there are huge number of people who like to send money abroad but are forced to leave the Neo app and use third-party services like Wise remitle Western Union paying extra fees in the process.
I’d love to see international money transfers built directly into Neo, with transparent exchange rates, fast delivery like same day or same hour, and full tracking in-app.
This would make Neo a true all-in-one financial platform for Canadians. Would love to hear if others want this too! 
That’s actually a great idea! It’s not something I do often but I love this idea for when I do need it.
Not something I need but could see how this would be important to a lot of people! +1
This is something I need (not often, maybe once a year). As a fintech geek, would love to see us partner with Wise, they have a better business model for international transfers and their tech is solid now that they’ve been doing it for a while.
Any updates on that?!
I use remitly it is much better than wise and takes less fees compared to wise so it would be better if Neo partnered with remitly instead of wise for transfer. Its much better than wise
Product asked me about it today, I think it’s a good sign!
I suspect it will come after cheque deposits, it’s a similar size of project for a similar dev team.
This is good to know. We’ll have to do a proper vendor review before pulling the trigger.
Have you tried Paysend?
I have not, personally, but I can take a look!
These are already crowded markets with some strong players offering very competitive pricing. I send money to India almost every month, and I currently use services like Pesa (formerly Pesapeer), LemFi, Instarem, and XE depending on the situation.
Pesa — Best exchange rates in my experience, reliable, supports Interac e-Transfer funding, and transfers usually complete in under 5 minutes. Too competitive they removed their referral program.
LemFi — Good rates (with a tiny fee), reliable, supports e-Transfer funding, and transfers are usually very fast. If anyone is interested, you can use my referral code TARUCBBP to get $20 after completing a $100 transfer.
Instarem — Reliable with decent rates, sometimes offers promotional FX rates that make it very competitive. Uses e-Transfer, and transfers usually complete within 30 minutes. The approval process is a bit tougher, but the referral program is attractive. Link for referral.
XE — Established and reliable player, often offering better rates than Remitly, with multiple payment options and fast transfers. If anyone is interested, you can use my referral code XEREF-G7FPU23S to get $50 after transferring $5,000.
I’d still love to see Neo enter this space, but they’d need to stay competitive on FX spreads, fees, and transfer speed because users already have good alternatives. That said, there’s clearly a huge and growing group of Canadians using international transfer services regularly, so it could be a very valuable feature if done right.
Hope this helps.
Why not use Mastercard Send or Visa Direct?
First of all, welcome!
I have not heard of either of these, how do they work?
Hey Grant!
In a nutshell, Neo would connect directly to the networks and use their push-to-card money movement capabilities to send funds directly to eligible cards and accounts, enabling near real-time payouts, transfers, and disbursements without relying on a third-party remittance provider.
As a consumer I love it because of the speed.
BUT, it’s an infrastructure play. Neo would own the customer relationship, you’d need to handle everything, AML, KYC, set fees, FX spread, and build the connections. But being a Neo fan, I can see that’s where you are headed ;).
The partners that Tarun mentioned are existing products that you’d connect to, which are also good if you can make the in app experience seamless. And I personally don’t want my info shared with every single partner.
I hope this helps
I’m curious about this one. What Canadian banks offer this service currently? I don’t think I’ve encountered it.
Hey Grant,
I know TD does under their TD Global Transfer options. They use Visa Direct. (They call it send to card). I can transfer money to foreign cards/banks in seconds. For Mastercard, ask your AM to give you a demo on money movement solutions. What can be done is really cool.
Every time I talk to our Mastercard rep I get a 90 minute meeting dropped into my calendar haha but that is still a great idea. Off hand, do you know what the fees are for this kind of international transfer?
As a consumer, for send to card with TD there are no fees and I get a better exchange than send to account.
I don’t know what the behind the scenes economics look like.
Can I send you a DM?
For FX the fee is generally baked into the rate. I’ve yet to encounter a completely free FX transaction, excepting credit cards where this is a stated benefit or the Neo membership/reimbursement system. Sometime’s it’s possible to compare the rate you got on that day vs the financial rate, but it’s tricky.
You can always send me a DM if you want to chat about something private. If it isn’t sensative information, I do prefer to keep it public so others can benefit from the conversation.
