MoneyMatch Malaysia review: is it worth it?

MoneyMatch is an international payment provider which came into existence in 2015, with the first retail customers making cross border transfers in 2017. You can send money through MoneyMatch to a range of destination countries, mainly in Asia, Europe and North America.¹

This guide will cover the fees and exchange rates used by MoneyMatch, and also the process you’ll go through to make a payment. To help you find the best provider for your international payment, we’ll also touch upon Wise as a comparison.

Wise offers cross border payments all over the world, with low fees and the mid-market exchange rate, as well as flexible multi-currency accounts you can use to manage your money wherever you happen to be.

Send money to 70+ countries with the real exchange rate🚀

MoneyMatch fees and exchange rates - a worked example

To get started, let’s look at an example: Sending MYR to a bank account in Singapore so that your recipient gets 5,000 SGD.

(May 22 2020, at 15:16(GMT+2))

As you’ll see from this example, it’s important to look at both the fees and the exchange rates on offer when choosing a provider for cross border payments.

In this case, MoneyMatch quotes a low upfront fee. But once you also factor in the exchange rate used, the transfer is actually more costly compared with Wise. This is because MoneyMatch adds a margin to their rate, while Wise uses the mid-market exchange rate with no markup, and charges a simple transparent fee per transaction.

Adding a margin or markup to the exchange rate used for international payments is very common. However, it can make it hard to work out exactly what you’re paying for the transaction, as some of the cost is shown as a transfer fee, while an extra charge is wrapped up in the exchange rate.

Moneymatch transfer: Fees and Exchange Rates

The costs you’ll pay when sending money with MoneyMatch depend on the currency sent and the destination country. You’ll be able to model the payment online on the MoneyMatch website to see what you’ll be charged. Here’s what you need to look out for.

Moneymatch transfer fees

MoneyMatch charges a flat fee per transaction, so the recipient should get the full amount transferred into their account. However, it’s worth noting that there may be some additional fees for certain currencies, which could mean your recipient gets less than they expect. Here are the upfront costs:⁴⁺⁵

Moneymatch exchange rates

As we saw in the example above, the upfront fees aren’t the only thing to think about. You also need to know the MoneyMatch exchange rate.⁶

MoneyMatch updates its exchange rates every 15mins. They say they offer better exchange rates than banks - but you may still find their exchange rates are not as good as the mid-market exchange rate you’ll find on Google.

Use a simple Google search, or an online currency converter to check the mid-market exchange rate for your currency pairing. If there is a markup added to the MoneyMatch exchange rate, you may be better off if you choose an alternative provider which uses the mid-market exchange rate with no margin added.

💡A cheap and transparent alternative: Wise

Take a look at the low cost international transfers available from Wise, to see if you can save.

Wise uses low, transparent fees and the real exchange rate without any mark-up. You can send money overseas from Malaysia to 70+ countries with no hidden fees online and via the Wise app, making this a convenient way to get money quickly to your friends and family abroad.

With Wise you can also receive money to your own multi-currency account from the UK, US, Australia, New Zealand and any Eurozone country, as if you had a local account there. Hold dozens of different balances all in the same place, and switch between them using the mid-market exchange rate whenever you need to. You’ll only ever pay a low, transparent fee.

How Wise works

Wise works differently than banks’ traditional telegraphic transfer system. Wise has bank accounts all over the world and uses them to send money abroad more efficiently.

For example, if you want to send MYR to the United Kingdom, you log in Wise and pay in MYR to Wise Malaysia account. Then Wise UK account sends GBP to the recipient.

To send money with Wise,

1. Register for free
2. Choose an amount to send
3. Add recipient’s bank details
4. Verify your identity
5. Pay for your transfer by bank transfer or debit/credit card

And that is it! You can track your transfer in your account and your recipient will also be notified when a transfer reaches them.

Join over 7 million customers and experience a cheaper, faster way to send money abroad. From Malaysia, you can send money abroad up to 4x times cheaper than banks.

How to send money with MoneyMatch

Sending money with MoneyMatch is easy enough. Here are the steps you need to follow, using the MoneyMatch app or website:⁷

1. Click Create a Transfer and confirm the amount you want to send
2. Enter recipient details, following the on screen prompts
3. Add your own sender account details
4. Review and confirm the payment, adding information such as source of funds, and a note for the recipient
5. Upload supporting documents as required
6. Click Pay Total MYR… to process the payment

Before you decide how to process your international payment, it makes sense to check out the costs and exchange rates of a few providers to get the best available deal. Compare the costs of your payment through MoneyMatch with the low cost transfers available through Wise, to see if you can save.