Transfer up to €100K for a flat fee of €3

I cannot contain my excitement at sharing my new discovery with you: a new payment disrupter called Atlantic Money targeting the exchange and transfer of money cross border for large value transactions. Wise and Revolut really cover the small value market but their fees increase as the transaction value rises which makes their service far less attractive. Sold your house in Berlin and now need to move €100,000 to your US bank account for low cost? You can do that for €3 with Atlantic Money. Read on to find out my review.

If you read my earlier blog post about money transfers, you will know that I saved ~$600 by using a combination of Revolut+Wise to exchange and transfer money cross border instead of using Wise on it's own. Using a Revolut+Wise combo saved me ~$1,100 over using traditional banks. But earlier in 2022, Revolut removed their 1 free international transfer per month which removed their advantage over Wise and left us with no cheap options for moving larger values of money from EUR or GBP in a European bank account into USD in a US bank account.

Before we begin:

1. I will start by saying that this blog is not sponsored. I discovered this product on my own and write this only to share the great news on how to save money. I am also not going to share my referral code just to prove I have no incentive here.
2. I still use Revolut+Wise to send USD to EUR which is described in the link above. I also suggest reading that blog post for a good primer on why international exchange and international transfers are so complicated and expensive.

Enter the disrupter: Atlantic Money

For a flat fee of €3 you can send a transfer of EUR or GBP into USD and send to a US bank account, up to €100K. No more €50 transfer fees from Wise or Revolut to send €5,000.

I recently discovered Atlantic Money and it was created by 2 expats in London that were tired of paying higher fees for high value transfers. Wise and Revolut both admit that they really nailed the market on lower value transfers but because their fees increase with the value, the fees can end up being hundreds€€€. Atlantic Money launched their product last year and charge a flat €3 fee per transfer for moving GBP or EUR cross border into 8-9 currencies (and growing), and they give you the Interbank exchange rate (same as Wise and Revolut).

https://atlantic.money/eu

• The app is incredibly simple. Easiest signup process I've ever experienced. You will be asked for ID verification to send larger amounts for anti-money laundering purposes. If you want to send BIG amounts of money, you will likely be asked for more paperwork about the source and destination.
• You can send GBP or EUR into about 8-9 other currencies, including USD. This means that for now, until they launch more currencies, Atlantic Money does not currently work for moving USD from US->Europe. I hope this changes soon!
• You cannot hold money in the account. The beauty is the simplicity of just moving money. I entered in the recipient details (my own bank account in the US), then I was given instructions on how to fund the transfer. I was instructed to send a bank transfer from my EUR bank. So I logged into my EUR account, sent a bank transfer to the details they gave me, and it arrived and was confirmed in the Atlantic Money app in minutes. A friend of mine tried it and it was confirmed in a few hours.
• Once the receipt of my EUR transfer was confirmed, I then was informed the USD would be on its way shortly. I started the transfer on a Friday, and it indicated that the USD would arrive in my US bank account by Thursday the following week which is ~5 business days. You can pay an extra €5 fee for speedier delivery. But, I logged into my US account on Tuesday and the USD had arrived. So ~3 business days.
• First transfer is free. €3 for each transfer. Amazing.
• This is a new kid on the block, it does not have the same track record as Revolut or Wise. So use at your own risk. But I am EXCITED about this startup serving an unmet need in the market for those of us living abroad and needing to move large amounts of money back and forth to the US, either on a regular or one off basis.

Real example of the fees you would pay with Revolut or Wise (all 3 services give the Interbank exchange rate):

• Moving €5,000 in Revolut -> €12 fee (+ €85 fee for annual premium)
• Moving €10,000 in Revolut -> €24 fee (+ €85 fee for annual premium)
• Moving €5,000 in Wise -> €25 fee
• Moving €10,000 in Wise -> €50 fee

If you moved €5,000 every month from your European EUR account into USD in a US account, you would pay €300 to Wise or the much cheaper €36 with Atlantic Money.

Here are screenshots from all 3 apps on the same day. To get $10,000 to arrive in a US bank account it would cost you:

• ​Atlantic Money: €9,741.24 (winner!)
• Wise: €9,785.27
• Revolut: €9,763.34 (though I already paid my €85 annual premium fee which gives me a discount on the transfer)

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