Choosing a Money Transfer Service to India: 5 things to think about
Friday, Sep 19, 2008
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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