Best way to send money home

[canuckfemme]

wire transfers can get really expensive since i pay $25 to wire it home, and my bank acct in canada charges another $10 CAD as service fee. western union is even more expensive! since i have to send money back home monthly to pay bills, what's the cheapest alternative?

thanks in advance for any suggestions!

[Guest]

Hey!

I'm a fellow Canuck from the East Coast. Just wired some money home yesterday! Just did it through my bank (OCBC) and it only cost me $18. It's a percentage of how much you transfer though, so if you are transfering a lot at a time then it will be more. I assume, however, that RBC will charge me some $ from the other end.

No easy way I suppose. It's all a money-grab.

Cheers,

T

[Just a thought]

Is it possible to ask your employer to pay half your money to a local account and half into your canadian account? You probably just get some exchange gain and loss...which is worse? wired fees or that?

[Aurora]

I think there's a CIBC here. If u try opening an account with them, you might get it across cheaper? Or if the bank has some affliation to RBC or CIBC, they charge less, i think. My sis used to send me money from DBS to TD and it was a little less. (can't remember which if it was TD or RBC now but the idea is there)

[dsu]

Hi, not sure this info helps, but have you considered using demand draft (DD) ? I know some places you can get a DD for free !!!

& then you can post it to your local bank in canada.

you can try mustafa travel at serangoon road....good luck

[nav.st]

I think you can just write them a cheque, for free. It just may take about 3 weeks to clear.

[memsing]

Yes, I did that once, just wrote a cheque. After all, we're not on the moon.

[banker?]

Yes, I did that once, just wrote a cheque. After all, we're not on the moon.

Hey the reason why it takes so long for a cheque cashed in overseas to clear is because the overseas bank literally mails the cheque back to Singapore for clearance. The Singapore clearing bank then "wires" the money to a 3rd party agent who will then "wire" the money to the account overseas.
So banks being money grabbing as they are would try to earn little fees here and there.So in this case, it obviously involves many parties hence you pay a heft fee to clear the check.

[Guest]

if you're sending money to a relative, you can simply open an account in singapore to deposit the money.

Then mail a debit card to the relative so they can withdraw overseas. Plus & cirrus are international, and depending on which atm you withdraw from may even be free of charges.

I find this preferrable to money changers & travellers cheques as conversion rates are quite good.

Other than that, transferring money via paypal is another option. The person receiving the money then transfers it to their bank account, which if in the USA is free of charge. In other countries may cost $1 or around that figure.

[lazy to log on]

hello,
Are there any Canadian banks here that actually do commercial transactions?? And Guest, would you mind elaborating more about paypal?ie. How do i do that? Thanks.

[Guest]

you should try HSBC, their online transfers on internet are cheap and fast.

[Guest]

hello,
Are there any Canadian banks here that actually do commercial transactions?? And Guest, would you mind elaborating more about paypal?ie. How do i do that? Thanks.

sorry for not replying earlier. visit www.paypal.com

its pretty straight forward. Paypal is owned by ebay, so its very user friendly for people buying and selling.

within your paypal account you can add funds from any bank account you have. You can also transfer funds back to account of your choice.

If i'm not mistaken though, you do need to "verify" your account to remove some money limitations. This involves a once off $1 charged to your credit card, but they give this back straight away in your paypal account, so it doesn't actually cost you. The point however is, the transaction gives a code on your statement which you then use to validate that the account & email are yours. Then you can transfer unlimited amounts of money you wish once you're given the "verified" category..

Fees, depends on what country you are from and how much you are sending. For example, australia where i'm from (and i'm reading this now straight from the fee section), it costs $1 to transfer amounts under $150 dollars to your bank account, over $150 it's free.

Transfering from your bank acc to paypal is free.

They do however charge 2.5% if there is a currency conversion.

Personally however, I prefer the debit card option myself that I mentioned. Most debit cards can be used internationally because of services such as cirrus, +plus, etc. (look at the back of your atm card and see what services you have).

I frequently travel to singapore and I don't incur any fees whatsoever with several of my atm cards when withdrawing at any singapore atm. With another card I have it does charge me $5 because it utilizes cirrus for debiting. But if you're withdrawing large amounts of money $5 (flat) is pretty good when compared to western union as well as other options.

My suggestion is, if its family you are sending money to, you may as well send the debit card & ring them to tell them the pin once it's arrived. Then they can withdraw cash & pay mortgage or whatever needs to be paid.

You may already have the option of being given a secondary atm card for your account - worth asking about. But even if you can't get a secondary card, just open a second account that you can (using phone/internet banking) transfer some money to so you can still utilize an atm card for day to day expenses.

Anyway, look at all your options,.. someone else here posted something about HSBC being cheap and fast... i guess compare it, and work out which option is less fiddly for you (and how they compare cost-wize)

[Oceanworld]

Citibank Global Transfer is only S$10 per transaction and instant. But the catch is it's only between citibank accounts.
http://www.citibank.com.sg
Citibank Global Transfer

[canuck femme]

i like the debit card option so much! thank you! i wish i read this sooner... the banks are charging way too much for wire transfers, with commissions and cable charges and agent fees!!!!!!!

[chubbygal]

Hi,

u may try western union, it's pretty safe n cheap:)

Chubbygal