Is Remitly the ultimate solution for hassle-free international money transfers?
From its features and benefits to potential drawbacks, we’ll explore all aspects of Remitly’s offerings.
Join us as we delve into transfer options, fees, customer reviews, competition, and more, to help you make an informed decision about whether Remitly is the best choice for your cross-border money transfers.
What is Remitly and how is it different?
Remitly is a digital money transfer service on a mission to make the money transfer process fast, affordable, and transparent for immigrants looking to send their hard-earned money home.
Remitly stands out from the pack with its promises to
- Give you peace of mind: Remitly allows you to track your transfers so you can be at peace
- Offer great value: Remitly promises to give great rates and special offers and charges you no fee on your first transfer (subject to requirements)
- Guarantee delivery time: Remitly promises to deliver your money on time or return your fees
Remitly serves millions of its customers across 28 sending countries and facilitates money transfers to 100+ countries, 3000 banks and 350,000 pickup locations in addition to home deliveries.
Pros and Cons of Remitly
Pros
- The Remitly website and mobile app are easy to use, giving users a robust mobile experience.
- Remitly sends transfer updates and allows you to track your money transfer with ease.
- Flexible pay-out options from which to choose your payment method and delivery speed.
- Recipients can get money via various options- bank accounts, cash pickup, mobile wallets or delivered to their doorstep.
- 24/7 customer support accessible via phone in English and Spanish and via live chat in English, Spanish and French.
- Money transfers to certain countries are free or low-priced.
- Promotional exchange rates or a reduced fee on your first transfer.
Cons
- Daily and monthly sending limits are restrictive and vary based on location.
- Best suited for transferring large amounts because small transfers cost more.
- Normal or economy transfers are slow and express transfers can be expensive.
- High transfer fees and limited transfer methods to certain countries.
- A complicated line-up of transfer fees for different countries.
Who is Remitly for?
Remitly is for people, in particular, migrants who want to send money to family and friends in other countries. If you want to send money in an easy, reliable and transparent way, Remitly is a good choice. It is simple to use, relatively affordable for non-urgent transfers and gives you peace of mind with the option to track your transfer and share updates with your recipient.
Remitly is ideal for you if you want flexibility as it offers a variety of payout options for you and delivery options for your recipient, depending on the location.
However, with Remitly regular speed transfers take longer and express transfers are more expensive. So Remitly is a good option when you are not in a hurry.
In addition, transfer fees vary widely from country to country and some routes are more expensive than others. Remitly may not be profitable for you if your transfer route is expensive.
The platform caps monthly transactions at $30,000. This means that if you need to transfer a higher amount, you have to explore other alternatives.
If you are sending large amounts of money, you will save more on Remitly because the fees on smaller transactions add up making them costlier.
See our Western Union vs. Remitly comparison.
How does Remitly work?
To get started, you need to complete these simple steps:
- Create your account on Remitly.
- You can create an account by downloading the Remitly app from Google Play Store/ iOS App Store or signing up for an account via the company’s website. Both options require you to select the country you are sending money to and provide your email addresses and passwords to join Remitly.
- Set up your profile.
- You will need to provide your name, address and phone number and other required information to set up your profile.
- Pick your payment and delivery option.
- You can choose to pay via your credit/debit card or use your bank account. You can also choose a delivery method for your recipient depending on the location you are sending it. You will also need to provide information about your recipient.
- Send your transfer.
- Check your transfer summary to ensure everything is accurate and select send money when you are ready. You will get a confirmation notice on your screen and you will get a receipt in your email if your funds have been sent successfully.
- Verify your identity.
- You may need to provide information and documents to keep your account secure
- Check transfer status.
- You can check the status of your money transfer once it is in progress and you can share updates with your recipient and keep them in the know.
Is Remitly safe and legit?
Remitly is fully licensed to operate in the United States, the United Kingdom and all Canadian provinces except Quebec. It is registered with regulatory bodies like the US Department of Treasury and the Financial Conduct Authority in the UK.
Here is how Remitly keeps your money safe:
- Remitly makes it their duty to keep your account secure and protect you from fraudsters and hackers by constantly monitoring your account using manual and automated risk management procedures.
In addition, they provide layered protection by ensuring that you have multiple factors of authentication featuring your unique password and a verification message on your mobile phone.
- Account verification: Remitly verifies your account and makes sure you are the only one that has access to it by requesting a valid ID and proof of address along with any other supporting document or information needed based on your region.
- Your funds go through a secure payment system that ensures your account is locked once there is suspicious activity or after several failed payment attempts.
- You can track your international money transfer through the Remitly app and view your transfer status in addition to the updates Remitly will send you. You also get 24/7 customer support via phone or live chat if you need to talk to someone.
What are Remitly’s fees (for US customers)?
Remitly’s fees for US customers vary based on the recipient’s location, the payment method and the currency in which the recipient will receive the transfer.
Payments via debit card are generally more expensive than payments via bank accounts, with Remitly often charging $3.99 for the service. It is important to note that credit card transfers in the US attract a processing fee of 3% of the transfer value.
Here is a sample of Remitly fees for US customers:
- A Money transfer to Hungary will cost $3.99 for an express transfer and $1.99 for an economy transfer if the recipient receives the money in Hungarian Forints
- A money transfer to Argentina will cost $4.99 for an express transfer and $2.99 for an economy transfer
- A money transfer to France will cost $1.99 for both express and economy transfers for amounts less than $1000 and $0 for amounts over $1000.
