The advent of the digital age has made global trade accessible to more and more businesses. One of the most important parts of this process has to be the transfer of money between countries. You have got to know where to send money abroad and how to send it. There are quite a few methods of doing that. Let’s take a look at what these might be.
Money Transfer Companies
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A popular method of transferring money abroad is to use the services of money transfer companies like Western Union and MoneyGram. These are companies with offices in various countries that enable you to speedily transfer money to the location of your choice. You have the advantage of using both the online and physical modes of transfer. As not everyone has a PayPal or a similar account, money transfer companies can step in and transfer the money where required. Even those recipients who are offline can get their cash simply by visiting the location office and collecting it from there.
Money transfer companies are especially useful in cases where money needs to be sent abroad on an emergency basis. It is also quite a handy service for those whose travel takes them to a number of countries, as they can conveniently collect their cash personally wherever they go. To easily find the right money transfer company you could use MoneyTransfers, which provides money transfer comparison services.
Online Payment
This is the most convenient method of remitting money abroad. You can do it from anywhere, just by using your computer. There are a number of online payment services like PayPal, Skrill, Xoom, Google Pay and Amazon Pay that can help you easily and conveniently make payments almost anywhere in the world. There are no hidden costs to worry about over here, as all you need to pay is the initial fee. You may not get the best exchange rate though and this method may not really work out to be very economical in the case of large transactions.
Such transactions are best suited in cases where the payments don’t exceed $500 in value. Besides, both the sender and the recipient need to have an email account for this to work. Also, it may take from five to seven business days for the recipient to get the money in their bank account
Bank Wire Transfers
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This is another very popular method of sending money abroad. This can be done both online and physically at the bank. As the mode of payment is an electronic one, it is imperative that both the sender and the recipient need to have a bank account.
This is an ideal method of transferring money from one bank account to another. It is also the preferred method for transferring money by businesses as you are allowed to transfer large sums of money. Also, the fact that the transfer takes place via banks, makes this a very secure way of sending money abroad. On the flip side, it might be a relatively expensive way of transferring money in terms of the fee being charged and the exchange rate offered. It is also not a very quick way of reaching money abroad.
Money Order
A money order may appear anachronistic in this day and age, but it has its uses as a viable method of sending money abroad. What’s great about this method is the guarantee that it provides. As you might be aware, a money order is of a specific amount that is prepaid at a bank or post office and written in favor of a particular recipient. Since the money has already been deposited by the sender, it has to reach the recipient. The money is safe even in cases where the money order has been lost, or there has been a fraud as its path is traceable.
There are a few companies that even facilitate the sending of online money orders, but this is not a path many opt for. Money orders do take a few days to reach and there may be a cap on how much money you can send to certain locations. Also, the fact that you have to go to a post office or a bank to send a money order, makes it an inconvenient method of sending money abroad.
Foreign Exchange Brokers
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Using the services of foreign exchange brokers to remit money abroad is a very popular option on account of the fact that you can make a fair bit of saving on the exchange rates. These are generally 3 to 4% cheaper than the rates charged for a typical bank or wire transfer. This is an ideal way of sending large sums of money abroad.
You do need to create a foreign exchange account into which you have to deposit money in order to avail of this service which many may find inconvenient and bothersome.
Zero Charge International Bank to Bank Transfers
Some leading banks allow their customers to transfer money abroad free of charge as long as they send it to their own account or someone else’s account in a foreign branch of the same bank. Ideally, they would also like both the accounts to be of the same currency.
The flip side of this method is the fact that though there is no fee charged for the service by the bank, the exchange rate that they offer when transferring from one currency to another is quite high. This, therefore, works best where the transfer is in the same currency.
Conclusion
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Thus you would have noticed that though there are a number of ways that you can transfer money abroad, choosing the one that suits your requirements is a tricky business. It generally is a better idea to consult an international money transfer services comparison site to help you decide.
They will carry out all the required research and analysis about which money transfer method best fulfills your requirements. Every so often you may have ended up choosing a less than ideal method of transferring money abroad that burns a hole in your pocket because you just didn’t have the time to figure out the best way to do so. Referring to MoneyTransfers.com will rid you of that problem.
