“Only when the tide goes out do you discover who’s been swimming naked.”

Warren Buffett

Transfast presents a particularly interesting case among providers of international person-to-person remittances. While we often read about startups or bitcoin taking on the industry’s largest players, Western Union and MoneyGram, Transfast was unique in being till 2019 acquisition by Mastercard an independent, private equity-backed company that is in-between those extremes. Transfast straddled mostly offline with some online business worlds across the globe while being nimble enough to maintain an entrepreneurial / startup culture. Between 2008 and 2016, Transfast grew ten times, expanding from a narrow focus of sending money between the U.S. and Latin American corridors to a truly global provider. Their story and insights on the industry are quite unique and informative.

This blog is specific to Transfast – if you are looking for more general knowledge on the best ways to transfer money, check other SaveOnSend blog posts.

We will cover questions like:

• Should I use Transfast to transfer money from the U.S. to India, the Philippines, Mexico, or China?
• How do Transfast’s fees and exchange rates compare with other money transfer companies?
• How is Transfast different vs. other online remittance providers?

We will structure this post as follows:

1. Transfast’s history in money transfer
2. Transfast’s pricing: fees + FX markup (exchange rate)
3. Whether or not you should use Transfast for money transfer
4. Transfast CEO’s views on the money transfer industry and current trends

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