what is the safest way to transfer money

Spring to our picks for the all-time ways to ship money:

• All-time for mobile: Venmo

• Best for referral bonus: Cash App

• Fastest for domestic transfers: Zelle  || Google Pay

• About pop online: PayPal

• Best for nonbank transfers: Walmart2Walmart

• Best for sending $10,000 or more within the U.S.: Bank wire transfer

• Cheapest for international transfers: OFX

• Fastest for international transfers: Xoom || MoneyGram

• Best transfer options: Western Marriage

• Best for easy sign-up: Wise

When you send money online, the all-time way depends on how and where you want to ship information technology.

We compared fees, speed and other features to find the best providers for domestic and international money transfers.

Why you lot can trust NerdWallet: Our writers and editors follow strict editorial guidelines to brand certain our coverage is off-white and accurate, so yous can choose the options that work best for you lot.

+ See a summary of our picks

How to send money online, on mobile or in person

• Venmo: Best rated for mobile.

• Cash app: All-time for referral bonus.

• Zelle: Fastest for domestic transfers (necktie with Google Pay).

• Google Pay: Fastest for domestic transfers (tie with Zelle).

• PayPal: Most popular online.

• Walmart2Walmart: Best for nonbank transfers.

• Banking concern wire transfer: All-time for sending $x,000 or more within the U.South.

• OFX: Cheapest for international transfers.

• Xoom: Fastest for international transfers (necktie with MoneyGram).

• MoneyGram: Fastest for international transfers (tie with Xoom).

• Western Union: Best transfer options.

• Wise: Best for like shooting fish in a barrel sign-upward.

Best means to transport coin: Domestic

Read review	Venmo: Best rated for mobile.
Read review	Cash app: Best for referral bonus.
Read review	Zelle: Fastest (tie).
	Google Pay: Fastest (necktie).
Read review	PayPal: Most popular online.
	Walmart2Walmart: Best for nonbank transfers.
Bank wire transfer: Best for sending $10,000 or more than

Best ways to send money: International

Venmo: Best rated for mobile

Why information technology'south our choice:

• Highly rated app for iOS and Android phones.

• Complimentary, easy, socially engaging money transfers.

Venmo's app ratings — in combination — are the highest of the domestic providers nosotros considered: 4.iii stars in the Google Play store and four.9 in Apple tree's App Store.

It's free to send and receive money when you link a banking company account, debit carte du jour or prepaid debit carte. Using a credit bill of fare costs 3% of the transaction. With a few taps on Venmo, y'all can send upward to $4,999.99 per week for peer-to-peer transactions.

Your and your friends' transactions will pop up — without amounts — on a Facebook-similar news feed.

Money you receive shows up instantly in your Venmo residuum, but cashing out to a bank account takes i to three business concern days . You tin also transfer funds to a debit card, typically within 30 minutes, for a ane.5% fee. (For more details, read our Venmo review .)

Cash App: Best for referral bonus

Why it's our pick:

• $v bonus when someone uses your referral code to sign up and send money.

• No fees to send or receive money.

Cash App lets yous transport and receive money for free with cash from your linked banking company account or debit card. You can create your own $Cashtag, or username, in the app, to make it easier for people to notice you and send you payments. Unlike the other P2P apps and ways to send coin on this list, Cash App offers a $5 bonus when someone signs upward with your referral link and sends at to the lowest degree $five from their new business relationship.

You lot'll demand to have a bank business relationship to use the Cash App. Coin you receive will prove up instantly in your app residuum, but it will take 1-3 days for the money to show upward in your bank account if you choose to transfer. You lot can greenbacks out instantly to your debit bill of fare but you'll pay a one.5% fee.

You lot're limited to sending and receiving a maximum of $1,000 per thirty days. If you want to increase your limit, you'll need to provide more than personal information such equally your full proper name, appointment of nascency, and last four digits of your Social Security number. If y'all send coin using a credit card, you'll be charged a 3% fee. (For more information, see our Cash App review .)

Zelle: Fastest (necktie with Google Pay)

Why it's our pick:

• Delivery tends to exist within minutes.

• Already integrated with over 1,000 financial institutions, connecting more than than 100 million people.

With Zelle, y'all tin can send and deliver money within minutes between bank accounts at different financial institutions. Yous might already be using Zelle's service through your bank'south website or mobile app. Over ane,000 banks and credit unions are on board, which means that their 100 meg-some customers tin use Zelle within their bank'south website or mobile app. If your bank isn't part of the network, Zelle is also available as a standalone app.

