XE Money Transfer Review

Founded in 1993 by high school friends Steven Dengler and Beric Farmer, Xenon Laboratories Incorporated (what would later become XE) is headquartered in Ontario, Canada, and it’s also identified as the “Universal Currency Converter.” Today XE offers a suite of products, including money transfer, currency converter, and real-time and historical currency data. 

But is XE actually worth it? Is the company sufficiently good when it comes to convenience, customer service, and value for money? And most of all, is it the right fit for you?

These are all legitimate questions to have, especially given the variety of options on the market today when it comes to currency exchange, conversion, and money transfer. And this is why we have decided to answer these questions in this in-depth review covering all things XE.

Throughout this XE money transfer review, we will provide you with a complete overview of the company, its money transfer process, and how well it fits your unique requirements.

About XE

XE, which was originally founded under the name of Xenon Laboratories Incorporated, makes it possible for citizens of 23 countries around the world to transfer money in more than 100 currencies to over 130 countries.

In 2021, Canstar awarded XE the “International Money Transfers Outstanding Value Award” to recognize the company’s outstanding value for offering transparent exchange rates, a global network of facilities to customers around the world, and their first-class customer support. 

As we’ll dig deeper in our in-depth review below, XE shines for a variety of factors among their millions of customers around the world. They get frequently praised for their quick money transfer service and their transparent fee structure. We explore XE products below. 

How does XE work?

Getting started with XE is simple and fast. You just need to follow three quick steps before using the platform to make money transfers. 

You first have to create a personal account, which is as easy as typing your email address and coming up with a strong password. You’ll then wait a few seconds for a verification code to be sent to the email address you just provided. Copy the code and paste it into the verification field on the page you’ve been redirected to after the first step. Click on the blue “Verify” button and continue following the instructions on the screen to complete your registration. 

Once you’re done; before proceeding to your first money transfer, you will be prompted to verify your phone number and to add a security question to protect your account. You can now start transferring money. 

After these first initial steps, you’ll be able to send money anywhere in the world by simply choosing the currency and the amount you want to transfer, the currency you want the recipient to receive the money on, the recipient’s bank information and whether you’re transferring to a business or a private account.

The XE desktop platform and mobile app are highly reliable, efficient, and secure to set up transfers with the same or multiple recipients, both with small and large sums alike.  

Below we have rounded up some more of the Pros and Cons that we have found to be relevant to the purpose of this review.

Advantages and Disadvantages of XE Money Transfer

XE is one of the leading companies in the money transfer and exchange industry for more than two decades. To understand exactly how XE has managed to pull this off despite new competitors entering the arena in droves every year, we take a more detailed look at some of the company’s most interesting aspects as well as aspects that we didn’t find very appealing or that have been points of complaints by other customers. 

Advantages of XE

Speed – XE offers 24h payments when making transfers nationally and up to 7 working days for international transfers. For most currencies, you can expect international transfers to reach XE 3 days and another 1 to 4 days for the funds to arrive at the recipient’s bank. Overall, we consider this an advantage for XE as the speed at which transfers are processed remains on par with that of its competitors.

Ease of use – Whether you’re using the Android app, the iOS app, or the web app on XE.com, getting your account up and running and starting to transfer money is increasingly straightforward and doesn’t require any guidance. In addition to making money transfers as simple as ABC, XE also offers an easy interface to track the status of your payments all the way to completion. 

No hidden fees – XE provides total transparency over the fees you’ll need to pay to transfer your money nationally or internationally depending on where your account is registered. Ultimately, you should be ready to pay up to 3 separate fees for your transfers. A send fee, which can be avoided if you transfer more than the minimum transfer amount to qualify for no send fees. A recipient’s bank fee, which can be applied by the recipient’s bank. And lastly, a payment method fee, paid directly to XE, which can vary based on whether you decide to pay by credit card, debit card, bank, wire, or e-transfer.

Disadvantages of XE

Mobile app  – The mobile app was perfect while traveling abroad, where data or wifi aren’t always available. As of the latest update, the mobile app lost the ability to be used offline. The appno longer even allows you to convert between currencies for which you have previously downloaded (onine) the conversion rates.

