Money transfers to Israel without fee from EU and UK

The State of Israel appeared on the world political map in 1948, and only 10 years later, the European Economic Community established diplomatic relations with the new country.

Decades of cooperation first with the EEC and later with the European Union have made Israel the largest trading partner.

The Association Agreement between the EU and the only Middle Eastern democracy, which entered into force in 2000, includes provisions for regular political dialogue, freedom of establishment and liberalization of services, free movement of capital and competition rules, as well as strengthening economic and social ties.

Cooperation in cultural and scientific fields is also actively developing. For example, Israel is the only non-European member of the European scientific organization CERN.

Geographically, Israel is not part of Europe, but it is a member of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). That is why Israeli artists participate in the famous Eurovision song contest.

But the EU and the Middle Eastern country are linked not only by interstate relations, but also by personal, family, and friendly ones.

Private money transfers to Israel are one of the connections that exist between residents of the European region and this countries. A birthday or wedding gift, material assistance during a difficult period, regular support for relatives are only some of the reasons for sending money.

But how to choose a money transfer to Israel provider when there are more than enough offers on the market. In our article, we compared the conditions for providing this service in several popular services and banks. The data is presented in the tables below.

*Commission fees and other conditions are relevant for transfers of 100 euros (as of 15.03.2023 11:00 CET). The table was compiled using information from aggregator websites and the resources of the payment systems themselves.

As can be seen from the presented data, only two services offer money transfers without a fee: KoronaPay and XE money transfers. However, only the former operates with card-to-card and card-to-cash transfers.

Next, let’s consider the conditions for money transfer services from the UK. Sending from this country is interesting primarily because there is a national currency, which means different currency pairs: pounds sterling — shekels, pounds sterling — US dollars, etc.

*Commission fees and other conditions are relevant for transfers of 100 pounds sterling (as of 15.03.2023 11:00 CET). The table was compiled using information from aggregator websites and the resources of the payment systems themselves.

The situation with money transfers from the UK is similar. Only two companies offer to send money without a fee. However, the most popular way to transfer money from the EU and partner countries in Europe to Israel is through the Korona Pay service.

KoronaPay is a mobile application that can be downloaded for free from the App Store and Google Play. You log into the app (authorization) with a phone number. In the input field, you need to enter the number to which you will receive an SMS with a code.

The available payment options depend on the country of origin and its telephone code. For example, from Germany, you can pay for the transfer using the following methods:

However, in Poland, the Czech Republic, Sweden, Spain, and Italy, the money transfer can only be debited from a bank card. The United Kingdom, France, and Finland allow you to send money from both cards and bank accounts.

Therefore, the country code entered during authorization determines how you can pay for the transfer. Even when traveling to a neighboring country, a user with a German SIM card will send transfers according to the rules for Germany: using one of the four methods above.

The amount can be debited from the cards of any European bank. However, there are three exceptions: in Poland, Romania, and Bulgaria, payment for the transfer is possible only with local bank cards.

For addressless transfers (these are transfers to be received in cash, because the money can be received at any service point), a code will be generated after payment, which must be communicated to the recipient. You can select the location to receive the transfer on the interactive map in the KoronaPay app (the Locations tab), or on the website at koronapay.com.

1. Money can only be debited from cards that support 3D Secure technology, where an SMS with a code for confirming the transaction is sent to the phone.

2. The service’s partnership with leading payment systems Visa and Mastercard creates a safe space for financial transactions.

3. The latest antivirus systems protect the service from unauthorized actions.

4. KoronaPay has a European license to operate and complies with all regulatory requirements.

In addition to money transfers to Israel, our blog has many articles about immigration to Europe, life, and work in the new conditions. You can see all the articles here.