Remitly Economy vs Express (transfer time and fees)
You can choose how quickly to deliver your money with Remitly. Remitly gives you two delivery speed options- Express and Economy.
With the Express option, you can send money via your debit or credit card and it will be delivered immediately. However, credit card transfers attract an additional fee of 3%. The Express option is best suited for urgent transfers.
The Economy option allows you to send money via your bank account and delivers your funds within three to five business days. This option takes longer but is cheaper and best suited for non-urgent transfers.
The fees for both transfer options depend on the recipient’s country, the amount of money and the currency you want to send. The pricing page on the website shows you transfer fees for any destination you select. Overall, the economy option features lower fees.
What are Remitly’s international fees?
Remitly’s international transfer fees depend on the location the money is sent to, the amount of money sent, the currency the money will be converted to, and the transfer method.
Remitly generally charges from as little as $0 to as high as $90 depending on these factors. For certain countries, the standard price for transferring an amount less than $1000 is $3.99 and for a transfer of above $1000, it is $0.
In addition to transfer fees, Remitly offers competitive exchange rates which are between 0.5% to 2% worse than mid-market rates. These rates add to the cost of the money transfer.
To know exactly how much it would cost you to send money with Remitly, visit the pricing page on the website and input your location and destination country to see the fees that apply to you.
Remitly’s customer reviews
On Trustpilot, Remitly has a rating of 4.1 over 5. With over 5 million downloads on Google Playstore, Remitly has a 4.8 rating out of 5. While on the Apple store, Remitly has a whooping 1 million plus downloads and a 4.9-star rating out of 5.
Remitly is popular among users but it also has mixed reviews from millions of its users.
Here is a summary of what they have to say:
Remitly’s strong points:
- The Remitly app is easy to use, convenient and reliable
- Delivery speed is speedy
- Peace of mind from tracking transfer status
- Zero to low transfer fees for specific destinations
- Excellent customer service
Remitly’s weak points:
- Canceled transactions or blocked accounts due to Remitly’s security feature that detects suspicious activity.
- Late and non-delivery of money
- Low exchange rates and high transfer fees for certain destinations
- Long turnaround time for the resolution of complaints
- Personal information required to process transactions was considered invasive
Remitly alternatives
How does Remitly fare beside its competition? We will take a look at Xoom, Wise and Worldremit.
Xoom: With Xoom, you can pay international bills and add money to a mobile phone account but these features are not available on Remitly. However, Remitly is more affordable to use than Xoom with the Economy transfer option. Xoom is more expensive to use and is less transparent about rates and markups.
Wise: You can send money through Apple pay and Google pay with Wise but Remitly does not offer that. However, home deliveries are possible with Remitly while Wise does not have that feature. Wise also has higher spending limits than Remitly, allowing transactions of up to 1 million dollars per day in some instances.
See our Remitly vs Wise Comparison.
WorldRemit: Worldremit has more payment options including Poli, Interac, Apple pay, and Trustly with delivery options like mobile money and airtime top. Remitly does not offer these options and charges slightly higher fees and exchange rates.
See our WorldRemit vs Remitly Comparison.
Verdict
Remitly is a safe and legitimate platform for international money transfers. It is a great option for anyone who wants to send money with flexibility, ease, convenience and peace of mind. The platform works best for users who do not need to make an urgent transfer and those who are happy to pay more for express transfers.
However, Remitly is not for everyone because fees, exchange rates, payment and delivery options vary across different locations. Some transfer routes are more expensive and feature lower sending limits and limited delivery methods.
In conclusion, users experience Remitly in a different way based on a few variables. The best way to tell if it works for you is to check out the platform and see the features that are available to you.
FAQs
What are Remitly’s sending limits?
Remitly’s sending limits determine how much you can send in 24 hours, 30 days and 180 days and they vary based on your location and your recipient’s location. Accounts fall into 3 tiers and each account has daily, monthly and half-yearly limits. When making a transfer from the US, Tiers 1, 2 and 3 are limited to $2999, $6000 and $10,000 daily. The maximum amount you can send monthly is $10,000, $20,000 and $30,000 respectively. To increase your sending limits, you will need to make a request to Remitly and provide additional information.
Can I use credit cards in Remitly?
You can use your credit card with Remitly. Remitly accepts credit cards (Visa and Mastercard) as long as they have an expiry date, match your name on your Remitly profile and have a CVV or CVC number.
You will be charged a fee for paying with a credit card due to processing fees. If you are making a transfer from the US, this will amount to 3% of the transfer value.
How long does Remitly Transfer take?
The time it takes to send money with Remitly depends on the delivery speed option you choose. Express transfers require you to pay via a debit or credit card and delivery is completed within minutes but Economy transfers are paid via your bank account and delivered within three to five business days. Economy transfers attract lower fees than Express transfers.
Can you use Remitly everywhere?
As of today, Remitly facilitates money transfers from the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, France, Australia and 23 other sending countries to 100+ countries. The list of countries you can send to depends on the location you are sending from. When you send money from any of these 28 countries, your recipients can receive it via a bank transfer, cash pick up, home delivery or mobile wallet, depending on where they are located.
