Azimo Review: Is it safe? How does it work? What are the rates?
How can you use Azimo to send money abroad? Is their service reliable? Can you trust Azimo with your money? How good are their fees and exchange rates?
Our independent review of Azimo
Azimo's review
Azimo is a Great money transfer service (8.1/10) recommended by Monito. Azimo is reputable and trusted by over 1 million customers (7.5/10), offers competitive rates (9.1/10), has a very high number, and percentage of positive customer reviews on TrustPilot (9.2/10), and is easy to use (8.3/10).
Azimo's mobile apps review
Azimo's mobile apps have excellent ratings on Apple's App Store (4.5/5 stars on 17,300 ratings) and Google's Play Store (4.5/5 on 18,884 ratings). According to Azimo's customers, the app is intuitive, fast, and reliable, and makes it easy to send money from your smartphone in a few taps.
Azimo's services and coverage
Azimo offers a digital alternative to traditional cash-based money transfer operators to send money abroad. Azimo’s sleek website, Android and iOS mobile apps allow you to send money conveniently from anywhere and at any time. You can pay for your transfer by making a local bank transfer, with your debit or credit card, or with an online direct payment method such as SOFORT Überweisung.
What makes Azimo stand out are the number of countries you can send to and the breadth of ways your money can be delivered. With Azimo, you can send money to over 190 countries around the world in 80 different currencies. The money can be received in a variety of ways, such as the traditional cash pickup in over 270,000 locations or credit to a bank account of over 20,000 banks, to sending to a mobile wallet or having cash delivered at your recipient’s home.
Azimo is a great choice for migrants sending money back to their home country. Azimo’s service is translated in 10 different languages, so there’s a good chance that you can use them in your mother tongue. Their fees and exchange rates make them considerably cheaper than banks or money transfer operators in most cases. They have served hundreds of thousands of customers, who have left them excellent reviews on Trustpilot.
What we like about Azimo
Send money to 190+ countries
Several pay-out methods
Available in 10 different languages
Excellent reviews on Trustpilot
What we dislike about Azimo
Not always the cheapest provider
Currently only available in Europe
Azimo Review - The Highlights
Criteria | Monito's Score | Review Highlight |
|---|---|---|
9.1/10 | Very competitive fees and exchange rates. | |
8.3/10 | Setting up your transfer is quick and easy. | |
8.8/10 | Trusted by 1 million customers. | |
8.0/10 | 80 supported currencies. | |
8.6/10 | 4.6/5 rating on TrustPilot with 38K reviews. | |
7.0/10 | Via email or call-center. | |
4.8/10 | Azimo’s exchange rate margin is not properly disclosed. |
Compare Azimo's fees and exchange rates
Fees & Exchange Rates
Fees & Exchange Rates 9.1/10
Excellent
Azimo is rarely the cheapest option
This indicator is based on the percentage of searches on Monito for which Azimo is the cheapest provider
Azimo has very competitive fees and exchange rates
This indicator is based on the percentage of comparisons on Monito in which Azimo offers a competitive pricing (taking into account the pay-in and pay-out options as well as the amount).
Azimo offers special promotions for Monito users
Monito can access real-time pricing information from Azimo
The points above are added to calculate the "Fees & Exchange Rates" score of Azimo, who scores 9.1 points on a maximum of 10 points.
Transfer fees: Azimo charges flat or variable fees depending on which countries and currencies you’re sending between, as well as the pay-in and pay-out methods you choose.
Exchange rates: The exchange rate offered by Azimo will depend on the pay-out method you choose. The exchange rate is locked in advance, so that you know exactly how much money will arrive.
Other fees: Since Azimo uses local accounts to collect and disburse funds, there should be no fees charged by the sending or receiving banks, and no intermediary bank fees. However, there is a 2.99% fee for paying by credit card.
Ease of Use
Ease of Use 8.3/10
Great
An average number of Monito users going to Azimo end up making a transfer with them
Azimo's homepage is clear and very easy to understand
It's very easy to open an account with Azimo
Setting up your transfer is quick and easy
It's easy to sign up and make a transfer both on mobile and desktop
The points above are added to calculate the "Ease of Use" score of Azimo, who scores 8.3 points on a maximum of 10 points.
Credibility & Security
Credibility & Security 8.8/10
Great
Azimo is fully licensed and authorized
Azimo has many positive customer reviews
A very large number of customers already trust Azimo
Azimo employs a very large number of employees
Azimo has already transferred between 1-5 billion USD for their customers
Azimo has been mentioned in countless recognized media outlets
Azimo is part of Monito's network of trusted partners
Azimo is a long-established company
The points above are added to calculate the "Credibility & Security" score of Azimo, who scores 8.8 points on a maximum of 10 points.