Customer support – The XE customer support appears to be generally more unreliable as of early 2022. Many new and existing customers have reported either really good or really bad customer support experiences while in the process of transferring money with their platform. The importance of providing good and predictable support to customers in financial services cannot be overemphasized. And when you find yourselves needing to contact a customer support representative, the ability to connect with someone knowledgeable is invaluable. The inconsistent quality associated with XE’s customer support should be taken into consideration by unsavvy and less technical customers who may need more support to set up and complete a money transfer.

Troublesome security verification  – Several customers have reported difficulties in verifying their identity while setting up their accounts for the first time. To open an account with XE you’ll need to provide a copy of your passport or driving licence, a copy of a utility bill to verify your address, and a copy of a recent bank statement. 

Detailed XE Review

Now that we have examined XE’s process, advantages, and disadvantages; in the following section, we’re going to learn more about XE’s reputation, how existing customers evaluate its products and features, and ultimately how well they fit your particular needs. 

Reputation, Track record, and Trust/Safety 

XE’s top priority in the countries where it provides money transfer services is to protect the privacy and security of their customers. To prevent financial losses when dealing with a high volume of money being transferred internationally, XE and its partner banks are required to adhere to strict state-of-the-art security, stable/scalable infrastructure, and infallible managed services.

In terms of data privacy, XE complies to regulatory standards such as Europe’s GDPR, Canada Privacy Act, and the US Privacy Act. Other regulatory standards include KYC (Know Your Customer) and AMLCTF (Anti-Money Laundering/Counter-Terrorist Financing).

XE is regulated by central banks in Australia (ASIC), New Zealand (NZFMA), Canada (FinTRAC), the USA (FinCEN), the UK, and the EU.

Value for money

XE is known among the money transfer service providers as one with the lowest exchange rates. XE makes money on transfers below a certain threshold amount. They charge a flat fee in your local currency based on where your account is registered (AU/AUD, CA/CAD, EU/EUR, NZ/NZD, UK/GBP, US/USD).  

Regardless of the amount you decide to transfer, XE will also charge a fee based on the payment method you decide to use for the transfer. On credit card payments, customers pay a percentage of the amount being spent. Credit card fees vary depending on location and currency, and they decrease as the transferred amount increases. 

It should be noted that XE doesn’t charge any fees for debit card payments if you’re transferring money to the UK and Europe, and that same applies to wire and bank transfers too.

All things considered, we deem XE’s rates reasonable and competitive. However, we should make you aware that there could be cases in which the recipient’s bank or other intermediaries may add a fee which is then deducted from the amount received by your recipient. 

Ease of use

Sending money on XE requires creating a new account, logging onto the web app at XE.com or on the mobile app, entering your recipient details, your payment method, and clicking transfer. Many customers who have left reviews on Trustpilot about XE have praised the ease of use of doing transactions, an opinion which we also agree on based on our own personal experience. 

Customer support

Getting in touch with XE’s customer support is very easy through the website and by phone. Most of the time, in fact, customers leave positive reviews about XE’s support staff. However, it’s important to be reminded, just like for any of XE’s competitors handling a massive volume of transactions every day, that not every support call/request gets successfully resolved. We consider this to be quite normal and would encourage you to be prepared for possible unsatisfactory experiences here and there. 

Below are a few of the best channels to get in touch with XE’s customer support service.

Contact details

You can also contact support through live chat on the company website.

Processing time

After running several tests ourselves and reading hundreds of customer reviews, we can attest that XE’s processing time remains on par with that of the other most popular money transfer services available. Despite the difficulty to provide an exact time value when it comes to sending money with XE, transfers of the most popular currencies paid by credit or debit card are usually the fastest to be processed. It’s quite likely that the processing time on this kind of transfer is no more than 24 hours. 

On the other side of the spectrum, however, with transfers of less popular currencies you can expect your money to reach XE up to three days after your order has been placed and another 5 working days until the money reaches your recipient’s bank account.

Factors that may prolong processing time include sender and recipient currencies, payment method, recipient’s country, and others.  

XE Fees/Charges & Features

XE offers more than just international money transfers. XE products also include historic currency data, currency rate alerts, a travel expense calculator, a currency converter, and several other calculators. 

For money transfers, XE offers real-time exchange rates, which (including margin and fees) are considered to be among the lowest in the market.

Transfer fees and charges on XE, like the processing time, depending on a variety of factors. In order to maintain their service affordable and accessible to as many people as possible around the world, you can expect XE to charge a flat send fee (3 USD/2 EUR) for transfers below 500 USD/250 EUR. It should also be noted that you will be charged a percentage of the transferred amount if you decide to pay by credit or debit card and that your recipient’s bank may also include its own fee which is then deducted by the amount received.    

