How to Send Money to Your Bank Account When Living Abroad
There are many reasons why you would want to send money to your bank account when living abroad. You may want to help out your family and transfer them some funds, or use the money to rent property, pay tuition, or even buy something from a foreign merchant.
Today, the most popular transfer services are Western Union and MoneyGram, but that doesn’t mean that they are the cheapest options available. Although people got used to using these two services or their local bank to transfer funds, there are much better alternatives available today. If you are interested in sending funds without having to pay high fees, you should check out this table of cheaper money transfer services.
In order to find the best option for sending money to your bank account back home, you’ll first need to understand exactly what you’re paying for when you are transferring funds. A financial institution will charge you a wire transfer fee when you want to send cash abroad. On top of that, they will skew the exchange rates so they can profit as much as possible from every transaction. However, the following services work on a different principle. Here is what you should be using to send money to your bank account when living and working abroad.
Peer-to-Peer Transfer Services
If you’re currently traveling or working in a foreign country and want to send money to your bank account back home, you should avoid doing a traditional transfer. Know that a regular bank transfer will set you back a lot of money. Instead of heading to the bank, you should try using a peer-to-peer transfer service. A peer-to-peer transfer service allows you to send money at a much cheaper rate than with your local bank as it represents a peer-to-peer network that is very efficient and reliable. You have complete transparency regarding the fees, which means that you can always check how much you’re going to pay for the transaction before you confirm it. Also, you can convert money at a very good exchange rate. This means that you can exchange USD to EUR or any other type of currency with minimal losses.
In most cases, these services offer apps for both Apple and Android platforms. You can use Apple Pay and Android Pay to complete transfers. Furthermore, if you happen to encounter any kind of problems while transferring your money, you can always contact their customer service via live chat or phone assistance.
International Remittance Services
International remittance services are an excellent option if you plan on sending up to $2,000 at a time. You can send money using this kind of service to both bank accounts and mobile wallets. It is also worth mentioning that this service offers the option of sending money as cash to a local pick-up location.
Aside from being able to send money via bank transfer, you can also use your credit or debit card for transferring funds. Know that when you use international remittance services, you can send the money in the currency of your choosing. So, if you’re transferring funds from Australia to the UK, for example, you should first find the best AUD to GBP exchange before making the transaction.
Non-P2P Transfer Services
While there is no doubt that peer-to-peer networks offer the best options if you plan on sending up to $10,000 at a time, you will need to use other transfer services for large sums of cash. Some non-P2P transfer services may have a minimum transfer amount of $250 per transaction. However, this isn’t really too big of a drawback considering that you should use this service only if you want to send more than $10,000 at a time.
Since these transfer services are used to dealing with large sums of money, they are usually very reliable and have outstanding customer service that you can contact in case you have any questions or special requests.
Bottom Line
Transferring money abroad usually involves paying ridiculously high fees. However, in recent years, quite a few alternative services have become increasingly popular. Not only do these services allow you to save money, but they are also very easy to use. Some even have apps that can work for mobile phones from both Apple and Android. By using peer-to-peer money transfer services, you can avoid fees you would normally pay when sending funds from bank to bank. You can also opt for international remittance services, which can be perfect for transfers of up to $2,000. In case you plan to send large sums, you should use non-peer-to-peer transfer services.
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Written by editorial staff.