Azimo is a licensed Authorised Electronic Money Institution, which means they are regulated by the FCA (Financial Conduct Authority) and HMRC (Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs) in the United Kingdom. They offer institutional grade security for their service, including 256-bit SSL encryption with a 2048-bit signature.
As per FCA regulations, clients’ funds are held in segregated accounts, and are therefore kept completely separate from Azimo’s own business accounts. This means that your money is safe should the company have any financial difficulties.
Furthermore, Azimo offers a 100% Money Back Guarantee, and will reimburse you the full amount of your payment should your payment be cancelled or refused for any reason.
Azimo employs 90 people across its UK and Poland offices. Employees give the company a 4.5 star rating on the employer review site Glassdoor, and describe Azimo as “FinTech with a heart”, a “great fintech company” where you “truly have the opportunity to make a difference”.
Azimo has raised over $45M dollars from various investors around the world. This has helped the company establish what it claims is one of the world’s largest digital money transfer networks, allowing Azimo to send money to up to five billion people worldwide.
Authorised by the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)
Firm Reference : 900220
Service & Coverage
Service & Coverage 8/10
Great
Azimo allows you to send money from an average number of countries
Azimo allows you to send money to a lot of different countries
Azimo is available in many different languages
It is possible to pay for your transfer by local bank transfer
It is possible to pay for your transfer by credit/debit card
Azimo doesn't offer additional pay-in options
It is possible to send the money to your recipient's bank account
The money can be delivered to a cash pick-up location
The money can be sent to a mobile phone (airtime top-up or mobile wallet)
Azimo doesn't offer a bill payment service
Azimo doesn't offer additional banking features
Azimo doesn’t offer a multi-currency debit card
Azimo offers guaranteed exchange rates
It is not possible to set up repeating transfers / standing orders
There is no minimum amount (or very low)
There is no maximum amount (or very high)
The points above are added to calculate the "Service & Coverage" score of Azimo, who scores 8 points on a maximum of 10 points.
Customer satisfaction
Customer satisfaction 8.6/10
Great
Azimo has a very high percentage of excellent customer reviews
Azimo has a very low percentage of negative customer reviews
Azimo has a very high number of positive customer reviews
The points above are added to calculate the "Customer satisfaction" score of Azimo, who scores 8.6 points on a maximum of 10 points.
Azimo has excellent customer reviews on Trustpilot, with a 91% satisfaction rate among the 21,200+ customers who have given their feedback. Here’s a summary of what Azimo customers have to say:
Positive
- Customers were very satisfied with how fast their money was delivered
- Using Azimo is an easy, uncomplicated and pleasant experience
- Exchange rates are good and fees are low
- Azimo is reliable and trustworthy
Negative
- A few customers experienced delays in their transfers
- Azimo’s customer service was sometimes a bit slow
- On very rare occasions, customers had issues with Azimo’s pay-out partner in the receiving country (e.g. wrong address or poor service)
Customer support
Customer support 7/10
Good
The FAQ and help center of Azimo are easy to understand
Azimo has a live chat available to all
Azimo offers email support (even to noncustomers)
Azimo doesn't offer phone support
It's very easy to get in contact with Azimo
The FAQ and help center are translated in all languages
Monito cannot contact Azimo on behalf of our users
The points above are added to calculate the "Customer support" score of Azimo, who scores 7 points on a maximum of 10 points.
Transparency
Transparency 4.8/10
Bad
The exchange rate margin makes up a significant share of the total cost of your transfer
It's more complicated than it should be to understand the fees of Azimo
Azimo’s exchange rate margin is not properly disclosed
A real-time quote can be obtained without registering
Azimo applies the same fees and exchange rates to all customers
The pricing information of Azimo is made available to Monito
The points above are added to calculate the "Transparency" score of Azimo, who scores 4.8 points on a maximum of 10 points.
The story behind Azimo
Azimo was founded in 2012 by Michael Kent and two Polish migrants in the UK, Marta Krupinska and Marek Wawro. Michael Kent, Azimo’s CEO and an industry veteran, previously co-founded one of Europe’s largest offline money transfer companies, Small World Financial Services.
The founders saw an opportunity to provide migrants with a much cheaper way to send money home through a digital-only service, which is why they launched Azimo.
With headquarters in London and an office in Krakow, the company now employs 90 people and has raised over $45M dollars.
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Why you can trust Monito's reviews
Monito's mission is to help you (and thousands of others each day) find the best providers for your money transfers.
We do that by providing real-time comparison of exchange rates and fees (you can use the form below to make a comparison) and by writting in-depth reviews about money transfer providers.
We have partnerships with many money transfer providers (Azimo included), which help us get access to their exchange rate and fees information (which we always check for accuracy). Those partnerships help us support our activity and offer our service for free.
We put a lot of efforts to review money transfer providers like Azimo in details and based on objective and verifiable criteria. A good example of that is the in-depth User Experience Benchmark Study we conducted in August 2018.
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Questions you may have
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