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Currency Solutions Review: Is it safe? How does it work? What are the rates?

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How can you use Currency Solutions to send money abroad? Is their service reliable? Can you trust Currency Solutions with your money? How good are their fees and exchange rates?

Our independent review of Currency Solutions

Currency Solutions, which prides itself on its high quality customer service, has been trusted by over 150,000 clients to transfer £6 billion since its establishment in 2003. You can make single or regular transfers in 35 different currencies, and 95% of transfers are received within 24 hours. Currency Solutions charges no transfer fees and offers among the most competitive exchange rates in the market, which makes them an attractive provider of foreign currency solutions.

Transactions are set up over the phone with a Currency Solutions foreign exchange specialist, who will guide you step by step through the process to make sure all your questions are answered. What’s more, the company will soon be launching an online trading platform to make transactions even more convenient.

What Monito Likes About Currency Solutions

  • Currency Solutions exchange rates are very competitive
  • High quality customer service
  • Excellent reviews on Trustpilot

What Monito Dislikes About Currency Solutions

  • Might not be the best option for low amounts
  • No online trading platform (yet)
  • Only available in English

How Currency Solutions works

  • Step 01

    Open an account

    Visit Currency Solutions's website and open a free account

  • Step 02

    Enter the details about your recipient

    Tell Currency Solutions where you need to send money and to whom.

  • Step 03

    Set-up your transfer with Currency Solutions

    Enter how much money you want to send and how you want to pay for your transfer.

  • Step 04

    Pay for your transfer

    Fund your transfer by making a local bank transfer or pay by debit or credit card

  • Final step

    Let Currency Solutions do the rest

    Currency Solutions will convert your money in the recipient's currency and send it to him through the selected pay-out option.

    Get started with your transfer

Currency Solutions fees & exchange rate

Transfer fees: Unlike banks and most foreign exchange companies, Currency Solutions charges no transfer fees. This means the entire amount is converted at the agreed-upon exchange rate.

Exchange rates: Depending on the amount of your transfer, Currency Solutions will offer you a competitive exchange rate. The more you transfer, the lower the exchange rate margin they will be able to provide, typically less than 1%. Currency Solutions exchange rates are agreed upon in advance, so that you know exactly how much money will arrive.

Other fees: Since Currency Solution’s accounts are held in the UK, the sending bank might charge fees to transfer the money internationally from a non-UK account to Currency Solution’s accounts. Additionally, the receiving bank outside the UK might charge fees as well for receiving the international transfer. Since Currency Solutions has no control over this, it’s best to ask the sending and receiving banks beforehand to avoid bad surprises.

Credibility security

Currency Solutions Ltd is a licensed Authorised Payment Institution, and are therefore regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC) 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 completely separate from Currency Solution’s own business accounts, in so-called segregated accounts. Should the company have any financial difficulties, your money will therefore be safe.

Currency Solutions employs over 60 people in its London office. Employees give the company a close to 5 star rating on the employer review site Glassdoor, and describe Currency Solutions as a “great company to work for”, a “hardworking pro-active business", and a “very reputable company growing at very fast pace” whose best feature is “the integrity of the staff and management”. The company is headquartered in London, right next to the famous London bridge and the City financial district.

Currency Solutions has served hundreds of thousands of clients and transacted billions of pounds along the years, with thousands of 5 star reviews and very few complaints. They process around half a million payments a year on average, and retain close to 99% of their customers.

Currency Solutions Ltd has been profitable since it was created, and is financially strong with over 3.3 million GBP of net assets. Since Currency Solutions is authorised to sell options, they are required to hold significantly high levels of cash within the company.

Our Currency Solutions review shows that they are a trustworthy provider of foreign currency solutions.

Authorised by the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) 
Firm Reference : 630685

Service & Coverage

Additional services offered by Currency Solutions

Regular transfers

In addition to providing an immediate transfer service (so-called “spot contract”), Currency Solutions can also help you make regular transfers. This can be useful if, for example, you need to send your salary abroad or pay off an overseas mortgage.

Forward contracts

If you’d prefer not to be exposed to fluctuations in exchange rates, Currency Solutions will help you set up a forward contract. This will allow you to lock in the current exchange rate for up to 2 years, which can also be useful if you believe the current exchange rate is particularly favorable.

Limit and stop loss orders

limit order or stop loss order will allow you to make a transfer only if the exchange rate reaches a predetermined level below (stop loss) or above (limit) the current exchange rate.

Options and structured products

Currency Solutions is also authorised by the FCA to sell FX derivatives such as options and structured products. These allow you to protect yourself from negative fluctuations in the exchange rate, while benefitting if rates move in your favor. Examples of options which Currency Solutions can offer include Forward Extra, Ratio and Knock Out options.

Business customers

Are you looking for foreign currency solutions for your business? Currency Solutions also counts many small and medium business customers, and can help you to pay salaries abroad, transfer money to a foreign subsidiary, or pay international suppliers and freelancers.

Useful tools

Finally, Currency Solutions offers a few useful tools on its website, such as the Currency Solutions converter to convert currency based on the interbank mid-market rate, the Currency Solutions IBAN Checker to verify that you have a valid account number, the Currency Solutions SWIFT Checker to ensure that you are sending your money to the right bank, and the Currency Solutions Sanctions Checker to see if there are sanctions on the countries you’re sending from and to.

Customer Satisfaction

Currency Solutions has excellent customer reviews on Trustpilot, with 93% of the over 1500 customers who have given their feedback rating the company 5 stars. They are even in the Top 5 companies in each of Trustpilot’s Currency Exchange, Electronic Payment, and Money Transfer categories. Here’s a summary of what Currency Solutions customers have to say:

Positive

  • Excellent customer service: the dealers are helpful, friendly and professional
  • Simple and efficient process
  • Excellent exchange rates with no transfer fees
  • The money arrives quickly

Negative

  • Currency Solution’s verification process (which they must carry out by law)
  • Very few customers thought they could get a better price elsewhere

The story behind Currency Solutions

Currency Solutions Ltd was founded in 2003 by three friends - Tien Tran, Harry Enver and Robert-Lee Griffith - who wanted to create a foreign exchange company which would provide the best customer service and exchange rates in the industry. Their goal was to provide consumers and small and medium businesses with a better way to exchange currencies, as the banks offered very poor exchange rates. Since then, the company has helped over 150,000 clients trade £6 billion, now employs over 60 people, and is growing at close to 40% on a yearly basis.

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