I’m planning to move to Canada in a few months and need to transfer money there. I’ve done some research and found that Wise is a good option. Besides Wise, are there any other reliable services I should consider? Additionally, any tips about life in Canada would be greatly appreciated.
Transfer Money Overseas from Australia
nned2say on 03/06/2025 - 13:55
Comments
Yeah just wise and call it a day. If you're using banking service such as UP, you can do it directly through their app as well which integrates into wise.
Well Wise is the one I never had any problems with and I use it on weekly to monthly base there is one called Remitly but I have never tried it due to Wise being problems free and cheaper then any bank.
I had massive problems with Remitly trying to send flowers overseas for a funeral. Took 3 weeks due to a F up on their end. Thankfully I managed to get them the money via Worldremit in 3 days from a new account.
I always transfer large amounts of cash and gold in trunk boxes. I have a contact in Nigeria who I can put you in contact with.
/$
I am that Nigerian contact. Cut out the middleman. Call me.
Pick up the phone, I'm always home Call me any time
Just ring, 3-6, 2-4, 3-6, hey
I lead a life of crime
Wise has served me well for more than a decade. Cheap and reliable, end of story.
Go to Wise store page on OzBargain and then scroll down to Related Stores. You'll see a list of other international transfer providers there.
Thanks, scotty
Godspeed
How about carrying bricks of cash and strapping it to yourself?
BTC - buy in AUD, sell in CAD
or just used USDC to minimise the exchange rate fluctuations
Would cost you more in fees and exchange than using wise.
Not if your don't Xfer BTC wallets, done it a heap of times and compared to Wise, about 25% cheaper
But funny people that never done it or tried to compare think they know better !
Claiming that using BTC is “about 25% cheaper than Wise” is misleading and oversimplified. It ignores key costs like buy and sell spreads (often 1–2% each), network fees, exchange withdrawal charges, and the risk of price volatility — all of which add up quickly. Wise, on the other hand, uses the mid-market rate with a clear, low fee (typically under 1%), making it both transparent and consistently reliable.
Unless someone got lucky with a favourable BTC price swing during the transfer — which introduces unnecessary risk — crypto isn’t meaningfully cheaper, and certainly not by 25%. Suggesting otherwise without accounting for these factors isn’t just inaccurate, it’s a classic case of comparing apples to oranges.
@plasmoske: If you buy something for $1000 and sell for $999 then you can claim a rebate from the CGT loss lol
@spammingb: And once again crypto fails to be useful for literally anything. There doesn't seem to be a single practical use case for it that isn't already done better by a "traditional" method.
@d3ft: Just because you don’t understand something doesn’t mean it’s not useful lmao
There are several use cases where cryptocurrency is now the best solution
There are exchanges with 0.1% trading fees and basically no spread. Transfer fees are essentially zero too. International transfers to some countries be done cheaper with crypto but it is more complicated and riskier. Canada is not a crypto friendly country so it might not be feasible in this case.
As a Wise user (previously with CurrencyFair), I can definitely recommend Wise for transfers in both directions.
Some things you need to be aware of:
You need a bank account in Canada to transfer the money into. It may be very difficult or impossible to get one until you are actually settled in Canada.
You may be able to do transfers when the exchange rate is in your favour (Wise can send you alerts).
Big transfers (over say $10,000) may hit bank transfer limits and be rejected or delayed.Hi kmwa, do you mean hitting the bank transfer limits in Canada? When I transfer money into my Wise account, I doubt if it will hit the limits and be rejected by an Australian bank.
My experience is with Australia and UK currency transfers.
I had problems with the transfer limit from my UK bank account to Wise.
I had set up a largeish transfer when the exchange rate was best, but it didn't happen because the UK bank limited the amount I could send out without written authorisation. So I had to do the transfer in dribbles, and missed the best exchange rate.
One further tip. If you are moving to Canada permanently, keep your Australian bank account open. You never know when you might need it again (e.g. for getting Aussie pension payments).
Good luck with your move.Thank you for the tip.
You can just create a CAD account within your wise account and transfer the money from your AUD wise balance to the CAD wise balance. You don't need to go to a local bank and open an account.
