Moneycorp Review - Money Transfer Costs and FXcompared’s rating

Moneycorp Transfer Fees and Costs

Moneycorp provides its money transfer services for individuals who wish to make one-off payments, or who wish to target a favourable currency exchange rate for their future currency transactions. Customers can choose a spot contract for an immediate execution at market rate, a futures contract to lock in a favourable exchange rate and execute the transaction at a future date, or a limit order option, which gives them the option of waiting for the rate they want to make a transfer.

Moneycorp provides the option of establishing ongoing, automated payments for currency transactions. Similar to one-off currency transactions, Moneycorp customers can choose a spot rate for their automated foreign currency payments, or can lock in the best foreign exchange rates for a specified number of payments over time.

Usability

MoneyCorp’s website is straight forward to use and fairly self-explanatory. Being able to stay logged in is helpful, but first-time users will be required to sign up. This is similar to many other websites of this type on the internet.

When signing up, the website requires the user to create a login that consists of an email address and password. Then all the customer need do is follow the steps to ‘build their account’. This is a simple enough process and mostly involves pairing the user’s Moneycorp account with their bank or other revenue source. Anyone who has ever used PayPal or a similar service will instantly be at home using Moneycorp. The principle is the same.

Once the account is set up, the next stage is to initiate the required transfer. This is done by following four easy steps:

1. Enter the recipient’s details. Essentially telling Moneycorp where money needs to be sent.
2. Enter the amount that needs to be sent. This can be done as a regular transfer or as a one-off payment.
3. Select a payment method. This can be done from funds already in the Moneycorp account, or by adding fresh funds from the customer’s bank account or debit card.
4. Send. At this point, Moneycorp will convert the money to the correct currency. Details of the transfer will be logged in the customer’s account.

The customer will receive mobile notifications once the transfer is complete.

Mobile product

Moneycorp also offers a mobile app, which can be used on iOS and Android smartphones and tablets. The app is free to download and doesn’t charge for any in-app purchases. Once downloaded, all the user needs to do is log in to their account.

The app is sophisticated, and credit needs to be given to Moneycorp for creating an application that, for the main part, offers the same features as its website. The app is easy to navigate, and transactions can be made and confirmed on the go — just as easily as they can be by computer. However, this type of mobile service is to be expected by customers.

While Moneycorp’s app did have some teething issues when it first launched, which is reflected by its low score of 2.5/5 on the App Store and 1.3/5 on Google Play.

Trustworthiness & Reliability

TTT Moneycorp Limited (Moneycorp) is a money services and foreign currency exchange firm with offices in the UK, USA, Ireland, and Spain. Moneycorp is a FCA (Financial Conduct Authority) and FinCEN authorised and regulated international currency payments broker, and has received an excellent rating by Dun & Bradstreet, Equifax, Graydon, and other credit agencies.

Moneycorp is a privately-held foreign exchange and money services firm incorporated in 1962 with offices in the UK, US, Ireland, and Spain.

Moneycorp began handling foreign exchange transactions in 1979, and in 2014 handled 9.2 million customer transactions, with £13.1bn traded in currencies.

Business product offering

Moneycorp provides money transfer and exchange risk management services for business clients. For businesses that choose to send money internationally by using either a spot rate, or by purchasing forward contracts or limit orders, Moneycorp can help by searching for the best available exchange rates. Moneycorp provides timely market information and live quotes, and offers economic commentary that helps businesses better understand the markets, and how to most effectively manage their currency exposures and foreign exchange risk.

For business clients that need to make regular, ongoing payments for vendor supplies and services, employee salaries, or other business-related payment obligations, Moneycorp offers the ability to set up automated payment plans for their business clients. Moneycorp also provides additional business services such as same-day delivery of bulk currency and pick-up in the UK (two hours within London, within one day for the rest of the UK), and industry-specialised services for a variety of sectors, including banking, transportation, cruise ships, and airport charter companies.

Moneycorp’s currency specialists are available throughout the day via telephone or online, and settlements can be made in cash or by bank transfer. Cross-and same-currency dealing and settlements of trades, and trading in nearly 100 currencies are also offered.

Product Coverage & Service

Moneycorp’s services are available in almost 50 different countries worldwide, and trading can be conducted in over 90 different currencies and languages.

The company’s fees are fully dependant on the channel and the speed at which it completes. When using the express service, a standard online transfer fee is £9 and usually takes 0–2 days. Standard transfers only cost £5 and take a little longer, between 2–4 days. Customers can pay using their debit cards, digital bank transfer or by telephone. The latter requires a £15 service charge, so digital methods are recommended.

Moneycorp also provides additional services, which include:

·        A prepaid MasterCard

·        Awarding contracts

·        B2B trading features

·        Bureaux de change

·        Wholesale division

The minimum online transfer amount is £50, and the maximum is £100,000. Any more than this is possible, but will require the customer to contact Moneycorp customer services directly. This is just for safety purposes. Higher amounts require an added level of security and scrutiny.

Customer Feedback & Satisfaction

Customer reviews are very positive on TrustPilot and also on other sites. Feefo, for example, holds over 5,000 reviews for Moneycorp where less than 100 are negative. Positive feedback is focused on the company’s ease of transfer and relatively painless onboarding. Where the company doesn’t have full control over exchange rates, the general consensus is that the rates between currencies are generally favourable.

The fact that Moneycorp’s main USP is foreign currency exchange, its exchange rates will always be better than the average bank. For example, Moneycorp’s rate often stands at 1% or 2%, based on the currency pair. Bank rates are usually set at 5%. When this is applied to large amounts of money, the difference in margin is staggering.

While the company clearly did have difficulty implementing its mobile strategy (customer complaints do seem to focus on this) it does seem to have turned it around. There was some negative feedback on Moneycorp’s sign-up process too, but it seems this has been streamlined since. This is positive to see. It’s clear that Moneycorp listens to customers and has taken steps to resolve issues once they are reported. Overall, it seems like Moneycorp is on to a winning formula.

Customer Help & Assistance

At the time of writing, no live chat options are available on Moneycorp’s website, but the company is active on social media channels and is responsive to emails. For UK customers, Moneycorp’s offices can also be reached by telephone Monday–Friday from 7:30am to 9:00pm UK time. A contact telephone number is provided for customers within and outside the UK.

Moneycorp provides a version of its website for multiple countries and languages. Each version of the site provides access to the relevant contact details for a respective region — including the UK, US, Spain, Ireland, France, Romania, Australia and Hong Kong.

Meanwhile, Moneycorp’s FAQ section provides a wealth of questions and answers for its personal and business customers. While this section of the website strives to address many of its most popular questions, the FAQ is not searchable. However, relevant topics are neatly organised by category.

Email contact is available without requiring a site login, meaning this method of support is accessible for Moneycorp’s non-customers, as well as new customers. Communication with Moneycorp is easily accessible via the website’s ‘contact’ section.

Pricing Transparency

Moneycorp is registered by the British Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). As such, there are strict compliance regulations that it needs to adhere to in order to trade. The company has existed since 1962 and is one of the biggest and most experienced in its field. Where fees do apply, Moneycorp makes information on these accessible by performing a relevant site search or on the site’s FAQ.

Obtaining a quote without signing up to its services is not possible, but sign up is free and customer data is held in the strictest of confidence.