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Updated
OzForex is now OFX, which has branched out into several new foreign exchange brands to support a variety of money transfer options. Read our review and learn how to get a better exchange rate and $0 fees.
OFX was founded to provide better rates to those who felt they were not getting a fair deal from the banks. They do this by combining the huge amount of customer deals they process and using this large number to get wholesale rates in the interbank market.
This basically means that rather than negotiating based on your individual transaction they’ll group you with others and used the combined power to get a better rate. This is combined with a smaller margin which is reported to be as low as 0.3% – compared to the average bank rate of 4%.
Rates are updated every 30 seconds on their website so you’ll always have a clear idea of what your money’s worth. This is in contrast to banks, which usually update their rates once per day but leave the door open for sudden rate changes.
A good exchange rate is only half the story when it comes to international funds transfers – there’s also the fees attached to the transfer itself.
OFX charge their fees in the currency you’re selling and will waive the fee completely if you transfer over a certain amount.
USD to | Fee | Fee-free threshold |
---|---|---|
AED | 50 | 30,000 |
AUD | 15 | 10,000 |
CAD | 15 | 10,000 |
CHF | 15 | 10,000 |
DKK | 20 | 50,000 |
EUR | 10 | 5,000 |
FJD | 20 | 15,000 |
GBP | 7 | 3,000 |
HKD | 60 | 50,000 |
JPY | 1500 | 1,000,000 |
NOK | 20 | 50,000 |
NZD | 12 | 10,000 |
PLN | 15 | 10,000 |
SEK | 20 | 50,000 |
SGD | 15 | 10,000 |
USD | 5 | 5,000 |
ZAR | 50 | 50,000 |
OFX allows you to transfer money into more than 50 currencies, including the currencies listed above and many others such as the Mexican Peso, Thai Baht, Chinese Yuan Renminbi and the Indian Rupee.
There are a few limitations to OFX’s service. They won’t transfer cash, nor allow cash to paid into their accounts and they don’t accept cheques or credit card payments.
You also can’t send funds to the following countries;
Before you can transfer your money overseas you need to register for an account with OFX. Registration is free and involves you completing three steps. These will involve you entering in your personal details including contact details, address and occupation and details surrounding your proposed money transfer.
Once this is completed you’ll get both an email and a phone call to verify your identity and if this is successful you can log onto your account.
At this stage you’ll get a rate quote for your transfer and from here all you need to do is add the receiving account details. OFX will contact you to confirm the transaction and you can then track the status of the transfer.
Transfers can reach the destination account the day after sending your money to OFX, but you should allow up to two days on top of this depending on where it’s going.
Apart from getting a better deal on your transfers in terms of both rates and fees, OFX has a number of benefits which you wouldn’t necessarily get at a bank or anywhere else for that matter.24 hour service. You can contact a member of OFX dealing team whenever you need assistance with something related to your transfer.
Personal contact. As stated above, you can call a member of OFX when you want to speak to someone. Not every service can boast of having this degree of personal contact in their transfer service.
They’re regulated. OFX is regulated by the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) and is able to safely transfer your money using Macquarie Bank’s global risk management policies. It has a low risk business model and state-of-the-art website security measures in place including minimum 2048 bit Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificates for protective encryption of your transfer.
OFX has a range of products and services for travellers, businesses and those wanting to keep a close eye on foreign currency developments. Here’s a bit more about each.
OFX began in 1998 and is now a quickly growing company—having been listed on the ASX in 2013.
They enabled customers to transfer $9.1 billion in 2013 and they have two million visitors coming to their website each month.
They’re expanding their global reach too, which offices in Sydney, London, Toronto, San Francisco, Hong Kong and Auckland.
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