Good news for expats! The Transferwise application that goes through Facebook Messenger is now available in France. This will facilitate the transfer of money from one account to another (it also works when you are an Erasmus student or a parent of a student abroad). Until then, in this kind of situation, it was necessary to pay a fair commission to the bank if one used his French blue card to drain his French account while living in London, Edinburgh, New York or Sidney .... Or even if they wanted to transfer French money to their account (or that of their child) in the host country. Now, it is insured reduced costs.

Is it really cheaper with TransferWise?

With this model, the commission can be reduced considerably when transferring international money. While a "traditional" bank takes an average of 10% of the transaction, TransferWise levies a fixed fee of one pound, and 0.5% for amounts over £ 200 . How does British society manage to break prices? Just because money does not cross borders!

A real good idea that we owe to 2 Estonian friends. Expatriates in London, the two friends were tired of paying commissions to transfer money between Estonia and the United Kingdom. They launched their start-up to help other users tired of paying exorbitant commissions. That's how TransferWise was born!

Transferwise: how does it work?

To use the application you must use a bank account in each of the countries concerned. In France (for example) if you send euros, but also in the UK if that is where you want to use the money transferred. It is the same principle when sending money to a relative settled in a country where the currency is different from ours. The transaction can only be carried out under this condition.

Step 1: Download the TransferWise application on your smartphone and enter your bank details.

Step 2: Log in to your Facebook account and open Messenger. There, we engage the discussion with a robot. He asks the user what currency he is using and to which country he wants to send money.

Step 3: Enter the amount you wish to transfer.

Step 4: The robot informs about the exchange rate applied and, consequently, the total amount sent.

Step 5: The recipient is indicated by entering his / her name, first name and e-mail address.

Step 6: The recipient receives an e-mail where he / she is asked for information about his / her bank account.