htetzz wrote:
Most of my international classmates used peer-to-peer money transfer services, charging way less than banks. Just google and you can find a lot: transferwise, nzforex, tranzfers, etc.
For small amounts (up to 100$) tranzfers is claimed to be the cheapest. For transfers of hundreds or thousands of USD - transferwise and nzforex are claimed to be more appropriate (you may select the service providing better fx rate, but the difference would be marginal).
I used transferwise to transfer USD to EUR and received my money in 2 days - quite convenient and much cheaper than through banks.
Tip: almost all these services use referral programs to get new users, so get a referral code from your friends to receive a discount for your initial transfer (and bring similar benefit to them as well). Or PM me if you wish to use mine for transferwise.
Transferwise isn't bad but as an LBS student that moved here a year ago, I'd highly recommend Circle -
https://www.circle.com. It's an app I came across several months ago and is faster than Transferwise with absolutely no fees.
You usually get your money the next day and at the mid-market rate (no fees unlike Transferwise). Also, its really cool because you can use it to instantly send money to friends and contacts. We use it here when traveling in groups or if I simply owe a friend some money for a beer.