This Travelex money transfer review focuses on the important aspects of the service like fees, exchange rates, the quality of the online trading platform, and the level of service the company provided. To read other reviews for companies like Travelex, check our top money transfer companies list.
| Logo |  |
| 🏛️ Established | 1976 |
| 🌎 International Clients | Only UK-based clients or US-based Clients from Arizona, California, Colorado, Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia or Washington. |
| 💱 Currencies Offered | 47 |
| 💷 Minimum Transfer | $500 / £1,000 / AUD$500 |
| 📲 Trading via | Online Platform or Telephone |
| 🏢 Offices In | UK, USA and Australia |
| ⚖️ Regulation | ✓ FinCEN (USA) – Using OFX USA as provider
✓FCA(UK)- Using OFX UK as provider ✓ ASIC(Australia) – Using OFX Australia as provider |
| 🤯 Fees | USA: $5 for transfers below $5,000
UK: £7 per transfer below £2,500 |
| Promotional Code | None |
| 👨👩👧👦 Client Reviews |
16,000 reviews on TrustPilot |
| ⭐ Client Rating | 8.9 / 10 |
| Website |
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| 🏆 Awards | |
| 👍 Advantages | Highly Reliable Firm with Long Trading History
Payment Services Provided by OFX Best Price Guarantee (limited to 30 mins) Great Client Reviews |
| 👎 Disadvantages | Limited Reach (within USA, and worldwide)
Service Provision by External Firm Fixed Fees on Smaller Transfers Main business is Travel Money and not Payments “Your Connection is Not Private” Warning upon Sign Up |
Company Information and Credibility
Company size:
Travelex is a travel money giant with thousands of foreign exchange bureaux spread across the country (branded both as “Travelex” and as “Thomas Cook” which was bought my Travelex in the mid 2000’s for over £400m). These offices deal with travel money and not remittances , unlike Western Union and Moneygram.
It was recently acquired by a group of UAE-based businessmen for a valuation of more than £2bn. Its payment services are powered by OFX.
It was started in 1976 by Lloyd Dorfman, but kept agile and moved forward with technology. It actually has one of the most user-friendly websites and online platforms in the industry, as well as an app.
Travelex has been getting a prominent position in media coverage of foreign exchange, being one of the largest and most recognizable brands in the industry. Travelex is covered almost daily in various publications.
Travelex is also known in its community involvement and sponsorship deals. For example, there’s a hall inside the Royal National Theatre in London named “the Dorfman Theatre”. In the past, Travelex used to sponsor the national Australian cricket team, and the national opera house.
Travel money:
Travel money, money exchange, cash withdrawal and prepaid currency cards (“cash passport”) are the heart of Travelex’s businesses. With over 6,500 employee, 1,500 outlets and 1,300 cash machines across the globe (27 countries), Travelex is one of the largest foreign exchange firms in the world. In fact, its 2013 revenues exceeded 1bn Dollars,
The two online options for travel money include:
a. Cash delivery to your doorstep: Free delivery above £500 orders. Next day delivery. Add buy-back options for £3,99. Margin applied on GBP to EUR: 2% (relatively good but not the best in the market. View travel money rate comparison here).
b. Cash Passport: Choose either multi-currency cards (already pre-loaded with cash that you have purchased online) or Globe Cash Passport which is loaded with British Pounds which are exchanged to local currency at the moment of purchase at preferable rates.
Using a multi-currency card you are likely to cost about 2% in markups when loading or top-upping the card. Globe Cash Passport induces a fee of fixed 2.49% per transaction but doesn’t force you to forecast your expenses and the currencies you’ll be using.
For non-UK residents: Travel Money and Cash Passport are available, but the Globe Cash Passport option is not available.
Regulated By:
Financial Conduct Authority (UK), FinCEN (USA), ASIC (Australia).
Awards:
Conclusion:
Travelex is as big and reliable as it gets in this industry. Else than Western Union or Moneygram there’s no one which is quite on the same scale as them. One a scale of 1 to 100, we’d say the chances of being ripped off, or not getting paid because of bankruptcy, when using Travelex, are 1 / 100.
