Why is xoom so expensive

Xoom is available to send money internationally from the US, the UK, and 32 markets in Europe, to countries, including small island nations such as Seychelles and Dominica.

Xoom offers bank transfers, cash pick-up, utility bill payments, phone recharging, and transfers to mobile wallets. Xoom makes money out of currency exchange, so its rates are the most expensive on this list. Xoom is free for iOS and Android , and on the web. Karina Montoya is a Peruvian journalist passionate about business, finance, and technology. She is currently based in the D. Contact the author here. Money talks, so make sure yours is speaking up for climate action.

Sign up to receive Popular Science's emails and get the highlights. Transferring money beyond the border has never been easier—or cheaper. In the next few minutes, you are going to find out if Xoom is right for you.

You will also want to check out their competitors below to see if other services might suit you better and you are going to want to know about the real costs to transfer. Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. For more information, see my disclosures here. For many, Xoom is not an option, but even for those who can use them, there are better options you will find in the Xoom Alternatives section.

We will uncover these now! These transfer fees are quite variable and relate mostly to how you fund your transfer and the payout method. Xoom has an impressive range of ways to fund transfers as well as the way in which the transfers can be received. Their fee calculator opens a new tab — select your country does a pretty good job of focusing on fees attached to these.

After clicking on the link above, start by simply selecting the country where you want to send the money to. As you will see when you visit Xoom, you could be forgiven for thinking that their transfer fee is the only fee they charge.

As with most money transfer companies, the exchange rate they give you is not always the best exchange rate. Typically they add a mark up to the rate which is an additional cost you should take into account. Luckily there are some alternative providers who focus on transparency and making international transfers as cheap as possible. For example, one of the leaders in the market are Wise formerly TransferWise.

They always convert money at the mid-market rate ie. They then charge just one, low transparent fee for your currency conversion which can make them a much cheaper alternative. See the Xoom Alternatives section below for more information. Start by going to the password recovery page on the Xoom website. Next, enter the email address that you used to register your Xoom account. This will take you to the Xoom website, where you may need to verify some of your data, like a payment method, to reset your password.

Finally, create a new password and use it to log into the Xoom service. For security reasons, you should ensure your password is robust and hard to break. It would be best if you also created a unique password for every website you use, especially money transfer providers and banks.

You can only delete your Xoom account by contacting Xoom customer service. You can do this by emailing Xoom customer service through the Xoom website. You can receive Amazon eGift cards and MasterCard prepaid debit cards so you can make purchases.

You can send an invitation to your friends through their email, Facebook, Facebook Messenger, or WhatsApp account. Xoom has several convenient ways for you to get your money.

Note that not all options will be available in all currencies and countries and that there may be an additional fee—for example, a bank fee to receive a transfer.

If you want Xoom to send your money transfer directly to the beneficiary's bank account, you will need to provide banking details. These will typically include their name, address, country and details of the bank account. In some cases, you will be able to cancel a Xoom transaction, depending on where it is in the Xoom process. To cancel a transfer, log into your Xoom account. If you do not believe the transaction has been completed and still want to cancel it, you will need to contact Xoom customer service.

Xoom updates its exchange rates constantly. When you need to pay for your transaction, you can choose from a payment method linked to your PayPal account. Xoom's exchange rates are reasonably priced at around 0. However, when transfer fees are added into the mix, Xoom quickly becomes one of the more expensive options for sending money abroad, especially for bank transfers.

If you'd like to find the best deal for your transfer, run a search on Monito's real-time comparison engine to compare alternatives instead.

Olivia Willemin Guide. Jan Watermann Reviewer. Apr 30, Affiliate disclosure. What Monito Likes About Xoom A good variety of pay-in and pay-out options; A large number of destinations around the globe; Transfers are fast and easy to make; Highly rated by customers. Monito's Recommendation Xoom is a reliable if poor money transfer provider that rarely has competitive fees and exchange rates.

Compare Transfer Services or go to Xoom. Key Questions About Xoom Answered Can I trust Xoom? How good is Xoom's service? What are Xoom's fees and exchange rates? What are other customers saying?

How does Xoom work? Other frequently asked questions about Xoom scroll down. Monito Score Service Highlights About. Customer Satisfaction 8. Who is Xoom For? See How Xoom Stacks Up. Background check 8. Company size Here are the percentage fees charged for transferring pounds into a range of other currencies, according to FXC Intelligence, a specialist data provider:. Nobody is the cheapest one over everything, or even the most expensive. That makes it important to shop around for the best rates.

There are a number of variables in play, such as cash versus bank-to-bank transfer, or debit versus credit card. It can also depend on the remittance corridor the foreign-exchange pair and countries involved , the amount of the transfer, and floating currency rates that are constantly changing.

This makes for thousands of different price combinations. Xoom, for example, discloses that it charges a transaction fee and also tells the customer that it makes money through the foreign-exchange rate it charges.