When dealing with sending money overseas, you are going to come across the word remittance. This simply means a transfer of money across borders, typically from a sender who is native of one country to a companion or business associate who happens to be a native of another country.
A good example of this at the lower end of the financial transaction scale is sending a birthday gift in the form of money to a foreign friend, with a relative extreme of the process (that common people may experience) being buying a property abroad. The fact is that it’s actually quite easy to send money overseas.
In fact, it’s as easy as sending a text message. You need the relevant software, of course, but hitting send and closing your phone or laptop will do the trick – in most cases.
You see, although sending money overseas can be an easy thing to do, there may be things to consider that can help to iron out any creases.
Compare services for the best exchange rates
As the old saying goes, there’s no such thing as a free lunch.
How does that relate to sending money overseas? Exchange rates and other fees do, unfortunately, apply to all instances of money transfers from one country to another. The good news is that not all services charge you the same amount of money to go about your business.
For example, see the money transfer comparison by exiap.com. Not only can you compare the costs of services for today’s rates, but where you have the time, you can actually plan to send money at periods of the year where you can benefit from lower rates and fees.
Obviously, this will not always be an option, but worth considering if your situation means that you are likely to make multiple or repeated overseas cash transactions.
Consider your wider options
Consider that what is inconvenient for you as the sender of overseas funds may also be inconvenient for the recipient of the funds.
What does this mean?
There are several ways to send money overseas. This could include sending money online, sending a cheque, or paying the exchange rates in your own country for hard cash and taking a flight to deliver the monies in person.
Realizing that an option may exist between the two parties in terms of acceptable time frames and lower charges may mean a change of plans for the better.
