As recently as a single generation ago, lands overseas were something exotic and unknown. You had to listen to stories, watch films, and listen to brave travellers who had been to these strange destinations with names like Barcelona and Las Vegas and Tokyo. Fast forward to the modern world and the combination of the internet and cheap air travel has transformed the world into a sort of global village. Many of us have international components of our lives – with intermittent if not daily considerations. For example, we ourselves may now live abroad, or our friends and family might have moved away. Alternatively, you may have met someone who was a visitor in your country and developed a friendship that means you now have a weekly call across time zones. Whatever your involvement with the outside world, you may have the occasional need of sending money overseas. Anyone can do it. So, what are the considerations?

Make sure the transaction is reliable

Sending money electronically overseas can be a safe and secure method of making the numbers in one bank account go up and the numbers in another go down as per your wishes. However, you need a reliable service to ensure that you don’t run into any difficulties (see exiap.com for comparison services, for example). When it comes to your money, don’t just listen to any old company claiming to be able to provide advice and services without doing your research. A failed transaction is no joke when you’re attempting to coordinate an international lost-and-found search mission for your missing money (especially when the best time to speak to certain authorities may be in the middle of the night for you, due to the time difference). 

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Plan ahead to save money on your transfer

Different banks may offer different exchange rates at different times of the year for different currencies. Furthermore, the charges applied to your exchange may alter significantly depending on how much money you wish to transfer overseas or across borders from one country to another country. Of course, sometimes, you may not have the luxury of planning your international money transfer ahead of time (if you are purchasing a property, for example, you may need instant same-day funds with no real option to send the money at a more financially beneficial time). Nevertheless, the advice remains that wherever possible, you should aim to plan your international money transfers to make the best use of potentially lower transfer fees and costs of remittance.