Steadfast Money Transfer: Fees, rates and transfer time

If you’re looking to remit money home, or send an international payment for any reason, you’ll need a reliable, safe and cost effective payment service to help you.

This guide will cover all you need to know about how to use Steadfast, including:

• Steadfast money transfer rate and fees
• How to register and use Steadfast
• Limits you need to know about when using Steadfast

We’ll also take a look at an alternative provider as a comparison - Wise.

Wise offers fast and secure low cost payments all over the world. You can also get yourself a multi-currency account for a simple way to manage your money between currencies. Let’s get started.

Steadfast money transfer rate and fees

When you choose to use Steadfast, you’ll first need to visit their office in person to provide some personal details and documents. You can then choose to place your international transfer online, or have their office staff help you.

You’ll be able to model the payment you want to make with Steadfast to see the exchange rate offered and the fee for your destination and chosen delivery method. The fees are added to the amount you wish to send, as shown in the following table.

To help you get a picture of the costs to send money abroad with Steadfast, we’ve taken a look at 3 model payments of SGD1,000 to different popular destination countries.¹ There’s also a comparison of the same payment made with Wise.

It’s worth noting that Wise deduct their fee from the total you pay. In these particular examples below, your recipient will get more if you place your transfer using Transferwise - and you’ll also pay less overall.

*All fees, rates and details correct at time of research - 12th December 2019, 07:40GMT

Steadfast money transfer exchange rate

When you’re choosing a money transfer service you’ll need to look at both the fee being charged, and the exchange rate used when converting your funds. If you are given a bad exchange rate your recipient could end up with less than you expect.

The best benchmark to use when evaluating an exchange rate is the mid-market rate. That’s the rate used by large banks trading on the global markets, and the one you’ll usually find on Google.

The topic about the exchange rate that Steadfast uses, is covered in the website FAQ section - here’s what it says:²

“Why are your rates different from online rate converters i.e. Google, Bloomberg, etc?

Exchange rates shown online are the rates that banks use to trade with other banks for transactions of at least 1 million US dollars. These rates are not always available to us as we are not a bank”

It’s good to know that some other money transfer services do use the mid-market rate when sending money overseas - including Wise. Here are the rates used in the example transactions above, for reference.

*All fees, rates and details correct at time of research - 12th December 2019, 07:40GMT

Wise: an alternative that uses the mid-market rate

Before you decide which cross border payment service to use, it’s worth checking out the exchange rate and fees available from Wise.

With Wise, all payments are arranged online, with no need to visit a physical office. There’s a transparent fee per transaction, and currency conversion is done using the mid-market exchange rate. Like Steadfast, Wise Singapore is registered with the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), so you’ll know your money is safe.

If you make frequent international payments you could be even better off with the Wise multi-currency account. Open your account online, hold dozens of different currencies, and switch between them using the mid-market rate when you need to. You’ll even get a linked Mastercard debit card to make payments at home and abroad simple.

How does Steadfast work?

Before you can make a payment, you’ll need to visit Steadfast’s office, and take along the following documents:³

• Original NRIC, work pass or passport
• If your document doesn’t show your residential address, you must also bring proof of address - such as a utilities bill, government letter or bank statement
• Your latest pay slip or income tax assessment - or one from the last 3 months if you expect to send over SGD10,000 a month

You will then be able to complete your registration and make your first payment. You can either have the office staff help you model and complete your payment, or you can do it yourself online.

Are there any limits to the amount you can transfer?

You can transfer any amount as long as you can show proof of the source of the funds, and where the transfer is going.

However, if you do not have this documentation to hand, you’ll only be able to transfer up to the following limits, based on the paperwork you do have.⁵

1. If you have a Singapore Pink/Blue NRIC, S Pass or Employment Pass - SGD5,000
2. If you have a Work Permit - SGD2,000
3. If you have a Social Visit Pass - SGD1,000

Steadfast is a long established money transfer company here in Singapore. Whilst they offer a reliable service, you might find there are better options out there, depending on the type of payment you need to make.

If you want to compare prices, to make sure you’re getting the best available deal for your payment, check out Wise. You might be able to save.

1. Steadfast money transfer fees here.
2. Information about the exchange rate Steadfast uses.
3. Necessary documents to use Steadfast Money Transfer here.
4. Information about sending limits with Steadfast.