You lot'll need a U.S. bank account to fund and receive payments . Zelle doesn't charge any fees, though whatever of its partner banks tin decide to. Although limits vary past bank, some of the largest banks prepare a daily transfer maximum of $2,000 or $ii,500.

Zelle is not made for buying or selling things, and y'all're not protected for those transfers. In add-on, if you send money to the wrong person or transfer the wrong amount, you might be out of luck. Protections are express to when someone steals your Zelle account or password and uses information technology to send money.

Google Pay: Fastest (tie with Zelle)

Why it'south our pick:

• Shine integration of money transfer service in electronic mail.

• Instant transfer of funds to debit cards for gratuitous.

+ Google Pay in a nutshell

Google Pay lets you lot transfer coin for costless using a QR code, the recipient's name, phone number or email accost. You can besides cash out for free within minutes from the in-app wallet to a debit carte du jour. The maximum you tin transport is $5,000 every seven days. Banking company accounts and debit cards can fund transfers, but credit cards and prepaid cards cannot.

Google Pay covers 100% of all verified unauthorized transactions , which isn't a given for all coin transfer apps and services.

PayPal: Most popular online

Why it's our pick:

• High transfer maximum.

• More than 400 million agile accounts worldwide.

PayPal offers gratis transfers in the U.S. when you fund with a bank account or PayPal residue. Paying with a credit card — and unlike other providers, a debit card — carries a fee: 2.9% of the sending amount plus xxx cents. Bank account transfers are free.

Depending on your currency, the maximum amount you can send per transfer ranges from $10,000 to $60,000, surpassing Venmo'southward weekly maximum. But if you're sending that much coin, doing and so through a bank provides more safeguards for your balance, such as FDIC insurance.

Transferring coin to bank accounts for gratis takes ane-4 business organization days, depending on if the transfer was initiated after 7 p.m. ET or on a weekend. Yous tin as well pay for an instant transfer to a linked debit card. You can send or receive money on the website or mobile app on iOS and Android phones, or at PayPal.Me, where y'all create your own link that family unit and friends tin can use to pay yous. (Read our PayPal review .)

Walmart2Walmart: Best for nonbank transfers

Why it'due south our pick:

• Cheaper cash transfers than some traditional money transfer companies.

+ Walmart2Walmart in a nutshell

If you want to transfer greenbacks, Walmart is cheaper than traditional money transfer companies, such as Western Union and Xoom. You can ship money to any of the thousands of U.S. Walmart stores, where a recipient can selection up the money within minutes.

In most states, the maximum y'all tin transport in a twenty-four hour period is $2,999.99, and prices beginning at $4. (For more almost Walmart financial services, read our Walmart Money Heart review .)

Bank wire transfer: B est for sending $10,000 or more than inside the U.S.

+ Bank wire transfers in a nutshell

Sending a wire transfer through your bank might be the best way to ship a big corporeality chop-chop. Every bit user-friendly every bit P2P apps are, they limit how much you can send, by and large $1,000 to $10,000 per transfer, and commitment tin accept multiple days.

There'south a steep fee for transfers. Based on an analysis of big banks, the median domestic wire price for sending is $25, and $xv for receiving (see what nearly banks accuse ). If y'all need to ship a lot of coin within minutes, though, the cost could be worth it.

International transfers

When y'all brand a transfer abroad, you generally encounter two costs: the fee for sending money (also known as the outbound or upfront fee) and the foreign substitution fees, or the markup on the exchange rate that financial institutions employ when transferring money amongst themselves. Consider both fees to detect the all-time bargain.

OFX: Cheapest

Why it's our option:

• No outbound fees.

OFX doesn't charge fees, regardless of the amount you lot send. In improver, its online service lets y'all make a transfer at current substitution rates or target future rates — meaning your money will transfer one time your exchange rate is reached — and markups are low. From the U.Southward., y'all can send coin in over 55 currencies.

OFX has a minimum corporeality per transfer of $1,000 and no maximum. Delivery typically takes several business organization days. (Read our OFX review for more details.)

Xoom: Fastest (necktie with MoneyGram)

Why information technology's our pick:

• Transfers to depository financial institution accounts away inside minutes for some countries.

