Choosing a Money Transfer Service to India: 5 things to think about
Tuesday, Jan 25, 2011
If you are sending money to India for the first
time, you are bound to be puzzled by the wide
selection of services which have aggressive online
advertisements. Low transaction fees and
customer testimonials are usually which governs
their tag lines. For an educated decision on
the right money transfer service, it makes sense
to use the check list below and evaluate them
fairly before using their service.
Reliability: there is no way you
would like to risk your money with a money
transfer service that does not have a high level
of reliability. Since there are no
third-party ratings available for these services,
you can conduct a quick review of their web site,
network of agents, client feedback and reviews
posted at blog sites and get an idea about their
reliability quotient. The good money transfer
services companies tend to have solid
infrastructure (both online and offline) and that
is an excellent benchmark to evaluate reliability.
Another good method of evaluating the level of
reliability is by calling their Customer Support
and gauging the quality and level of replies you
receive by the Support Staff.
Speed of disbursement: Inordinate
disbursement delay by traditional banks is one of
the reasons for the rise of exclusive money
transfer companies globally. Do a test transaction
to see the speed of disbursement. This might take
some time and effort but if you are going to
transfer money regularly to India, you do NOT want
it parked in the bank longer than required. In
fact, money transfer services tend to charge
higher transaction charges when they can offer
high speed of transfers. This is also a good way
of judging the technical prowess of the transfer
service.
Exchange rate offered: I
purposely ranked this third in my list of
priorities as there is not a lot of exchange rate
difference between competing money transfer
services. Since most users would use this as a key
metric which choosing a service, there is a very
minor difference in the rates offered. If it is a
large amount which you plan to transfer, then the
exchange rate does become significantly
important.
Coverage and convenience: Does
the transfer service cater to the regions you need
to send money to? This is an important premise
when sending to non-metros in India. Other than
that, the location of the disbursement centre
should also be conveniently located in India as
well so that money can be collected with minimum
risk. Needless to say, the top-of-the-line money
transfer services tend to have their centres
located in very good locations and have adequate
security provision as well.
Transaction fee: For many of us,
sending money back home is an emotional bond
linking us to the family there. So, it is
difficult to choose a service only based on
transaction fee. Yet, it is an important
aspect to review and most of the times it makes
sense to choose a money transfer service which has
a medium level of transaction fee. Beware of
services offering very low transaction fee as they
might not be able to meet the rest of the criteria
listed above.
Reviewing money transfer services via this simple
check list will help you make an informed decision
and the next time you hear by someone troubled by
money transfer issues, you can be quick to refer
these points to them!
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