Foreign bank transfers usually involve many formalities, additional fees and waiting several days for the transfer to reach the recipient. Nowadays, when we live faster and more mobile, we need payments that can keep up with us. What alternatives can you use to successfully send money overseas?
Foreign cash transfers
If we have cash that we would like to send overseas, there are several options available. One of them is a postal order that we will make at local post offices. The time of the transfer depends both on the country to which we want to send the money, as well as the way they are received by the recipient - in cash or to a bank account. The average time for such a transfer is 2-3 business days, though for some destinations it may be up to a week.
Foreign money transfers are also offered by some companies specializing in this type of services, including Western Union. When using their services, however, you should usually consider a commission for the transfer. To some destinations, especially in the European Union, immediate delivery is possible. For other countries, expect to wait for funds to be delivered.
Electronic wallets
When looking for a way to send money abroad from your bank account, you can consider using e-wallets. An electronic wallet (or e-wallet) is the digital equivalent of a physical wallet. It can be used to deposit and withdraw funds in electronic form, transfer them between users of a given e-wallet or linking cards. It is a type of account that we set up on a platform that offers financial services, such as PayPal, Skrill, Google Pay or Apple Pay.
The main advantage of using electronic wallets is their intuitive operation, often through a mobile application and the speed of transfers between their users. If you want to use an e-wallet to send money abroad, however, remember that in order to receive funds, the recipient must have an account within the same service provider. The transfer is carried out instantly, but the process takes place within the network of users - from one e-wallet to another. Because the money does not go directly to our account, but to the virtual wallet, an additional transfer from the e-wallet may be necessary to dispose of the funds fully freely. This, in turn, usually takes about 2-3 days, depending on our bank.
Before opening an account on such a platform, you should also check level of per-transaction commissions and conditions for charging fees for maintaining an e-wallet. Some service providers reserve the right to charge such fees if the users are inactive for a certain period of time.
Card-to-card transfer
If the recipient to whom the funds are to be sent is a Visa or Mastercard holder, it is worth considering a card-to-card transfer. What is it about? This is a new generation form of transfers that ensures instant transaction processing.
The Rebell Pay mobile app works just like this. Thanks to the maximally simplified procedure, you do not need to know the bank name, BIC, SWIFT code or IBAN number, which can be quite a problem with traditional bank transfers. The recipient's Visa or Mastercard number is sufficient to complete the transaction. If you don't know it, nothing is lost! You can use the phone number of the transfer recipient. We will send him an SMS with a secure link to enter the card number to which he would like to receive the transfer. Importantly, the recipient of your payment does not have to be a Rebell Pay user to receive the funds that you are sending. If your amount of transfers is less than 250 euros within 30 days, you will not incur any fees for making the transfer - transferring with Rebell Pay is then free!
Sounds good? If you want to learn more, see our blog post: Card to card transfer - what is it and how to do it safely?