Transferring money from the UK to Germany

pphillips

In no particular order, here is a list of current money transfer services with decent offers / incentives for new customers:

1. MoneyGram UK - £11 via TCB
2. Azimo - £15 via TCB
3. XE - £20 via TCB
4. Post Office - £30 via TCB
5. FairFx - £20 via TCB
6. Skrill - £10 via referral 
7. World Remit- £20 via referral 
8. Money Corp - £75 via referral 
9. CurrencyFair - £17 via TCB or 50 euros via referral 
10. Opal transfer - £5 bonus 
11. Instarem - £10 via referral
12. Xendpay - £10 via referral 

Unfortunately, MSE closed the referral forum and I therefore I can't post my referral links anymore.

colsten

pphillips said:

In no particular order, here is a list of current money transfer services with decent offers / incentives for new customers:

1. MoneyGram UK - £11 via TCB
2. Azimo - £15 via TCB
3. XE - £20 via TCB
4. Post Office - £30 via TCB
5. FairFx - £20 via TCB
6. Skrill - £10 via referral 
7. World Remit- £20 via referral 
8. Money Corp - £75 via referral 
9. CurrencyFair - £17 via TCB or 50 euros via referral 
10. Opal transfer - £5 bonus 
11. Ria - £5 via promo code
12. Xendpay - £10 via referral 

Unfortunately, MSE closed the referral forum and I therefore I can't post my referral links anymore.

Thanks for that list but it should come with a large health warning. Very few offers are actually worth pursuing, as even with the cashback/referral money you would get a worse deal than with the best transfer firms.

I have not checked recently but I did some time ago. Only Azimo, WorldRemit and CurrencyFair were worth doing at the time. All the others were loss-making.

Do not get misled by offers - always check for the best deal on a comparison site such as monito.

pphillips

colsten said:

pphillips said:

In no particular order, here is a list of current money transfer services with decent offers / incentives for new customers:

1. MoneyGram UK - £11 via TCB
2. Azimo - £15 via TCB
3. XE - £20 via TCB
4. Post Office - £30 via TCB
5. FairFx - £20 via TCB
6. Skrill - £10 via referral 
7. World Remit- £20 via referral 
8. Money Corp - £75 via referral 
9. CurrencyFair - £17 via TCB or 50 euros via referral 
10. Opal transfer - £5 bonus 
11. Ria - £5 via promo code
12. Xendpay - £10 via referral 

Unfortunately, MSE closed the referral forum and I therefore I can't post my referral links anymore.

Thanks for that list but it should come with a large health warning. Very few offers are actually worth pursuing, as even with the cashback/referral money you would get a worse deal than with the best transfer firms.

I have not checked recently but I did some time ago. Only Azimo, WorldRemit and CurrencyFair were worth doing at the time. All the others were loss-making.

Do not get misled by offers - always check for the best deal on a comparison site such as monito.

Good advice, I usually go for ones with a low minimum transfer to get the best rate.

I've since removed Ria from the list after realising they charge a £4.50 fee!

zurpher

What I find attractive about Wise is their transparency. I did a test transfer two days ago and it was a very smooth experience. With a lot of services you have to sign up first before you can even get a quote. Thank you also for pointing out that a lot of promotions are not worth it. Overall, I find the sector still a bit opaque. There is still room for improvement. 

Another point that dissuaded me from using Revolut is there strong app focus. Smartphones are inherently insecure and are a target due to their often only limited-term security updates. 

eDicky

zurpher said:

Smartphones are inherently insecure and are a target due to their often only limited-term security updates. 

Could you enlarge on this inherent insecurity of smartphones..?

I've not seen any reports of users being targeted and defrauded when using financial apps, and I have been using them rather than laptop/desktop for some years, so I'd be interested...

zurpher

eDicky said:

zurpher said:

Smartphones are inherently insecure and are a target due to their often only limited-term security updates. 

Could you enlarge on this inherent insecurity of smartphones..?

I've not seen any reports of users being targeted and defrauded when using financial apps, and I have been using them rather than laptop/desktop for some years, so I'd be interested...

If your Android OS and all apps are up-to-date including the latest security updates than all is good (except for zero-day exploits). If you fall into this category: Congratulations. Many other smartphone users do not. Unfortunately, Google and other companies provide these security updates only for a comparatively short amount of time and often the roll-out application of security updates are delayed. This leaves users with functioning hardware but insecure software. Many banking apps do not check and enforce latest security updates because this would mean that many users could not use them. 

colsten

zurpher said:

eDicky said:

zurpher said:

Smartphones are inherently insecure and are a target due to their often only limited-term security updates. 

Could you enlarge on this inherent insecurity of smartphones..?

I've not seen any reports of users being targeted and defrauded when using financial apps, and I have been using them rather than laptop/desktop for some years, so I'd be interested...

If your Android OS and all apps are up-to-date including the latest security updates than all is good (except for zero-day exploits). If you fall into this category: Congratulations. Many other smartphone users do not. Unfortunately, Google and other companies provide these security updates only for a comparatively short amount of time and often the roll-out application of security updates are delayed. This leaves users with functioning hardware but insecure software. Many banking apps do not check and enforce latest security updates because this would mean that many users could not use them. 

I am no Android expert (or user) but you could argue that users not applying OS updates on Android is akin to the issue of users not applying OS updates to their Windows systems. I also believe that some apps, incl all the mobile banking apps, have minimum OS version requirements, akin to some online apps requiring a minimum level of Windows. In other words, I can’t see where mobile banking on a secure WiFi connection is any less secure than online banking.

You have not mentioned viruses, trojans and malware such as keyloggers which are abundant for Windows systems and a big danger for users who don’t take measures against them.