Here are some basic things you must know before sending money overseas to your loved ones. These are necessary for safety of your hard earned money and for secure and fast delivery of your hard earned money to your loved ones overseas.
1) If you are using some Internet method of sending money abroad, Double check whether its an established company or not. It should be certified by some prestigious organisations like The Better Business Bureau or BBB. You can see the image BBBOnline Reliability Program which links to the BBB website where you can be assured that the internet method you are using is safe for transactions and business. If its certified by BBB, then its a good method. BBB has a reputation of certifying only the safe, secure and Legitimate businesses online.
2) Check whether the money transfer service is being provided by some leading international bank. Many banks provide money transfer services. For example ICICI bank provided money transfer services from US to india using the bank accounts. Many other leading banks also provide such services.
3) What fees does your service charge? Some services charge high fees for sending small amounts of money. Calculate the fees using the calculating tools available at the websites of leading money transfer companies. Conform with the customer care helpline of the company about what fees you will be charges if the money transfer has to be cancelled due to some unforseen reasons. If you will face trouble with getting your money back, then that money remitting service is not for you.
4) Time to send money: It should usually take few minutes to send money abroad if you are using established services like Paypal, Western Union, Moneygram, Xoom, etc. Check how much time will it take for the money to reach your recipient. In services like Western Union or Moneygram, the money can be taken at the merchant location by your recipient in few minutes after you send it from your place. If the time is too long, then you can reconsider using that service.
5) Does your money transfer service insure your money?
In unforseen circumstances (though these are very very rare), you may lose your money or something bad may happen. Does your service guarantee that the money will reach the person whom it is intended to reach? If yes, then that service is too good for you.
6) Which agent is easily accessible to your Relatives / recipients?
If the money is going to be recieved from the agent / merchant locations of the money transfer service, check with your recipients about the agent which is most easily accessible to them. Then think which one charges lowest fees and the one which offers the easiest servcies. That is how you choose which company to send your hard earned money overseas – abroad. For example if you want to send money to India or send money to Pakistan, you must check which agent / merchant location is easily accessible to your recipient. There may be bad roads, bad transport or insecurity. So this factor assumes a lot of importance in such cases. If you want to send money to Nepal or Srilanka, your relatives may be living in a remotely accessible terrain. You can check the merchant which is easily accessible in the town or city nearest to your family’s location. Anyways, in all cases you want to make sure your relatives and loved ones stay comfortable so this factor is important in that sense.
I’ll keep adding more tips and precautions as i keep getting more feedback from the readers. Do give your feedback to me.
Keep watching articles about various money transfer options and easy ways to send money overseas to Punjab, Gujarat, Karnatake, Kerala (India), Pakistan, Nepal, Phillipines, Mexico, China, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Africa, etc.