TorFX Singapore: Your full guide

If you make online international payments to cover travel costs or send money to friends and family abroad, you might have come across TorFX. Originally from the UK, TorFX provides cross border payments in a broad range of currencies.

This guide covers the process for getting a TorFX account, as well as some of the costs you need to know about before you start to use the service.

Send money abroad with TorFX

TorFX allows customers to send money overseas in over 60 currencies. Payments can be arranged on the phone or online, and are delivered straight into your recipient’s bank account for convenience.

Before you can get started you’ll need to register for an account, and will be assigned an account manager to help you. Then it’s as simple as visiting the TorFX website, or using their app and selecting make a transfer.¹

Follow the steps on screen to get a quote for your transfer, and then you can arrange the payment to TorFX by bank transfer if you want to go ahead.

How to open a TorFX account?

You can register for a TorFX account online or by talking to one of the team on the phone. You’ll have your own account manager who will walk you through any transfers you wish to make, and provide details of the transfer quote prepared for you.

TorFX charges and fees

TorFX do not publish their exchange rates or fees online. Instead you’ll need to get in touch with your account manager to get a quote for the specific payment you wish to make.

TorFX publish a user guide for personal customers states:

“At TorFX we believe connecting currency should be free, so we won’t charge you a thing outside of the actual exchange rate we quote.”

That means you can expect to find that there are no explicit upfront fees for making a foreign currency payment. However, that doesn’t mean you won’t pay anything for the service. TorFX are a business after all, and need to make a profit.

The key to seeing where TorFX make their money may be in looking at the exchange rate they offer for payments. While the TorFX website hosts currency information including exchange rate charts, these rates are indicative only, and may not be the same as the rate you’re given for your transfer.

Once you have a quote for the transfer you wish to make with TorFX, it pays to check the exchange rate for your currency pairing against the real mid-market rate which you can get from a quick Google search. You might find that a margin or markup has been added, which TorFX can then keep as profit. If this is the case, you may be better off using an international payment provider like Wise which offers the mid-market exchange rate and charges a low transparent fee for the service instead.

TorFX transfer limit

You can transfer from the currency equivalent of £100 through the TorFX online platform, or £500 if you intend to make a recurrent payment. The recurrent payment service will let you send up to £10,000 on a regular basis.

Higher value transfers can be arranged, but you’ll need to talk them over with your account manager, and in some cases might have to provide extra paperwork such as proof of where the funds came from.

How much time does it take to send money with TorFX?

TorFX state that most transfers will arrive the same day, although some payments in less common currencies may take up to 2 working days.

How can I check the status of money transfer with TorFX?

When you sign up to TorFX you’ll be assigned an account manager. You’ll be able to get in touch with them easily to ask any questions about your payments, either by phone or online.

TorFX customer support in case transactions are stuck

TorFX offer a FAQ section online, which might give you all the information you need. However, if you still need help, you can use their online form to send and email or request a call back, or phone the team on +44 1736 335250.

The true cost of international transfers with TorFX

As we mentioned earlier, you won’t be able to see the cost of making your international payment with TorFX unless you register and get a quote for the specific transfer you want to make.

At this stage, it’s worth checking the exchange rate offered against the Google rate, and also asking about any extra fees which may be added, such as intermediary or recipient bank costs. These extra fees, which may be added when payments are processed using the SWIFT system, can come as a surprise to customers - and mean your recipient gets less than you expect in the end.

Make sure you understand the real cost of your payment - and take a moment to compare it to a convenient, modern and low cost alternative like Wise to see if you can save.

A cheap, fast and transparent alternative:Wise

For many customers, Wise is a better value alternative which lets you send money internationally for a low, transparent fee. All currency conversion uses the mid-market exchange rate, and you just pay a one off charge for the transaction.

This can work out to be 12x cheaper than using PayPal, and represent a large saving versus your regular bank, too.

Because Wise believe in transparency there’s no need to wait for an online quote or a call back from your account manager to see what your transfer will cost you. Just head over to the Wise website and model your payment there - the charges and exchange rate used will be set out, so you can easily compare them with TorFX.

If you make large or regular cross border payments, check out the borderless account from Wise, to let you manage your money no matter what currency it’s held in. You can keep dozens of currencies in the same account and switch between them whenever you need to for a small fee. Accounts are opened online, with no monthly fee or minimum balance to worry about, so you can cut your costs and get back in control of your money.

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