XE Customer Reviews

On the review site, Trustpilot, XE has received an 84% excellent rating among more than 51,000 reviews. An additional 10% of these reviews indicate great service, followed by a 2% that are good, and the remaining 3% rates XE poorly.

Most of the positive reviews highlight the fast transfer speed, the ease of use of the platform, and overall the very dependable nature of the service. 

The only few negative points customers emphasized were related to XE requesting additional documents/information for security purposes before being able to proceed with the money transfer. 

All in all, XE amassed an overwhelming number of positive reviews on Trustpilot compared to the negative ones. And with the accolade the company has been awarded throughout its lifetime, we consider all of their positive reviews highly deserved. 

Is XE Right for You?

Choosing the right international money transfer service requires a lot of research and consideration of a multitude of factors. You need to consider the amount you’re transferring, how fast you want the money to be transferred, how important it is for you to get the best exchange rate, etcetera. We hope that by reading this detailed XE review we were able to shed some light on all of these factors so you don’t have to. 

Below, we’re going to give our final recommendations as to when we recommend using XE and when it’s better to look for alternatives instead.

When to use XE

We recommend that people use XE money transfer services when looking for a platform with a solid reputation, almost 20 years of currency exchange and money transfer experience, and a transparent fee structure. 

XE is great if you’re looking to get some of the best exchange rates in real-time and a platform that provides complete visibility over the status of your transfer at any step of the process. This makes for a delightful and hassle-free money transfer experience.

The company also offers unique industry solutions to financial institutions, travel-related businesses, accountancy firms, payroll solutions, private equity firms, retailers, manufacturers, insurance companies, and maritime companies. Lastly, XE also helps streamline international pension payments if you’re an expat retired abroad.

When not to use XE

XE may not be the best option for you if you are planning to transfer small amounts (less than 500 AUD, 500 CAD, 250 EUR, 500 NZD, 250 GBP, 500 USD) given the sending fee associated to such small amounts being transferred. 

XE is also not the best option if you happen to need to speak to a customer service representative over the weekend. Their chat support is only available Monday to Friday and on Sunday from 8 pm (GMT). You also should consider other options if you are planning to pay for a transfer by cash or cheque since those options are not supported. 

Finally, we’ve found that transfers made on XE are sometimes subject to unexpected fees charged by the recipient banks or other financial intermediaries that XE has no control over.

Final Verdict

With almost three decades of experience and an easy-to-use web and mobile platform suitable for both individuals and businesses, XE remains one of the household names in the international money transfer space.

Thanks to their reasonable exchange rates, XE is without a doubt a money transfer platform you can trust thanks also to their no transfer fee approach as long as you’re sending more than 500 AUD, 500 CAD, 250 EUR, 500 NZD, 250 GBP, or 500 USD.

The only reasons we’ve identified why XE may not be the best option are when individuals prefer to pay for their transfer in cash or cheque and if they don’t want to be unexpectedly surprised by third-party fees that are outside of XE’s control.  and when recipients do not have bank accounts.

XE FAQs

Below are a few frequently asked questions about XE.

Is XE.com legitimate?

XE is a legitimate company founded in 1993 under the name of Xenon Laboratories Incorporated, headquartered in Ontario, Canada, and currently part of Euronet Worldwide – a leading global provider of electronic payment and transaction processing solutions.

Does XE have a mobile app?

XE launched its first mobile app in 2009. Since then, their app has evolved from simply offering currency exchange rates to now allowing users to perform national and international money transfers. 

The XE app is available on both Android and Apple devices.

How long does it take to send money overseas with XE?

Most transfers made with XE are completed within 4 to 5 business days. However, it’s important to point out that transfers for a few selected currencies are only available during local business hours. What this means is that you can set up your transfer within the XE platform at any time of day and every day of the week, but the transfer will only be processed during local business hours of the recipient’s currency.

How can I track my money?

To track your transfer at any point in time, you can simply open the mobile app on your phone and use its Track function.

Any of your transfers can be labeled as Pending, Current, and Completed.

Additionally, if you turned your push notifications on, the XE app will inform you of any transfer status changes so you can know where your money is at each stage of the process.