What's Up with Transferwise Anyway?

What Is It?
Transferwise is an online money transaction service that allows people to move money from one place to another, particularly across international borders, quickly and very fast. I'm sorry if this sounds like a pitch but I'm just very keen on this service these guys offer, even if I am not affiliated with them in any way.

Why Bother?
Because conventional money transferring systems either cost a lot (e.g. the case of wire transfers) or are so much of a pain to use (e.g. money gram) that you might as well hop on a plane and deliver the money yourself! However, since most of us don't have easy access to a plane, we need to rely on more creative ways to send money to and fro.

How Is All That Relevant to the Blockchain-like Image at the Beginning of This Article?
It's not, but I couldn't find any other image on this topic that is not branded as blockchain-related! Although cryptocurrencies are another way to accomplish the same thing, most people are still on the fence about their sustainability and practicality, while the vast majority of these currencies are used as speculative investments of sorts, rather than actual money tokens.

What's the Catch?
Well, there is a cost involved, since Transferwise is a private company and it needs to make money somehow. However, its fees are very reasonable and given the convenience this company offers, they are actually worthwhile. Also, these fees are smaller than those of the equivalent transaction through a conventional bank.

So, How Do They Do It?
Unlike cryptocurrency-related methods that require you to study the tech behind it and hope that you understand enough of it to feel confident using them, transferwise's method is simple: they have a bunch of bank accounts across the world, so any transactions they undertake with you are always local and therefore cheap. Say for example that you want to transfer some money from the US to Germany. You go to the Transferwise's site, register for an account (it's free), give them the financial details of the transaction, go to your bank, transfer the money to the (US) account they give you, and within a day or so, the German account you wanted to transfer the money to will receive it from Transferwise's German branch.

That's Great. Now What?
Well, if that makes sense to you and your business associates, you can start using it. If you don't, that's fine. I just thought I'd let you all know, since with all the stuff we hear about Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, it's nice to know that there are more down-to-earth alternatives out there for our everyday money transfer matters.

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