5 Vital Elements to Consider When You Send Money Online
Options to send money online are increasing continually to suit the demands of today's busy customers.
In our article, Top 5 Reasons Why You Should Choose Online Money Transfer, we elaborated some key benefits when you send money online.
But whether you send a couple of dollars or wire transfer a million dollars, it is important to understand and consider some vital points to safeguard your interests.
1) Credibility and Reputation of the Money Transfer Services Agent: If you are using a well known and reputed bank to send money online, you are generally safe.
But if are using a money transfer services agent such as an exchange company, it pays to check the credibility and reputation of the organization.
Things to check include: * Is the organization approved and licensed by the Central Bank of that country? (100% Must!) * How many years has the organization been in the business of remittances? * How many branches and employees does the company have? * Does the organization have Correspondent Bank Relationships with leading and reputed banks, including your own bank? (The banks conduct an in-depth due diligence before signing up) * Has the organization partnered with leading Service Providers such as Moneygram? * Does the organization have an After-Sales Support team and are they easily accessible? * What are the Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions of this organization? 2) Knowledge of the Staff serving you: Banks use a lot of codes and other parameters when processing your transactions: SORT, SWIFT, IBAN, IFSC, EFT, RTGS..
..
As a customer, you may or may not know the specific details required for your remittance transaction.
But the staff should! Or, at least, they should be able to get the information from the system and ensure that your transaction is correctly processed.
Various countries, outwards and inwards, have different limits on amounts that may be transferred using different instruments.
The staff should be able to advise you on such things, too.
Errors in such details can delay processing of your transactions by several days or weeks.
3) Adherence to Regulatory Requirements While we cover the regulatory requirements in more detail in our article titled Understanding AML and KYC Requirements for Remittance Transactions, suffice now it is to know that most regulatory bodies insist on the agent capturing the identity of the sender (you).
This is for your own protection and benefit and should never be avoided.
This normally involves just providing your valid ID such as Passport, Driving License etc.
If your agent is making it sound unimportant and bypasses these procedures, you are better off staying away from this agent.
4) Options for Money Transfers: Though bank-to-bank transfers (a.
k.
a wire transfer or telex transfer, etc.
) are probably most commonly used, alternate options such as Demand Draft are also quite popular.
Instant Cash Payment services are also increasingly gaining popularity considering the ease and speed of money transfer services.
See if your agent has the option that best suits your needs.
5) Competitive Pricing: In today's world of technology advancements, good and swift services do not necessarily mean more $$$.
Ensure that your money remittance agent is giving you the services at competitive rates and charges.
We hope the above points will help you conduct safe and enjoyable money transfers.
In our article, Top 5 Reasons Why You Should Choose Online Money Transfer, we elaborated some key benefits when you send money online.
But whether you send a couple of dollars or wire transfer a million dollars, it is important to understand and consider some vital points to safeguard your interests.
1) Credibility and Reputation of the Money Transfer Services Agent: If you are using a well known and reputed bank to send money online, you are generally safe.
But if are using a money transfer services agent such as an exchange company, it pays to check the credibility and reputation of the organization.
Things to check include: * Is the organization approved and licensed by the Central Bank of that country? (100% Must!) * How many years has the organization been in the business of remittances? * How many branches and employees does the company have? * Does the organization have Correspondent Bank Relationships with leading and reputed banks, including your own bank? (The banks conduct an in-depth due diligence before signing up) * Has the organization partnered with leading Service Providers such as Moneygram? * Does the organization have an After-Sales Support team and are they easily accessible? * What are the Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions of this organization? 2) Knowledge of the Staff serving you: Banks use a lot of codes and other parameters when processing your transactions: SORT, SWIFT, IBAN, IFSC, EFT, RTGS..
..
As a customer, you may or may not know the specific details required for your remittance transaction.
But the staff should! Or, at least, they should be able to get the information from the system and ensure that your transaction is correctly processed.
Various countries, outwards and inwards, have different limits on amounts that may be transferred using different instruments.
The staff should be able to advise you on such things, too.
Errors in such details can delay processing of your transactions by several days or weeks.
3) Adherence to Regulatory Requirements While we cover the regulatory requirements in more detail in our article titled Understanding AML and KYC Requirements for Remittance Transactions, suffice now it is to know that most regulatory bodies insist on the agent capturing the identity of the sender (you).
This is for your own protection and benefit and should never be avoided.
This normally involves just providing your valid ID such as Passport, Driving License etc.
If your agent is making it sound unimportant and bypasses these procedures, you are better off staying away from this agent.
4) Options for Money Transfers: Though bank-to-bank transfers (a.
k.
a wire transfer or telex transfer, etc.
) are probably most commonly used, alternate options such as Demand Draft are also quite popular.
Instant Cash Payment services are also increasingly gaining popularity considering the ease and speed of money transfer services.
See if your agent has the option that best suits your needs.
5) Competitive Pricing: In today's world of technology advancements, good and swift services do not necessarily mean more $$$.
Ensure that your money remittance agent is giving you the services at competitive rates and charges.
We hope the above points will help you conduct safe and enjoyable money transfers.