10 tips to save costs when sending money abroad

For many years, bank account deposits and cash have been the only available ways to send and receive money anywhere in the world. However, the cost of these operations tends to be rather high, as the banks charge high commissions when making international payments because of the control and the processing among multiple systems and operators they need.

Things have changed and cryptocurrencies have become the medium many countries all around the world were waiting for. Colombia, Mexico and Dominican Republic are three very clear examples, since they can now send and receive money from European countries in only seconds and at a very low cost. With this alternative, many Latin American countries with difficulties to access to banking services are reducing their financial poverty.

Are you tired of assuming large costs when you send money abroad? Stay with us and check out these tips.

Are you in Latin America? Save costs in your international transfers

The way in which we pay, buy, send and receive money has changed quite a lot. Considering the alternatives the online world offers and the technological progress, options have multiplied. However, it’s important to keep on mind these 10 tips:

1. Regardless of the way you choose, don’t forget about the time the money will take on arriving to the recipient, nor about the time you’ll need to make the delivery. Speed is important, so try to have your payments done almost instantly, no matter in which part of the world both of you live. Say goodbye to long waits and commissions.
2. Try to keep the cost of the commission low, since many times they are even bigger than the amount of money you’re actually sending. Choose which fare you want to pay in order to get priority to your international transfers, or even do it for free. Payments based on blockchain technology are decentralised and don’t have large costs.
3. Increase control, transparency and follow-up in your operations with the traceability offered by blockchain technology. Your operations’ information will be logged transparently and safely thanks to its way of working without intermediaries.
4. Be sure about the safety in your operations and make anyone able to check out the chain’s accounting record. This feature allows to check the success or failure of the operation should any problem come out, preventing anyone to alter or hide data from the chain. This is conclusive evidence that would give a great advantage before a judge or any other legal representative.
5. Check whether the speed and costs are roughly similar when sending money both to Europe and to Latin America. Doing so you can be sure not only that you will receive money at a low cost, but also that you will be able to send it without paying high commissions which may harm your economy and safety.
6. Perform your operations in the easiest possible way and let other people work online with the same currency. Some virtual currencies have already earned respect from companies and industries thanks to their safety and the advantages they provide.
7. Draw on the online universe to perform payments and avoid intermediaries in the transaction. If someone wants to send money via virtual currencies, for example, he only needs to know which is the digital wallet that will get the transfer and approve it. Money will arrive in a safe and verifiable way.
8. Minimise fraud risks by using a system where transactions can’t be reverted. That is, where money sending and receiving are guaranteed preventing the manipulation of its procedures. Your identity must be hidden unless you want to show it.
9. Download apps from official systems, such as the Davies one if you’re using cryptocurrencies, or any other bank if your operation will assume the intermediaries’ cost.
10. Beware of the WiFi network to which you’re connected when sending or receiving money. If possible, avoid public ones. You never really know who is behind that network, so using a VPN service (virtual private network) before doing any transaction is recommended.

Which means meet all these properties? Cryptocurrencies.

With them, it doesn’t matter where you are, since the money will be sent in seconds due to the lack of intermediaries. The transaction is performed directly between both parts and you will have total control of your money. If you have any doubt, let us know.

A brief history of sending money abroad

Money evolves, and exchanging procedures do too. Just look 10 years ago, when cryptocurrencies had just started. But let’s go to the very beginning…

It all started with Hawala system, a word that means “transparency”. Its origins can be traced on the 7^th Century in south Asia. It was an informal way to send money abroad without the need of physically moving it. Later metal and paper money would arrive to become increasingly more popular means of exchange among the population. First coins were created around year 600 BC in current Turkey, and they were used within the limits of towns, villages or even countries for quite a lot of time. However, as society kept growing, banks needed to create new ways of transferring money between places very far away.

Telegraphs and credit cards were invented, marking the first milestone on online money transfers. In 1851 Western Union, a current electronic transfer company, was founded. In early ‘90s some big petrol companies started to offer “courtesy cards” to be used only once in shops. In the same fashion “Charge-it” cards would arrive to connect businesses with local customers: they were an early form of credit cards. The new system laid the foundations for the model which would rule money and goods transfers without the need of changing cash.

Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) became the global provider of financial messaging through an international bank network. It started with only seven banks, but currently thousands belong to the system. The technological progress that would change it all would arrive in 2009: Bitcoin. It was the first cryptocurrency in history and, thanks to its blockchain technology, these virtual currencies have become the quickest, cheapest and most reliable way of sending and receiving money anywhere in the world nowadays.