How I Move Money Internationally

There was one point where I had an active bank account in 4 different countries. Moving money internationally was something that I had to do a lot, and as a student you are very aware of all the fees involved. Luckily I am now very happy with the methods I currently use!

Note: This post applies more for people who are moving abroad to work or study and will have a bank account in that country. For information about spending or using money in another country, see this post.

I started moving money with the…

BANK TRANSFER

When I moved to France in 2012 I started with one lump transfer of my savings into my new, shiny French bank account. This came with lots of fees on both ends, but at the time I didn’t see many other options. The first time I transferred a rather large amount, so the fees could have been called “worth it”. I now think that there are better ways to move money, but if a bank transfer is still your only option, then you need the bank details of the recipient, as well as the address of the recipient and the address of the bank. Some online banks are unable to do international money transfers, which is why it is sometimes useful to have a bank account with a main bank.

One thing I never did…

CASH WITHDRAWAL ON A CREDIT CARD

Using a credit card while abroad can be a great strategy. But when you start doing cash withdrawals, in any currency, this DOES NOT count as a purchase and therefore interest starts being charged RIGHT AWAY. Again, if this an emergency of you getting home or not than you do what you must do. However, I wouldn’t recommend this as regular method for international money withdrawal. In this article we are talking mainly about transferring money to an international bank account, the assumption is that you are moving to that country for at least a few months either for working or school. Using this cash withdrawal method on your credit card often over a few months will add up over time. I would try to avoid it, and if you do have to use it, try to pay off the balance right away to avoid fees.

Something I used often…

CASH WITHDRAWAL ON A DEBIT CARD

There exists a partnership with banks from all over the world called the Global ATM Alliance. When you have an account with one of these banks and withdraw foreign cash with one of their partners you don’t pay the surcharges. This is great for both travellers and expats, but for expats the savings could really add up over time as they would be using this service often.

To take this point further, we can see that the Canadian partner here is ScotiaBank. It is worth noting that ScotiaBank owns Tangerine. This means that you can open a bank account for free with Tangerine, then use their debit card to withdraw money for free in other countries. The Global ATM Alliance does cover A LOT of ground as far as international partners go, so this is a beautiful thing!

I started using Tangerine in university. At that time I would have my lump sums of money such as summer savings or student loans and that money would have to last me whole school year. With Tangerine I was able to have various savings account and name them accordingly (rent, food, gas etc.) and make sure that money stayed in place. This technique got me through 6 years of university. Now that I am working I also have their Tangerine Mastercard and have found it to be one of the best credit cards I have held!

Tangerine has an ongoing promotion that if you are referred by a current client and deposit $250 into your account, you earn an extra $50 just for being referred! If you are interested in using Tangerine (which I have sworn by for years) feel free to use my Orange Key: 36008065S1.

I am now loyal to…

By far the best method I have found for transferring money is Tranferwise. I wish I had discovered this YEARS ago, but alas these things take time. I discovered Transferwise as I was moving back to Canada from Barcelona. There were all kinds of things that needed wrapping up, and one of them was getting my apartment deposit back to Canada. Obviously, to begin with one should be wary about entering your bank details on the internet- which I always agree with. I had found people talking about it and was tempted. I really started to believe in it when an English language school I had been to in Barcelona for an ESL Teacher Training conference, even recommended it for a method for people to pay for their training courses, which can be thousands of euros. Seeing as I had been to the school and knew it was a real place, I was impressed that they trusted this method to receive their foreign payments. I decided to give it a try.

It was fast. It did everything it said it was going to do. I got a great rate and saved money. What more could I want?

I have used it many times and now even my parents swear by it. It was originally created by the founds of Skype. If you have time, read about the origins of the company as it is a very interesting story.

The most recent time I used this service was paying for my Spanish Police Certificate. I was in my Grandpa’s kitchen realizing that I had to get the money into the correct bank account the next day. Since I already had an account I downloaded the app on my phone and was able to do the transfer in less than 5 minutes. SAVED. MY. BACON.

Anyone moving to another country should definitely know about Transferwise. Not only will you save the large bank fees, but the ease and speed of the operation will save you many headaches as well!