Prodigy loan repayment - avoid the $30 wire transfer fee when paying your monthly statement
Prodigy only allows payments through money transfers, so when I discovered that I would need to pay extra $30 in transaction fees to make my loan repayment, I was shocked.
Including a $30 wire transfer fee for each payment transaction made me wonder if it was a good deal to take that Prodigy loan since I was basically increasing each statement cost by at least 5%. This is $360 a year, money wasted on transaction fees. But there's a way to avoid that, which turns Prodigy into a good loan again. Here is how you can save up to $340 a year on fees using two services - Transferwise and Flywire.
*The whole process, from the first money transfer to the payment confirmation by Prodigy takes 6-10 days, so plan accordingly to the payment due date.
**This process works if your loan is in US Dollars.
Step 1:
Create an account on Transferwise (link: https://tinyurl.com/twiseajv). On the top menu click on “Borderless Account”, “get started”, then “get my free account now”.
You might have to validate your information by sending a copy of one document, it could take a couple of days to create the account.
After creating the Borderless Account, log in and click on “activate currency” and select dollars.
After activating, select "add USD"
Then choose the amount you want to add (add $1.30 to the real value you want to transfer, which is for transaction fees).
You will see 4 transaction options to add the money. I like to use a debit card, it’s easy, it actually take a few hours (not the 34 minutes stated) to get the money on your Borderless Account, and it's free. Wait until you get the money in your Borderless Account.
Step 2:
Go to https://www.flywire.com/signup and create an account.
Once logged in, click on "continue" under “Start the Payment Process”
In “Select who you want to pay”, type "Prodigy Finance" and click "continue". Then click “Start your payment” (paying in USD) - https://www.flywire.com/pay/prodigyfinance/
Follow the instruction on the screen. On Student information, under the “Payment Reference Number” field, put your prodigy reference number (each loan has a unique reference number), which you can find in your prodigy monthly statement (.pdf attached in the email prodigy send to you every month).
Then click on “continue with payment”. The system will generate a .pdf with transfer instructions. You will receive (on the screen and by email) an account number with bank details to transfer the money to Flywire and a New Reference Number (note that this is a different reference number than the prodigy one)
Step 3:
Go back to your Transferwise Borderless Account. In the main page, select “Recipients” on the menu on the left.
Follow the instructions that you received from Flywire in the .pdf to fill up the information to add Flywire as a recipient.
Step 4:
After successfully adding Flywire as a recipient, click on “Borderless Account” on the menu. If you already have the money on your account, you would be able to send it - to make the payment. Click on “Send USD”, select the recipient you've created (Flywire).
You will see that the cost of sending money is $1.30 (much better than the original $30, right?) And just before confirming the payment, you will see a field to add a reference number. You should type there the reference number that was generated by Flywire (NOT the prodigy reference number), only the numbers, skip the letters - Flywire generates a 12 characters reference number and Transferwise only allows 10, so you can skip the 3 letters because Flywire can identify by only the numbers (information confirmed by Flywire customer service).
After making the payment, you will receive, in a couple of days, a message from Transferwise saying that the transfer was completed. After a few more days, Flywire will send a confirmation that they received the money and will send to prodigy. Finally, Prodigy will send an email to confirm your payment. As mentioned, it’s better to allow at least 10 days window between adding money in the Borderless Account and the payment due date, just to be safe in case any delay happens.
The bank details Flywire send to you each transfer doesn't change. You can always use the recipient details stored on Transferwise; however, I suggest to always confirm that the information matches. Therefore, you can always start a payment and add only the reference number of that payment (the Flywire reference number always change, so never use the same you used before).
PS: I tried free payment methods such as Zelle and Bill Pay from Wels Fargo, but I was only successful using Borderless Account by Transferwise.
Including a $30 wire transfer fee for each payment transaction made me wonder if it was a good deal to take that Prodigy loan since I was basically increasing each statement cost by at least 5%. This is $360 a year, money wasted on transaction fees. But there's a way to avoid that, which turns Prodigy into a good loan again. Here is how you can save up to $340 a year on fees using two services - Transferwise and Flywire.
*The whole process, from the first money transfer to the payment confirmation by Prodigy takes 6-10 days, so plan accordingly to the payment due date.
**This process works if your loan is in US Dollars.
Step 1:
Create an account on Transferwise (link: https://tinyurl.com/twiseajv). On the top menu click on “Borderless Account”, “get started”, then “get my free account now”.
After creating the Borderless Account, log in and click on “activate currency” and select dollars.
After activating, select "add USD"
You will see 4 transaction options to add the money. I like to use a debit card, it’s easy, it actually take a few hours (not the 34 minutes stated) to get the money on your Borderless Account, and it's free. Wait until you get the money in your Borderless Account.
Step 2:
Go to https://www.flywire.com/signup and create an account.
Once logged in, click on "continue" under “Start the Payment Process”
Step 3:
Go back to your Transferwise Borderless Account. In the main page, select “Recipients” on the menu on the left.
Step 4:
After successfully adding Flywire as a recipient, click on “Borderless Account” on the menu. If you already have the money on your account, you would be able to send it - to make the payment. Click on “Send USD”, select the recipient you've created (Flywire).
You will see that the cost of sending money is $1.30 (much better than the original $30, right?) And just before confirming the payment, you will see a field to add a reference number. You should type there the reference number that was generated by Flywire (NOT the prodigy reference number), only the numbers, skip the letters - Flywire generates a 12 characters reference number and Transferwise only allows 10, so you can skip the 3 letters because Flywire can identify by only the numbers (information confirmed by Flywire customer service).
After making the payment, you will receive, in a couple of days, a message from Transferwise saying that the transfer was completed. After a few more days, Flywire will send a confirmation that they received the money and will send to prodigy. Finally, Prodigy will send an email to confirm your payment. As mentioned, it’s better to allow at least 10 days window between adding money in the Borderless Account and the payment due date, just to be safe in case any delay happens.
The bank details Flywire send to you each transfer doesn't change. You can always use the recipient details stored on Transferwise; however, I suggest to always confirm that the information matches. Therefore, you can always start a payment and add only the reference number of that payment (the Flywire reference number always change, so never use the same you used before).
PS: I tried free payment methods such as Zelle and Bill Pay from Wels Fargo, but I was only successful using Borderless Account by Transferwise.
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