Since our focus is on the international money transfer aspect, we cannot provide Travelex with a perfect score because these services are outsourced to another company. That other company, OFX is a decent choice, but still, we fail to see the advantage of using Travelex instead of going directly with OFX (or any other high rated company like CurrenciesDirect, WorldFirst, TorFX or Moneycorp).
Client Feedback
Research:
There are 49 reviews that are specific for international payments at ReviewCentre. These reviews are generally highly positive with rating of 4.6 / 5 (92% positive reviews).
In TrustPilot there are over 16,000 client reviews, with an average rating of 8.9 / 10 relating to all services offered by the company. While most reviews deal with currency cards and travel money, it still gives us an indication it’s a good company which clients appreciate.
There are also plenty of other reviews to be found online, as expected with a company this large. From Travelex insurance reviews, through forum discussions and Yelp entries relating to particular branches of the company. We have not been able to identify anything out of the ordinary with these reviews – mostly positive, some negative experiences, but nothing which is connected to their international currency transfer services
- Reliability. People felt confident all through the process. Whether they were sending money abroad, loading their card or buying travel money, they felt secure.
- Ease. It easy and immediate to sign up and perform any of the activities. Through branches, a great online platform or a great app.
- Service. Helpful, friendly, and useful.
- Great rates for international transfers.
Conclusion:
Clients are very happy with the transfer services provided by Travelex and powered by UKForex (which also has tremendously positive client feedback online – check review here). In fact, people are generally very satisfied with all 3 types of services offered online: international money transfer, travel money purchase, and travel insurance, and they all get good ratings.
There are some complaints to be found online though. We would estimate 10% or less of the overall client reviews we have located, but still a fairly large amount of those. When we look into these reviews we discover that the vast majority of them relate to the quality of service or rates in their break and mortar currency exchange offices. These, we feel, aren’t particularly good, with claims of rates that represent a whooping 8% margin, and the service is not up to par with the one you get for services like online travel money buying, currency card purchase and money transfer.
Exchange Rate & Fees
Research:
Fees: the fixed fees for small transfer below £2,500 are £7 , which represents a large saving against UK high-street banks which charge £15-£30 per transfer, but far worse than companies like Currencies Direct, Moneycorp or World First which charge no fees in the UK for any size of transfer. Similar logic applies towards transfers from the USA which are slightly cheaper with $5 fees, but still, more expensive than companies that have fee-free policies.
For travel money you’ll have to pay for delivery of under £1,000.
Exchange rates: We have plenty of testimonial about UKForex’s good margins, and we have every reason to believe the same margins apply to Travelex’s whitelabel service. There are no other indications we could find whether the exchange rates are better or worse than those of other companies.
Limits: The minimum to transfer with Travelex is £500. The minimum travel money order is £250.
Conclusion:
Fixed fees makes smaller transfers a little more expensive than they should, while large transfers are likely to get good margins. The limits are pretty standard.
Global Reach & Service
Research:
- Dedicated Dealer: Yes.
- Offices: UK
- Ways to approach: Email, Telephone, Website Form
- Translations: Only available in English
- Accepts clients: UK, Australia and USA clients only.
- Currencies Handled: 45
- Client reviews: 92% of international payment reviews are positive, and 85% of Travelex reviews are positive.
Conclusion:
There are strict limitations on where clients come from, and less currency dealt than companies like World First, as well as no real physical offices to approach for money transfer. There are registered Travelex offices almost anywhere across the globe, but since they aren’t the service provider, we can’t see how they aid customers who come for advice on these topics.
Additional Functionalities
Hedging:
- Spot contracts
- Regular payments
- Forward contracts
- Limit orders
Travelex has the same offering as the company providing these services. Overall standard, yet, complete offering.
App: Travelex offers apps relating to its travel money and cash passport card, but not a money transfer app. To check the top money transfer apps in the market, click here.
Conclusion:
Travelex only accepts retail clients, as it has sold its business payment business to Western Union in 2011. As such, the hedging functionalities it offers are perfect, but its not up to par with companies that have apps, or at the very least, mobile-friendly websites.