Xoom— a PayPal service — specializes in fast transfers to over 160 countries. You can send up to $100,000, though the higher the amount you want to send, the longer yous may have to wait and the more personal information you lot'll accept to provide (such as a passport or Social Security number and a bank argument or pay stub). You can send money by bank business relationship, debit card, credit menu or the payment methods stored in your PayPal account, and most transfers get in inside minutes. Xoom partners with major banks away, allowing users to have money delivered to bank accounts or, in some countries, for cash pickup or as mobile telephone reloads.

Cost is where Xoom lags behind competitors. Xoom makes money from substitution rates, but it gives improve rates for sending higher amounts to certain countries. Transfers from one bank account to another are only sometimes complimentary. Overall, fees can be higher if you use a debit or credit card. (For more than information, run across our Xoom review .)

MoneyGram: Fastest (tie with Xoom)

Why it'south our option:

• Fast transfers to banking company accounts or as greenbacks for pickup worldwide.

+ MoneyGram in a nutshell

MoneyGram commands a network of locations in more than 200 countries and territories. Transfers betwixt locations take minutes for delivery equally cash pickup, which is similar to MoneyGram'south chief competitor, Western Marriage. Transfers sent online or past mobile phone to bank accounts in diverse countries take hours or a single business organisation 24-hour interval; other providers tin can take several business organization days to transfer to banking concern accounts.

You'll have to pay fees. Boilerplate fees for sending $200 to $1,000 range from nearly $5 to $12 in the countries we surveyed. MoneyGram also marks up the exchange rates up to 0.60%. For the countries we researched, the maximum corporeality you can ship is nigh $x,000. (See our MoneyGram review .)

Western Marriage: All-time transfer options

Why it'south our option:

• Extensive worldwide network of locations.

• Many means to send and evangelize money.

+ Western Union in a nutshell

The biggest money transfer company worldwide, Western Wedlock also has a sizable range of transfer options . On the provider's price estimator tool online, y'all'll see more than a dozen combinations of sending channels, payment methods and commitment options. You tin can ship coin from the Western Union website or its mobile app, and yous can apply a banking concern business relationship, debit card or credit card — or send from a nearby agent location using cash.

The transfer behemothic'due south concrete network covers over 200 countries and territories and more than half a million locations globally.

Transfers are expensive — one of the near expensive of the providers we looked at — and merely some options include aforementioned-solar day or side by side-twenty-four hours delivery. Some online transfer options can accept several business concern days for commitment. (Read our Western Marriage review .)

Wise: All-time for easy sign-up

Why information technology's our pick:

• No foreign exchange rate markups.

• Consumer-friendly web experience from sign-upward to commitment.

Wise (formerly TransferWise) balances convenience and costs on its online and mobile money transfer platform. You tin can sign up with your Apple, Google or Facebook account, instead of a site-specific login, and your exchange rate is mostly guaranteed for at to the lowest degree a mean solar day. Wise sends money from the U.S. to over eighty countries without an substitution rate markup — they do charge you lot an exchange charge per unit fee, which pays for making the substitution happen, only there's no markup and they don't make money off this fee.

In well-nigh cases, y'all'll pay two fees: a flat dollar corporeality (the upfront fee), which increases with the corporeality you lot ship, and the exchange fee, which is often less than 1% of the amount you send. From the U.Southward., delivery mostly takes several business concern days. (Read our Wise review ).

METHODOLOGY FOR DOMESTIC TRANSFERS

To determine the all-time domestic transfer services, we examined the following features for 12 providers: fees, delivery speed of cash or money to recipient's depository financial institution business relationship, user accomplish (where transaction data were bachelor), sending amount limit and security measures. Priority went to those providers that offering no-cost transfers, accept established histories and maintain loftier security standards. We excluded single-bank P2P services since they usually limit users to a given depository financial institution.

Note: All transfer amount limits given presume users have verified their identity as each app requires. There are also initial amount limits when first using the app.

Providers surveyed: Apple tree Pay , Cash App , Facebook Pay, Google Pay, MoneyGram , PayPal , PopMoney, Ria , Venmo , Walmart2Walmart , Western Union and Zelle .

METHODOLOGY FOR INTERNATIONAL TRANSFERS

We analyzed seven providers that work in the U.S., generally focusing on major players in the international money transfer industry, based on market place research, experts, cost analysis and U.S. cyberspace traffic.

Countries surveyed: Germany, India, Mexico and the Britain.

Fees and substitution rate markups mentioned are based on the analysis linked beneath.

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Source: https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/banking/best-ways-to-send-money

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