exchange rate for your money transfer, or you could be in a crunch and need to get your money to its destination as soon as possible. 

At Xe, whether you’re a “rate” or a “date”, we’re confident that we have the money transfer solutions you need.

What to do when you want a certain rate

If you’re transferring a large amount of money—such as for a property purchase or investment—the exchange rate you’re given will make a huge difference in the amount of money you have to transfer as well as the amount you’ll get on the other end of the transaction. We’ve discussed this topic before: you can’t change the markets, but you can change your behavior to ensure that you’ll get the best possible rate at a given time.

The first thing you can do is shop around for the provider with the best rate. Most often, this will be an online money transfer provider, not a bank or traditional financial institution. And don’t just check one money transfer provider—because each provider sets its own exchange rates, some could have hidden fees and added margins worked into their exchange rates. Check a few so you’ll be sure you’re getting the real rate of exchange.

If you like the rate you see, you can go ahead and send your transfer “on the spot” with a spot transfer. If you’re looking for a better rate and aren’t bound to a certain date, you can try the following:

• If you like the current rates but don’t need to transfer right now, call us to set up a forward contract. This solution will allow you to lock in today’s rate for a money transfer in the future. Then when the time comes to transfer, you’ll already have the ideal rate secured.

• Use a market order to let us know what rate you’re looking for. Once that rate has been reached, your transfer will automatically send.

• Set up a Rate Alert to notify you when the rates have moved in your favor. It’s a great solution for those who make regular or frequent transfers, as you’ll always know when it’s a good time to transfer money.

What to do when you want your transfer by a certain date

Don’t want your money transfer to be late, late, for a very important date? Don’t worry; we’ve got you covered.

If you’re making any sort of payment—whether it’s bills, tuition, or mortgage—then you know the importance of getting your payment in on time. Aside from planning ahead and allotting yourself plenty of time for your money transfer to arrive, there are a couple of things we recommend.

If your currency pairs aren’t particularly volatile and tend to keep a stable exchange rate, you may want to send a spot transfer. The process is quick and simple, and your money should arrive at its destination without further delay. However, if the markets have been moving and you want to consider the rates, try one of these options:

• Forward contracts can also work here if you know a payment is coming up. As the “buy now, pay later” option, you can do all of the work of setting up a forward contract ahead of time, and then just hit “confirm” later on when it’s time to send your transfer. You won’t need to to do any of the work of setting up your money transfer—it’ll already be ready to go.

• If you’re making a series of transfers on a regular basis, we suggest trying our Regular Payments Abroad (RPA) service. You only need to set it up once, and then your money transfers will send on a regular basis (at the same exchange rate) for months.

Have you seen our list of countries we can transfer to in minutes? Check the list to see if your destination country is on there, and keep checking back—we’re continuously updating our money transfer offerings and frequently adding new countries to the list.

Know what type you are? Feeling ready to transfer? Sign in to your account to get started, or visit our Money Transfer page to learn more about our options and how they can work for you.