Many of us have to send money out of the country. No matter how “old hat” you are about it, it’s always a concern. You want to ensure your funds get where they’re going safely, but using legitimate transfer services can be expensive.
Statistics show that personal transfers to foreign residents in the United States have more than doubled in the past two decades. Over $50 billion in personal transfers are sent through various formal or informal channels.
With such massive transactions going on, it’s easy to see how cybercriminals make their money, but you want yours to be protected.
So how can you transfer money abroad for business or to your friends and family safely and quickly without spending a fortune on fees? We’ve put together the top methods broken down by category to help you decide which one is best for you.
- Best for Security: API Transfers
The new kid on the block, API payments came on the scene years ago and displaced traditional instant money transfer methods.
Short for Application Programming Interface, APIs like VictorFi help e-commerce businesses manage payments from multiple accounts. Connecting them seamlessly speeds up transactions and enhances security.
Benefits of APIs
Payment APIs simplify the payment process for the business and the consumer. You can store funds, manage them, move them securely through an API, and embed payments into any app. From there, the API lets you process wire transfers and RTP without a lag.
If you’ve used an app, electronic program, or banking service to send money, you’ve interacted with a banking API. They connect an endpoint, or provider, to the funds, ensuring only the essential information is issued to the receiver.
Integrative APIs implement into the financial processing system or can be embedded into an app that processes payments.
Security measures are built into the API code. You can't access the funds if you don’t have the API key. It’s the most secure way to send and receive money and the way of today and the future.
- Best for Those Without Bank Accounts: PayPal
When you’re sending funds to your family or friends, PayPal is the way to go. It's designed as a peer-to-peer (P2P) interface that gives you flexibility in how you send and receive money.
Senders transfer funds into a receiver’s PayPal account. Recipients can then transfer the funds to their bank account instantly for a fee or wait for the money to enter their account. This usually happens the next day but can take two to three days.
If the recipient doesn’t have a bank account, they can leave the money in their PayPal balance and spend it from there directly. Similar to ApplePay and other platforms, PayPal is accepted by many retailers as a method of payment.
However, there are international transfer fees through PayPal, starting at .99 and going up to $4.99. The maximum amount you can send if your account is unlimited is limited to $10,000 per transaction. Verified accounts can send up to $60,000 per transaction.
- Best for Exchange Rates: WorldRemit
Transferring dollar-to-dollar internationally is a simple enough matter once you find the platform that meets your needs for speed, security, and cost. Another factor to consider is the exchange rate if the funds will go through an exchange from dollars to the recipient’s monetary system. Each service provider charges its own fees and uses varied exchange rates.
WorldRemit’s cash transfer fees are one of the lowest you’ll find, and the exchange rates are competitive. Once you sign up and verify your account, the platform lets you send money to over 130 countries.
With WorldRemit, you can send money via your bank account, a credit, debit, or prepaid card, or through platforms like Poli, Google Pay, Apple Pay, Interac, iDEAL, Soford, and Trustly. The fees vary based on where the funds are going and how much you’re sending.
Digital transfers are almost instantaneous, or you can opt for home delivery, which takes up to seven days. There may be transaction limits depending on the country where the funds are received. Debit, credit, and prepaid cards have a $5,000 limit per transaction, with a $9,000 maximum within 24 hours.
Conclusion
You have plenty of choices when you need to send money overseas. The method you prefer depends on your focus. These three international transfer options are the best for security, flexible funding, and exchange rates.
