Message from Adam
If you need to transfer money from Japan home for student loans or for any other reason, then you should read this post. I will introduce you to the best way to send money home fast and cheap! This is also a great method for transferring money to Japan if you are going to move to Japan. It is safer than bringing a lot of cash with you. This post will also walk you through the easy set up process for Wise (formerly called Transferwise), step by step!
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my full disclosure for more details.
Transfer Money From Japan
Transfer Money from Japan: My Story
A major reason why I had no money in Japan for so long was because I had to transfer money to America every month to pay for my student loans.
I had to send 50,000 yen every month!!
That was was a huge part of my paycheck and to make matters worse, I had to spend money to transfer money from Japan to America. I even lost money due to the exchange rate. I tried a couple of different ways to send money home and now I have finally found a great way to do it.
I am confident that I found the best way to send money to your home country. Since this could save you a lot of money, I really wanted to share on The Yen Pincher.
- First, I want to talk about the first company that I used (and now regret using).
I used a company called GoRemit. GoRemit is a part of Shinsei Bank and even though it was expensive, I used them for five years.
Setting up my account with them was a little difficult and time consuming. I didn’t like their system and I really didn’t like how much they charged for each transfer.
I had to pay 2,000 yen to GoRemit and then another 2,000 yen to my bank in America for transfer fees. So each time I sent money home, I had to pay 4,000 yen! That money added up fast since I had to pay my student loans every month.
I thought bank transfer fees were unavoidable so that is why I stayed with them for as long as I did. But then I found a much better option!
Transfer Money from Japan: The Best Option
Wise (formerly called Transferwise)
Wise is a great service and it is changing the way the world moves money. It is the best option to transfer money from Japan. The internet is flooded with positive reviews about this service and I am no different. My experience with them has been great and I recommend them to all my friends. In fact, if you sign up through my friend referral link: Wise, you will get your first transfer (up to 75,000 yen) for FREE!
But what is Wise?
They are an online service for sending money all over the world.
They are breaking down the borders between international banks and making the process of transferring money internationally fast, easy and cheap. They started in London in 2011 and have grown to be internationally trusted.
They say that more than a billion US dollars are transferred each month through their service.
It is so great because they cut out the middle man.
They don’t actually transfer your money. Instead they take the Japanese yen that you want to send home and put it in their Japanese yen “pot”. Then they pay you the equivalent of that money to your home bank account from their “pot” that they have in your home currency.
That means there are no long transactions between international banks. This not only cuts down on transfer costs, but it also makes the whole process very fast. And since it is faster, you can also be guaranteed the exchange rate. GoRemit couldn’t do that.
With GoRemit I could try to send money home when the exchange rate was good, but since it takes a few days for the transfer to go through, the exchange rate could change for the worse.
Wise locks in the exchange rate at the time you transfer so they can guarantee the rate and knowing the exchange rate can save you a lot of money.
How does Wise make money?
Wise does charge a fee for their services but it is much cheaper than going through banks, GoRemit or even Paypal. Look at the example below.
Here you can see that if I sent 50,000 yen to America, Wise would charge me a fee of 531 JPY.
That is significantly lower than the 4,000 yen fees that I was paying while using GoRemit! Look at the bottom of that screenshot and it will tell you that using Wise could save you up to 2,494 JPY vs the average bank. This really is the best option for transferring money from Japan.
Wise is a great service that I wish I knew about sooner.
If you are living in Japan and need to send money home, then this is the service I recommend using.
This link will get you to their homepage through my affiliate link. This link will give you a fee-free transfer of up to 75,000 JPY! Enter your email and then click on “Claim your fee-free transfer” to get started.
Choose whether you are setting up a personal or a business account. Then choose what country you are living in.
You will then have to verify your phone number. Giving this information will help keep your accounts secure.
From here just follow the rest of the steps to get set up. The website makes it easy to understand each step. You will need to verify your email address, your home address and your bank account information. For Japan, you will have to upload documents that prove your identity. They will ask you for pictures of your “My Number” card and will send mail to your physical home address to confirm that you live there. This is an added security feature and an important one. When it comes to protecting your money, every security feature is an important one! Once you have finished the set up process and created your account, it is super easy to send or receive money from a different country.
How to Transfer Money from Japan Using Wise
From the Wise homepage, click the “Send Money” button to transfer money from Japan.
On this next screen, enter the amount that you want to transfer and then click continue. This page also shows the exact amount that the receiving account will receive.
Next, type in who are which account that you want to transfer money too.
The next screen verifies your account. Since this example transfer is for an amount greater than 100,000 JPY, I need to provide additional information for this transfer. You will need to have a Japan issued photo ID with your current address, a piece of paper to write a four digit code that they will give you, a camera phone and you My Number card. You will need to take a picture of yourself holding the paper that has the hand written code on and your photo ID. This is all just to ensure the safety of your money.
There could also be a QR code for you to scan with your phone. This is for verifying your information.
After you verify your account, then you review your transfer information and then initiate your transfer. It is all very simple after you do it one time.
After they confirm your transfer, they will deposit the funds into you home country`s account.
Since they will save all your information, the second time you transfer money home will be even faster!
I think this is a great service and I wish I knew about it years ago. Try it out and save a lot of money when you transfer money from Japan or transfer money to Japan!