The Wise account gives you a Canadian account number, Swift Code, and Bank.
I also use PaySend, but Wise would be a better choice for Canada.
XRP
Wise is only good for amounts under 1k . For larger transfers compare fees etc xe ofx etc
That's incorrect, at least when transferring money to India. I have transferred amounts up to $20,000 on several occasions. For transferring larger amounts to Sri Lanka, I find Western Union is a usually a better option.
I've transferred over $20k in one hit from the UK to AUD. No problem whatsoever, cost wise or process wise.
I bought my camper van in NZ through wise (was cheaper than revolut due to their limit caps) wise even gives you a bank account number so all wages are also paid into it. Just doesn't work with direct debit
I transfer 5-figure sums every month with Wise. I've compared to others, Wise is the best rate.
HSBC Global Wallet/Transfer?
Their exchange rates are terrible.
Revolut
honestly be better off moving the money to stable coins (USDT) crypto solves every banking problem
lol, who uses ATM's i pay with my crypto debit card
Read the story. Plenty of ppl are stupid.
@Protractor: his not talking about crypto ATM's. We have debit cards there are plenty of options out there most look like your regular banks card you would not tell the difference and we spend our crypto just like you spend your AUD. I purchase everything from small couple dollar transactions all the way up to a new car on it and received cash back on the new car purchase! Google some stories you will be surprised how smart some people are!
@R0b: Read the story I linked. There's likely to be hundreds/thousands more disasters ppl are too embarrassed to admit. Also try hard to accept the truth in the article that crypto is a known crims playground.For some reason non crim users keep denying that fact.There are expert economists who consider nefarious activity to be the spine of cryptos so called success. Ya reckon the honchos at the top of google use crypto?
Ya reckon the honchos at the top of google use crypto?
However good or bad the rest of your points were, that's a ridiculous argument. You have not the slightest idea of the practices and motivations of others in that kind of position and to hint that you know how that kind of person acts is pointless.
@Protractor: Nobody on OzBargain does, that's the point. An "appeal to authority" is a poor argument to start with, an appeal to authority when you haven't a scooby what that authority does is pathetic.
@banana365: LOL.
They either do or don't.
But they do have a handy head start on internet searches and filters.Unless your my English lecturer, I don't think you need to judge my content, but thanks anyway.
@banana365: LOL. I dropped that right into your eager lap. Hit me hard. But spotting irony is not a pseudo educational qualification.
@Protractor: The type of money they're using does not mitigate their stupidity. Plenty of people fall for scams involving magic debt security fiat money. It stands to reason that plenty of people will fall for scams involving magic internet money.
I would just open an UP bank account, and withdraw money in canada as needed. There is no monthly fee, no exchange fee nor atm fee. And yes, you can transfer money (they have inbuilt money transfer to overseas, low cost like Wise as well)
That's what I thought. But I am concerned about the withdrawal limits.
I use wise and UP only for living overseas (I have revolut too but its never been worth it)
Only shame is UP HISA rate and also both apps can be finicky without internet but especially wise is slow at times.
I use OFX to transfer from USA to Oz. No fees
Have you compared fees and exchange rates with Wise?
Wise or Revolut would be the go to options for up to $10K. If you have more then consider negotiating the rate you want to pay ……🤔
Hi Ade99, do you know how to negotiate the rate?
When I moved to Canada the best option was OFX.
When I moved back best option was Xe.com but Canadian banking sucks so I had to use OFX, which cost me about $600 difference.
Haven’t tried wise.Re banking - many banks limit you to $2k transactions per day. So when you open an account and they offer free cheques take them - you’ll need them for rent payments! HSBC lets you transfer at higher amounts.
OFX and XE work by setting up a deal in the app. Super easy. Then you transfer the funds to their account and they deposit in the specified account at the other end. RBC would not let me establish a new payee to a bank account with out visiting a branch (I was already here). Meanwhile I could payid willy nilly. XE could receive Payid (interac in CA) but not for the first payment.
Have fun. Loved living there even with the lack of good coffee.
Thanks hagendaaz. Would it be okay if I DM you to ask about life in Canada?
