June 18, 2024
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Many financial technology start-ups are vying for customer growth in the money transfer category. Challenger banks and newer money transfer companies seek to supplant legacy banks and corporations that have been around for decades. They attempt this by offering efficient, low-fee, and transparent mobile-first applications. Fintechs typically market to individual and business customers who travel frequently, live abroad, freelance, and sell products globally. Let’s review innovative fintechs and banking apps that regularly make headlines.
Paysend Overview
Paysend is a global financial tech company on a mission to change how money moves worldwide. Its customers transact via card-to-card from 50+ countries to over 90 countries. Its partnerships with Mastercard, Visa, UnionPay, and a global banking network offer a fast, simple, and affordable way of sending money to credit cards and bank accounts.
Paysend focuses on building the next big thing: a customer-centric global fintech hub. Its seamless payment ecosystem enables businesses and consumers to hold, spend, and send money internationally. It’s disrupting the world of money with creativity, simplicity, and innovation.
Paysend is available on Apple and Google Play app stores and offers a web app. It has a “Great” score on Trustpilot.
Wise Overview
Wise (formerly TransferWise) is on a mission to make a positive, irreversible change in finance. Built by and for people who live global lives, Wise makes sending money abroad fair, accessible, and up to eight times cheaper than traditional banks and money transfer companies.
Wise focuses on people on every continent to help them live, travel, and work internationally. It wants to support a financial experience without borders for instant, convenient, and transparent transactions.
Wise is available on Apple and Google Play app stores and offers a web app. It has an “Excellent” rating on Trustpilot.
Products and Services
Paysend products and services include the following:
- Personal and business accounts
- Money transfers
- Multi-currency account
- Open banking
- Online payment
- Prepaid debit card
- API
Wise products and services include the following:
- Personal and business accounts
- Budgeting and analytics
- Currency exchange
- Expense management
- International bank account details
- Investment account
- Money transfers
- Multi-currency account
- Online payment
- Prepaid debit card
- Mass payouts/batch payments
- Third-party money transfer solutions
- API
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Revenue Models
Paysend makes money by charging fixed fees on money transfers and marking up exchange rates. Their prepaid debit card generates interchange revenue.
Wise makes money by charging fixed and variable fees for transfers, conversions, investments, excess holdings, and incoming USD wire payments. Their prepaid debit card generates interchange revenue, and an ATM charge on monthly withdrawals exceeds a predefined amount. It generates income as a third-party money transfer solution for financial companies, such as bunq and N26. For business accounts, it charges for batch payments and accounts in multiple currencies.
Comparison
Exchange Rates
Paysend marks up rates by 1 percent or more. They state, “By cutting out all intermediaries and consequently lowering costs, Paysend can offer extremely competitive exchange rates, providing the best possible value for our customers.” However, PaySend doesn’t provide the “best possible value” because they don’t offer real-time rates.
Wise exchanges currencies at mid-market and real-time rates, the best rates customers can get. You can try their calculator below.
Fees and Commissions
Paysend charges fixed fees compared to Wise’s variable and fixed costs. Therefore, outcomes will differ depending on the amounts and currency destinations.
Supported Currencies
Paysend and Wise enable customers to send and receive money from an extensive list of countries.
Single Currency Transactions
Paysend and Wise support single-currency transactions. For example, someone in Germany can send euros to someone in France.
Processing and Delivery Times
Both companies can process international money transfers within three days.
Transfer Limits
With Paysend, you can send up to £800, €1,000, or $1,000 per six months without providing any additional documentation. These limits can increase upon submission of other documents, including proof of ID and home address.
Wise customers can send up to a million dollars per transfer.
Transparency
Paysend’s transaction calculator provides fewer details than Wise’s. Wise also offers a more user-friendly, searchable, and comprehensive help center.
Other Products and Features
Paysend’s PayLater allows you to redeem money for goods and services purchased within the last 30 days from one of its selected merchants, with the option to pay the money back up to 14 days later at 0 percent interest. The maximum credit allowance for any PayLater payment depends on a few factors and varies from £50/€50 to £200/€200.
Wise offers the following:
- Get local bank details for ten countries like the United Kingdom, the United States, and Canada.
- Schedule and track transfers.
- Send large amounts of money of up to 1 million dollars.
- Work anywhere and link your account to Amazon, PayPal, and more to receive payments.
- Hold cash, bonds, or stocks using iShares ETFs managed by BlackRock.
- Compare your sending and spending activities across months and categories.
Referral Program
Both companies have referral programs. However, only Wise has an affiliate program.
Recap
| Paysend | Wise | |
| Exchange rates | ✔ | |
| Fees | It depends on the currencies. | It depends on the currencies. |
| Supported currencies | ✔ | ✔ |
| Processing times | ✔ | ✔ |
| Transfer limits | ✔ | |
| Transparency | ✔ | |
| Other products/features | ✔ |
Recommendation
Paysend is legitimate and offers an innovative money transfer method, including card-to-card transfers. Users can send and receive money via Visa, Mastercard, and UnionPay (China). Its processes differ from most providers because it doesn’t require banks for transactions. On the other hand, Paysend charges fixed fees and markups, which are standard among money transfer companies, including Azimo, Remitly, WorldRemit, and Xoom.
Wise is the benchmark for money transfer companies. It offers real-time rates, low fees, efficiency, high limits, and transparency with every transaction—it doesn’t get much better than that. Secondly, it continues to add products, services, and features to improve its value proposition. For example, Wise Mass Payouts is a robust alternative to PayPal Payouts.
Paysend has some advantageous currency routes, but I cannot sign up or use its service. I’ll continue to use Wise until a competitor allows me to transact at mid-market rates at no cost. Wise’s low fees, real-time rates, multi-currency accounts, and transparency make it one of the best companies for holding, sending, spending, and receiving money.
