Sending money abroad with Atlantic Money

Daliah

New kid on the block - Atlantic Money. Sort of a challenger to Wise and the rest of the currency transfer firms as well as for currency transfers through Starling Bank and Fineco Bank. Not a bank, so no FSCS protection. App only. Right now, you can only send money, not receive any, and there is no card - so significantly less functionality than e.g. Wise. But potentially cheaper than others.

Exchange at interbank rates, with a fixed fee of £3, on up to £1m max transfer (limits subject to account verification). So not the best for small transfers but anything from around £700 upwards looks a better deal than Wise. I'll try them when I make my next transfer, to see how they compare with the speed of transfer. At first glance, it seems they take 2 working days for a transfer to Euroland.

eDicky

Looks like no Android app so far...

Compatibility

iPhone

Requires iOS 14.0 or later.

iPod touch

Requires iOS 14.0 or later.

Mac

Requires macOS 11.0 or later and a Mac with Apple M1 chip.

Languages

English

robatwork

@nbaid716 I do lots of transfers with Wise. I used to shop around a lot but they are 1) always competitive and 2) fast. Even if Xendpay are cheaper on occasion it's not enough to make me change.

You'll need to have a special USP to make an impact. I'll be happy to try if you have a rate that stands out from the crowd.

Also, you should register with the MSE board mods as a company representative.

Daliah

For the avoidance of doubt: I have no connection to Atlantic Money.

@nbaid716, as above, you need to register as a company rep if you wish to post here. But as we have your ear: what is your plan/schedule for transfers to GBP?

Daliah

Atlantic Money now supports sending Euros to and from GBP, as well as from EUR or GBP to USD, AUD, CAD, CZK, DKK, NOK, PLN and SEK.

They claim to be cheaper than Wise. I have put this claim to the test with a 1,000 EUR --> GBP transfer and found the following deals:

Atlantic: £838.95 
Wise: £836.87
Starling: £838.83
Fineco: £839.70

So Fineco is still the winner by a smidgen, but remember, they are veeeeeeery slow, whilst with all the others, you have the converted money in the recipient's account within a working day or two (where Fineco takes 4 working days). 

Also worth remembering that Atlantic charge a flat £3 fee for all transfers, so they are unlikely to be tops for amounts below EUR 1,000 but could well be much better value for larger transfer amounts. Atlantic don't give you a debit card, don't have SO and DD functionality, all of which you get with the others. So they aren't really great for regular users but they might save you tens, or even hundreds, for larger amounts (assuming they will let you do larger amounts).

I think I will stick with the tried and tested Starling for most of my quick transfers, and with tried and tested Fineco for the transfers that aren't time critical. 

NB: I also note that @nbaid716, who posted here earlier as an Atlantic Money Executive, had their post removed and the user doesn't seem to exist any longer.

 

Kate_Harness

I tried to send money to USA with Atlantic Money from a Lloyds account they said that it was highly fraudulent and blocked our account. 

Anyone else experienced this?

eskbanker

Kate_Harness said:

I tried to send money to USA with Atlantic Money from a Lloyds account they said that it was highly fraudulent and blocked our account. 

Anyone else experienced this?

What were the actual words they really used, and what have they said the next steps are?

Kate_Harness

Actual words very fraudulent account and payment stopped.

eskbanker

Kate_Harness said:

Actual words very fraudulent account and payment stopped.

I'd suggest that this is a Lloyds issue rather than an Atlantic one, they're authorised by the FCA so if Lloyds wishes to make potentially libellous or slanderous allegations against them they're likely to be on thin ice doing so - was this in writing or verbally?

https://register.fca.org.uk/s/firm?id=0014G00002d8xQMQAY

Kate_Harness

Sadly verbally but they spend time telling you things may be recorded.
i will put a strong worded complaint into Lloyds, for what’s it worth.
thanks for re assurance 

PRAISETHESUN

Kate_Harness said:

I tried to send money to USA with Atlantic Money from a Lloyds account they said that it was highly fraudulent and blocked our account. 

Anyone else experienced this?

That is a problem with Lloyds, not Atlantic Money. Basically their systems have flagged the transaction as potentially fraudulent and stopped it. This happens fairly regularly when you are transferring money to new payees, and especially so for larger sums or higher risk destinations such as international money transfers. They do it under the guise of protecting their customers, but ultimately it's to protect themselves as in many instances they would have to foot the bill to refund you if you get scammed. Generally speaking I'm in favour of this approach as I'd rather a frozen account than having to fight to get my money back, but I appreciate the inconvenience can be a big issue for some.

They should give you the option to jump through all the hoops, get properly ID'd, listen through all the scam warnings, etc, and then allow you to make the transfer. If they don't then you might have to make a formal complaint to get things unblocked and make the transfer.