Remitly vs. PayPal Xoom. Which is best for sending money to and from Japan?
by Doc Kane
Updated: February 18, 2022
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Choosing the right remittance partner is more than just who has the best rate. Convience trumps all for many, as does app functionality, not to mention currencies and support. Let’s take a look at Xoom and Remitly to see how they play out against one another.
Running a consulting business often means you’ve outsourced a number of functions that allow you to free time time across the board. Paying your vendors can get tricky if you lock into the wrong remittance app, so understanding who the big players are on the remittance field is important. In this review, I’ll take a look at two popular, long-standing vendors in the money transfer space: Pay Pal Xoom and Remitly.
Both Pay Pal and Remitly provide opportunities to send money using international money transfer services that are fast, easy to use, and have low fees. But which one is the best for you and your consulting business?
Let’s take a look:
1. How Fast Is Remitly?
In most countries, sending money using Remitly can take between one and three days to arrive in your recipient’s account.
2. How fast are PayPal Xoom money transfers?
PayPal Xoom money transfers will typically be delivered within two hours of them receiving the money transfer request.
3. What about exchange rate fees?
How does Remitly compare to Xoom when it comes to additional charges that sit atop exchange transfer fees? Costs to send money through both firms can vary quite a bit, with Remitly being one of the more affordable money transfer companies for transfers to most countries.
4. How easy is it to use the Remitly and Xoom apps?
Universally, money transfer apps are fairly easy to use, and my tests having family members send money overseas from the U.S. to Japan with both my father who is seventy six, and my niece who is eighteen demonstrated that no matter one’s age, online remittance is pretty straightforward and easy to use as long as you don’t try to do it as a bank transfer.
In the PayPal Xoom vs. Remitly battle, Remitly is available min more countries than Remitly, however, and supports a wider range of currencies.
5. How many currencies does Remitly support?
You can send currencies from 17 countries using Remitly, and recieve currencies in more than one hundred countries (including Japan). PayPal Xoom offers the ability to send money to over 130 countries as of March 2019 (SOURCE: XOOM)
Here’s a full list of countries you can send money from and to using Remitly.
Here’s a full list of countries you can send money from and to using Xoom.
6. Which one is better for you?
The bottom line is that if you’re in the market to send international money transfers quickly and don’t want to worry about exchange rates, PayPal Xoom is the better option; it’s also available in more countries than Remitly.
If you have a little more time and want to save money on your remittance, go with Remitly- they offer transfers to forty countries compared to PayPal Xoom’s sixty receiving countries.
7. How easy is it to send money using Pay Pal Xoom vs. Remitly?
Both companies are pretty quick and straightforward – especially if you’re sending money from a debit card or credit card.
8. Is Xoom Customer service good?
Both companies offer customer service through phone, email and chat options 24/7. Languages supported include: English and Spanish, French, Italian, German, and Arabic, Vietnamese and Chinese.
9. How Is Remitly Customer Service?
Remitly money transfer services supports 14 languages including: English, Spanish, French, Italian, German, Brazilian Portuguese.
10. Does Remitly offer cash pickup?
Yes, in most countries you can pick up the funds from your remittance at designated pickup points. Delivery methods include: supermarkets, convenience stores, money transfer agents and banks. With Remitly, money is delivered to your recipient’s bank accounts, mobile wallets (including M-Pesa), as well as certain cash pickup locations.
11. Does Pay Pal Xoom offer cash pickup?
Yes, PayPal Xoom money transfers offer in person pickups at Walmart stores, so here, both payment and delivery methods are as convenient as driving to, or walking (!) to your local Wal-Mart store.
12. Is there a minimum money transfer limit?
Remitly money transfers have a minimum money transfer limit of $50., so as long as your transfer amount meets that minimum, you’re good to go.
PayPal Xoom money transfers do not have a minimum money transfer amount.
13. How much does Remitly cost?
Money transfer fees charged by Remitly can vary quite a lot, and fees are based, as you would imagine, on the amount sent and how it’s sent, as well as whether you choose to use the Express or Economy money transfer option, plus any intermediary costs incurred while sending your money abroad. Essentially, it depends.
14. How much do PayPal Xoom money transfers cost?
Additional fees are killers when it comes to sending money internationally, and if you can avoid most of them, you’ll be better off for it. PayPal Xoom money transfers also fluctuate based upon the dollars and cents, or pesos, or dinars being sent, but their fees tend to be on the low side.
With Xoom, it’s whether you choose to use the Standard or Rush money transfer option, plus, again, any intermediary costs incurred while sending your money abroad. Here too, it depends. Which makes sense, right?
15. Who offers the better exchange rate?
16. Which is more secure?
This is one of those questions I often get asked, but in reality doesn’t matter much to worry about. Both PayPal Xoom and Remitly offer very secure money transfer services, as do any sort of handler of money these days. Both use a variety of security measures to protect your money and personal information, just as you would expect.
17. How much money can you send with PayPal Xoom?
The maximum money transfer limit for PayPal Xoom money transfers is $10,000 USD per day or $25,000 USD per month.
18. How much money can you send with Remitly?
The maximum money transfer limit for Remitly money transfers is $10,000 USD per day or $20,0000 USD per year.
So, what’s the bottom line?
19. Which company offers a better deal: PayPal Xoom or Remitly?
It really does depend on the currencies involved and market conditions at the time of your money transfer, so you should explore both. If you live in the U.S. and love going into your local WalMart, than convience might trump everything else, and have XOOM coming out the winner.
If however, you’re not dependent on in-person location drop-off and pickup, and you need to send in currencies not supported by PayPal Xoom, or are sending to, or receiving from countries better suited to dealing with Remitly, then it would likely be the best choice.
20. What are the funding options?
The convenience of transferring money using your debit card is one you’ll want to look for when considering all money transfer providers. Thankfully, with PayPal, you can fund your money transfer with a credit or debit card. With Remitly, you can only fund your money transfer via debit card or bank account. No credit card transfers with these guys. So, if you’re wanting to try to rack up airline miles, PayPal wins out here.
21. Which company offers more services?
Remitly money transfers offer a few additional money transfer services that PayPal Xoom does not offer. These include bill payment, prepaid cards, money transfers to mobile money accounts and money transfer tracking.
To give Remitly a try, visit their signup page.
To give Xoom a try, visit their signup page.
For more reviews, you can check out my full review of TransferWise… my preferred way to send money to and from Japan.
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About Me
Howdy, all, I'm Doc. I live in the beautiful port city of Kobe, JAPAN with my wife Reiko. Together we co-founded the Japanese literature translation firm, Maplopo. Nihon Hustle grew out of my desire to help others interested in working with, or starting, a business Japan—or anywhere else in the world!
We all wear different hats and my job is to help you find the one that fits you best. Thanks for reading, and go get 'em!