An electronic bank transfer can cost as much as £25 to send money
back home
for those who have settled in the UK, which is not ideal, especially
for regular
transfers and for small sums of money.
International money transfer agents, such as Western Union and Moneygram,
offer a quick way to send and receive money to/from those back home
but
this can be quite expensive. Money can be sent online, over the phone
or at
an agent's branch and must then be collected at a local branch in
the recipients
country. But again this method is expensive, particularly for small
sums.
For example, to send 496 Polish zloty (equivalent to £93.80) from
the UK would
cost about £100, which takes into account the exchange rate and a
£4.99 fee.
The solution is a prepaid credit cards issuer where you can obtain
additional
supplementary cards to send to your siblings anywhere in the world
where they
are able to access funds via atms that are part of the visa/mastercard
network.
This then becomes a simple solution for sending & receiving cash
on a card to
card basis, with low charges.
The prepay card market is fast becoming the preferred choice for thousands
of immigrants sending cash home. Prepay cards, which can typically
be bought
with two forms of identification (passport or drivers licence &
utility bill –
not mobile phone bill though), enables cash to be loaded onto a prepaid
debit card
which can then be used to pay for goods in shops, online or withdrawn
from
cash machines, using chip and Pin technology, worldwide.
There are maximum limits applied on the cards - typically £6,000.
Most prepay
card issuer’s, will allow cardholders two cards so one can be used
in the recipients
country by a family member. It can cost £1.50 to send money overseas
and then
there is an average £2 charge to withdraw cash in the recipients country.
Compared to a money transfer company that could charge up to £10
Western Union and Moneygram are global leaders in worldwide money
transfer
solutions. You can send money to friends and family all over the world,
including
Somalia, Ghana, Nigeria, in Africa, Jamaica in the Caribbean, India,
Poland and
Eastern European countries. Wire transfers are relatively simple to
carry out.
Other money transfer service providers include Dahabshiil who wire
cash to
Somalia East Africa and many other locations worldwide, so do TMT.
