Expatrio is a relocation platform for international students wishing to live and study in Germany. Through their holistic digital solution, students can easily open a blocked account, purchase student health insurance, and much more in a customised way. However, challenges with international payment processing to fund the blocked accounts lacked efficiency and were causing delays. Expatrio shares how Cohort Go improved the speed of funds transfers into their students' blocked accounts and improved their team’s processes.

“Our partnership with Cohort Go enabled us to offer a customized and consistent payment experience on our website. The majority of our customers’ funds reach their blocked account within 24 hours, and they can transfer in their local currency. It is a significant step in assuring customer satisfaction. Moreover, the integration with Cohort Go allowed us to digitise our business even further.” - Tim Meyer, co-founder of Expatrio.

At a glance:

Objectives:

• Receive student payments more efficiently from all across the globe
• Improve the payments process and experience for students by making is cheaper, faster, and localised
• Reduce administrative burden of manual payment tracking and chasing of short payments.

Challenges:

• Compliance checks and complex international banking systems resulting in payment delays
• Loss of student engagement due to difficulty understanding and executing international bank transfers
• Lack of transparency of payments, with no ability to track payments in transit.

Solution:

• Integrating Cohort Go’s innovative payment solution seamlessly into the Expatrio platform experience.

The challenge for Expatrio.

Expatrio assists students in opening blocked accounts, which is a visa requirement for international students in Germany.  Before they partnered with Cohort Go, Expatrio customers were required to use an international wire transfer to fund their blocked accounts. However, international wire transfers raise a number of challenges. Many payments arrived short, due to miscalculation of extra fees and FX rates. Expatrio and its customers also lacked the ability to track incoming wire transfers. These types of transfer are comparably expensive and can take several days.

International wire transfers can also be problematic in several markets around the world. Expatrio needed a more efficient way for their customers to fund their blocked accounts. The delays in processing of these payments partly prevented students from being able to fulfil their visa requirements which is often a time sensitive process.

To gain the desired efficiencies to solve these challenges, Expatrio opted to shift from solely receiving individual wire or bank transfers and utilise a global payment solution that could be seamlessly integrated with the Expatrio platform. Expatrio sought a partner like Cohort Go who have a deep understanding of the international education space and innovative technology that could provide more efficient fund transfers.  

Payment efficiencies for a superior student experience.

Expatrio needed to find a solution for faster and efficient processing of its international payments to make their customers lives easier and free their team up to focus on what they do best.

Cohort Go provides automated payment matching, removing the risk of delays in payment processing and eliminates short payments altogether. Payments are clear and straightforward for both Expatrio and students, with students able to see exactly what they need to pay in their own currency. Both Expatrio and the student can track their payments in real-time, from initiated to settled.

By integrating Cohort Go’s services into the Expatrio platform, Expatrio conversions have increased by eliminating the risk of students dropping off when they experience difficulty understanding and executing international bank wire transfers. Students experience a consistent end-to-end experience, never once having to leave the Expatrio portal to make a payment.  

Students also experience drastically faster payment processing, with 90% of transactions settled into students' blocked accounts within 24 hours.

With the ability to transfer funds in local currency, students bypass complex international banking systems, eliminating payment delays to receive their funds faster. They also gain huge savings with no fees and competitive FX rates. With over 75 currencies supported, Cohort Go provides an easy payment solution for students from across the globe. 

Implementation was easy too, with Cohort Go’s support team providing help and assistance where needed.

“Cohort Go enabled us to offer an even faster solution for our customers. We are delighted to work with a company that shares the same passion for technology and international student mobility”, confirmed Tim Meyer, the co-founder of Expatrio.