Sure
Hi hagendaaz, I tried to DM you, but it seems that function is disabled. Could you please DM me instead?
I use XE as it gives best rates
OP - check and compare the rates , also check WISE against FX providers like OFX , they have much better FX rates
Hi Brainwhacker, it seems WISE has better rates than OFX, but they are not the highest.
For amounts over 10k, I've heard that calling them can provide a much better rate. The other benefit ive heard of OFX over others is the fact they have a number for you to speak to someone, extra peace of mind if something was to be delayed etc.
WorldRemit has worked well for me. Used it for the last 5 years with no problems
+1 for worldremit as I found best rates on it. Only flaw is you will have to transfer in batches of $9900 as that is the cap. But you can do $50K AUD in 24 hrs
It's been a few years, but if it's a large amount and you're trying to minimise fees - Currency Fair.
99% of the time Wise is he best. Thats why they even publish a public comparrison tool where they compare themselves to their competitors.
Wise is the most user friendly but if you want the best rates and you're talking a larger amount, then you should just open an account with Interactive Brokers where you can trade on the Google rate directly.
Even small amount I always use IBKR
Interactive Brokers is the place to be. ^_^
Moved from QLD to Toronto 9 months ago.
Opening a Up bank account was a lifesaver. The Debit card works without fees for tap and pay, and no fees when taking cash out at ATMs, and it uses the mid market conversion rate. Really useful for paying for things before you get your CAD bank card sorted (bank accounts here are a pain to set up).
Ups international transfer rate uses wise and has no extra fees, and can be done from the Up app. I use it every month to transfer AUD to CAD.
Hi morebunnings, what is required to set up a bank account in Canada? Are there any hurdles?
A lot of banks wouldn't accept an overseas passport as ID, only Canadian IDs. You also need proof of residence (work visa and housing).
I ended up going with Simplii. Had to go to a CBIC branch and get my Passport, Work Visa and Apartment lease sighted/signed. Then it took a week for the debit card to arrive in the mail.
So not too difficult, just takes a while. A lot of the rules are because of anti money laundering laws.
Thank you for the advice.
Can you get away with only having a wise account in Canuck?
For day to day banking? probably not. You could get away with a wise account just for transferring money from AU to CA though.
I don’t see why not. You get a proper account number, an access card, and easy online banking.
I’m employed as a contractor and paid in Euros. I receive my invoice payments into my wise EUR account (which is registered with my Aus ABN). When i travel for business I spend money using the wise business card. I transfer money either to my wise personal AUD account, or directly to my aussie bank account.
No reason i can see that you couldn’t operate the same way in other countries for day to day banking.I’ve done it in NZ for a year very easily just no direct debit
I have used Remitly, Western Union, World Remit, and Tap Tap Send, when transferring to Philippines.
I change between them depending on the purpose of the transaction, how quickly I want it to get there, and whether I want it to go to a bank account, GCash, or Cash Pickup. I also find that there is a variation between exchange rates at times, so will jump between them to get the best rate.
Go large amounts (10,000+AUD), I actually found Western Union better in most cases, especially when transferring to a bank, and using PayID.
I have looked at Wise, but have found that its exchange rate was not as good as some of the previous ones I mentioned. might make a difference the country you are transferring to. May check it out one day.Thank you, I thought Western Union was the worst.
First comment confirmed your research. WISE. /end
Have used OFX for years and have always been very happy with their service.
Xe.com. Take a look at their market order feature
Wise. I send money to my family in Canada.
As far as tips for living in Canada:
Find a family doctor that is taking on new patients as soon as possible and get registered as one of their patients.
Get used to tipping.
Taxes are not included in the advertised prices.
Good tips.
Been using Western union for 2 years sending money every month . No issues.
You're paying worse exchange rates and higher transfer fees. You can save a fair bit with other services.
used OFX recently to send funds to the UK
Wise had issues with money bouncing back when Citibank flipped to NAB and changed their swift code. Money took 3 months to recover but did. I recommend them just verify in small amounts before any large transfers. I had, but shit changed and had a headache for a good while.
Thanks. That's good to know
WISE. /end