Opal Transfer Review, Exchange Rates, Fees Calculator & User Score

• Fees and costs: Bad
• Transfer speed: Good
• Safety and reliability: Very Good
• Customer satisfaction: Good

0 users would recommend it

0 users wouldn’t recommend it

What is Opal Transfer?

Opal is a money transfer service focused on European countries. They have established a good remittance connection between the UK and countries such as Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Ukraine, Romania. The company can be considered rather smaller compared to the competition on the money transfer market, however they have more than 200,000 customers and have been operating on the market for 16 now. Their customer service supports different European languages, which makes it easy to contact them.

How Does Opal Transfer Work?

The sole process of sending money is rather simple and straight-forward. Moreover, it’s cheaper and faster than regular international bank wires. On their website you can find a fee calculator, which will show you how much transfer in particular currency will cost. Choose the currencies, country and log into your account. If you don’t have an account you can register it. You will need to provide your basic information.

Opal Transfer Fees and Costs

The fee depends on the destination country for your transfer. However, it is kept in the range of 0.5GBP to 3GBP, which can be considered rather cheap.

Opal Transfer Exchange Rate

While there is no official information, judging by their rates the platform adds a 0.5-0.75% markup on the exchange rates. Meaning you will get your currency converted at a slightly worse rate than the one you can check on Google.

Opal Transfer Limits

The main restrictions consider the amount of money you can send via Opal depending on your current verification level. If you want to send more than 10.000GBP within 90 days you will be asked to send them a copy of your ID or passport, proof of address and proof of income.

Opal Transfer compared to wire transfer and banks

While the platform doesn’t offer the cheapest money transfers compared to other online remittance companies, the rates are much better than international transfers at mainstream banks. Also, with Opal you can send money directly to someone’s bank account.

How to use Opal Transfer?

How to sign up?

Navigate to their website and click at the register button at the top.

Depending on how much money you want to send you will need to pass a different verification process. Smaller transfers below 500GBP don’t require any additional documentation. However, if you plan to send more than that you will need to send them a scan of your personal ID. Transfers above 1500GBP require proof of residence. To send more than 5000GBP you will need to show a proof of income.

These are rather standard sets of procedure and checks so that they can comply with international policies and regulations, as well as to prevent money laundering attempts. 

Is Opal Transfer safe and reliable?

Security

Opal has been operating on the remittance market for over 16 years now. The company is authorised by the FCA (Financial Conduct Authority) in the UK and registered with HMRC for money laundering prevention. The customers’ data on their online transfer platform is protected with SSL protocol and they are also registered with the Information Commissioner's Office which makes sure the data is handled securely.

Comments

The majority of comments and Opal Transfer reviews found online seems to be rather positive. The negative feedback focuses on the exchange rates, which are not the most competitive on the market and make the overall transfer quite pricey in some cases.

“Really good and professional service.The team is very friendly and always there for you when you need help. It is an easy, quick and safe way to send money. The only thing which could be improved in the service is the exchange rate.” ~ Nina on TrustPilot.com

The second biggest concern is the amount of private information the company requires for some of the transfers. While these are security standards executed by most of the remittance platforms, some users note that there might be some extortions and the amount of verification delays the transfer speed.

“Bad company if you send money every day. Every day they’re asking for the same documents. Always require personal bank statements, documents, driving license, bills. Requires even last year’s documents.” ~ one of the customers in his review on TrustPilot.com

Customer Support

The company offers customer service in multiple languages. One can communicate with Opal Transfer via local phone numbers listed on their website. There is English, Polish, Romanian, Russian and Bulgarian support available.

However, some of the customers report that in more complicated issues the phone support may not be helpful. You can also contact them via email or contact form on the website.

Final Thoughts

Opal Transfer Review

All in all, Opal Transfer seems to be an okay platform to send money once in a while. For someone who makes international payments on a daily basis there are cheaper and more reliable alternatives on the market. Smaller transfers shouldn’t be a problem. The amount of required documentation regarding payments above 5,000GBP may be discouraging for some customers, however it’s all needed to comply with international regulations and policies. The design of the platform makes it easy to use and it’s easy to research the essential information.

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