Thin Margin Singapore: Your full guide

Thin Margin is one of Singapore’s more innovative money changers. Thin Margin lets you order global currencies online and provides home-delivery in Singapore of the cash. So unlike going down to a money changer or exchanging Singapore dollars at the airport, you can exchange into currencies from your phone or computer home. Read on to learn more about Thin Margin and how it works, including it’s fees and how long those deliveries actually take.

And if you want to send money directly to a local bank account in over 60 currencies, look no further than Wise. You can send money online with just a few clicks and you can even buy and hold over 40 currencies within minutes with the Wise multi-currency account.

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How to exchange currency with Thin Margin

Thin Margin is completely online, so you can access their services directly from their website at any time. To get started, you will first have to sign up for a free account. You can use your MyInfo information to populate the application or enter your own details manually. To be clear, Thin Margin doesn’t provide sending or remittance services, but instead only provides currency exchange services.

Once you are signed up, you can start exchanging money for home delivery from the Thin Margin website. Thin Margin offers exchanges into 24 different currencies including¹:

Thin Margin does not purchase currency at the moment.

On the website, you can calculate the exchange rate and fee for the amount and currency that you want to exchange. There is a minimum exchange of S$ 400 and no maximum on any order. There also may be a delivery charge, but that will be covered in the next section. You can pay for the exchange by PayNow, Bank Transfer, or NETSPay. For your first transaction, you may need to add Thin Margin as a payee with your ibanking token/device.²

Thin Margin delivers to almost all of mainland Singapore, but make sure to check if delivery is available when you input your postal code. Thin Margin delivers within a 3-hour window between 9am-5 pm 6 days a week. When it is delivered, be sure to have an ID and the order PIN code to present to the delivery staff. But one caveat with Thin Margin is that the earliest you will receive your currency is in 2 days.³

Thin Margin also offers bundles of Wifi and SIM card packages, travel cash, and insurance when you order a currency exchange. You can also get a small instant cashback on your order when you sign up for one of the bundles on top of a currency exchange.

Thin Margin charges and fees

Thin Margin has two main fees, one that is hidden within the exchange rate and the other is a delivery fee.

The exchange rate that you will get from Thin Margin is going to depend on how much you are exchanging. The rate is set by the company itself and is tiered. You can use the calculator on the Thin Margin website to see how the exchange rate changes depending on the amount. Instead of charging you a service fee, Thin Margin takes a cut of the order through the exchange rate.

Thin Margin offers free delivery for transactions above S$2,000 or if you purchase a bundle alongside your order. If your order is below S$2,000, you will be hit with a S$ 3.⁴

Need to send money globally and don’t have time to wait? Take a look at Wise, with access to over 60+ currencies globally. For popular routes, Wise can send money directly to a local bank account in a matter of minutes. It is the easy, fast and cheap way to handle global currencies, all from your phone.

The true cost of money changing with Thin Margin

So how much will it cost to use Thin Margin? Let’s take a look. As mentioned, Thin Margin sets their own exchange rates for currency exchanges. And in that exchange rate is a hidden fee that isn’t easily apparent.

When Thin Margin sets their exchange rates, they make them weaker than the global mid-market exchange rate. The mid-market exchange rate is the rate you can find on Google and is the rate that the banks use themselves. By setting their rates weaker than the mid-market exchange rate, Thin Margin is able to make a profit in the difference between the two. And in that way, a hidden fee is passed on to you.

Providers like Wise use the mid-market exchange rate and have low fees for global exchanges. You can either hold the money in an online Wise multi-currency account or can transfer money directly to a bank account. Here is how Thin Margin fares against Wise when you’re looking to get 1000 GBP in Singapore.

Checked as of May 27, 2020

Just by using Wise, you save more than S$ 10 and the money can arrive in your Wise account in minutes or the UK bank account within an hour. It is simple to see that even with Wise’s transfer fee, it is still cheaper than Thin Margin.

Compare exchange rates with Wise

A cheap, fast and transparent alternative: Wise

It is no wonder that over 7 million people have used Wise for their global money transfer. Right through the Wise website or award-winning app, you can access over 60 currencies. All at the mid-market exchange rate and with one low transfer fee you will see clearly upfront. There are no mark-ups or hidden fees.

And instead of holding cash, Wise lets you hold 40+ global currencies in one online multi-currency account. From that account, you can spend, send, and exchange all at the mid-market exchange rate and with one low free. So if you want a global currency like GBP, you can exchange Singapore dollars into it at rates and fees lower than Thin Margin. And if you want to send money globally, you can do so in over 60 currencies to local bank accounts around the world.

Wise uses smart technology to make transfers easier and faster. And in that way, Wise is able to pass on the savings to you. So take a break from waiting for deliveries and holding cash, instead try Wise and hold more currencies at cheaper rates and fees.

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All sources checked as of 27 May, 2020