You may connect with your loved ones at any time of the day or night, at any geographical location, thanks to what next-gen technology has given us. However, money transactions still need to be worked upon. Banks and companies that take over the job of passing on your hard-earned money to your loved ones, charge for doing so. Admittedly, there is no such thing as free money transfer or free international money transfer.
Remittance and International Money Transfers
Both have different meanings. Say, for an instance, you work in a foreign nation, and wish to send money to your family members every month. You would be making a remittance as these kind of money transfers are rather low in value. They suffice for survival in developing nations, paying for food, education, reducing debts, etc.
International money transfers refer to the movement of small/big amounts of money from one country to another. In this case, there are three parties involved sender, recipient, and the organization providing transfer services.
At the outset, you approach the concerned organization for initiating a transfer. You have the choice of requesting an online transfer, or requesting the person at the recipient’s end to hand it over personally. Whatever is the case, for the money to be transferred overseas, you need to provide all the essential details about the recipient to the transfer service provider. Then, you must hand over the amount that you desire to be transferred. Finally, you have to pay the requested fees for the service. So, yes, free money transfers don’t exist.
Talking about the service provider – sometimes, the movement of money, especially if it is sent via electronic mode, is immediate but the transaction service fee is comparatively more. Sometimes, it can take anywhere up to five working days, especially if the transfer is in the form of cash.
The easiest and safest method is an online bank transfer, which is generally referred to as a Foreign Telegraphic Transfer. If you visit the bank for handing over the amount personally, you will have to pay extra cash.
The snag is that bank transfers tend to be extremely expensive. Additionally, each bank may charge differently. Since these organizations are not inclined towards transparency, it would be difficult to figure out the exact percentage that you would have to pay for completing a transaction.
Another, and probably a better way to transfer money, is leveraging an online service. Such an establishment goes in for advanced technology, charges low fees, and therefore the cost associated with international monetary transactions is comparatively less. All you have to do is to register yourself at the concerned website. When the company finishes verifying your details, the account is set up. Now, you may send your money overseas. Unlike banks, online companies do not hesitate to display their pricing charts.
The third method is to give with the traditional service providers such as MoneyGram, WesternUnion, among others, for transferring money. All you need to do is find the nearest outlet and visit them. You will have to fill up a form mentioning the required transaction details. The deal goes through very quickly and the recipient may approach the receiving outlet to pick up the cash. However, this method tends to prove costly.
A Matter of Pricing
Yes, you will have to pay for transferring money, regardless of wherever you are in the world. As stated earlier, do not expect free international money transfer service anywhere.
There are two things that come into the picture here. One of them is the fee that the establishment will charge you for sending across the money. It all depends upon the amount that you plan to send, the geographical location of the recipient, mode of payment, and the service provider.
The second issue is the foreign exchange rate. It differs for every currency. You will have to pay extra for converting an international currency into a local one. The charges may be low or high, in alignment with the current foreign exchange rate. Therefore, it should prove quite high if you are transferring large amounts of money, and regularly.
Thus, there is nothing like free money transfers while sending funds overseas.