Last updated on September 15th, 2023 at 12:42 am
The final months of the year are a magical time in many different countries and cultures. It’s a time when people across the globe gather with family and friends to celebrate festivals of immense religious and historical significance. Gift gifting can be a cherished part of such festivities, and there’s no reason to feel left out if you can’t be with your loved ones in person during the holiday season.
Thanks to Remitly, it’s easy to send money home for the holidays, making your presence felt even if you’re thousands of miles away. Here are five reasons why Remitly may be the ideal way for you to treat the people you care about.
1. Great Exchange Rates
When you’re sending a financial gift to a loved one, you’ll want your payment to translate into as much of your home country’s currency as possible. Bearing this in mind, the exchange rate provided by a bank or money transfer company is a crucial thing to consider with any remittance you make. After all, this tells you how much one unit of your current country’s currency will equate to back home.
Say, for example, you’re based in the UK and want to send money home for the holidays as a Christmas gift to a relative in Kenya. You may see a remittance company offering an exchange rate of 1 GBP = 158 KES. This means a hypothetical £50 gift would translate to 7,900 Kenyan shillings.
A number of factors can influence how currencies compare in value on the international market. These include the respective countries’ interest rates, their ratio of imports and exports, and the monetary policies of their central banks. While these big geopolitical considerations are beyond your control, it’s important to remember that the precise exchange rate available to customers will differ between banks and remittance companies. So, it’s a good idea to shop around to see where you can enjoy a rate that turns the amount you’re sending into as much of your home country’s currency as possible.
That’s what you get with Remitly. As we’re entirely online, we don’t have to cover the running costs of land-based premises, and this saving means we can afford to provide highly competitive exchange rates to our customers.
2. Speed
When sending money back home, the last thing you want is for your recipient to be kept waiting a long time, especially when festivities are underway. This is why offering a speedy service is integral to Remitly. What’s more, many of our customers are also able to select how quickly they’d like the money to be delivered. Depending on where your recipients are based, you may be able to choose between the Express option, which is ideal if you want the money to get there fast, or the Economy route, when time isn’t of the essence.
However you choose to send money home for the holidays, Remitly will keep you informed with real-time updates on your mobile device, so you’ll know exactly when your festive gift reaches its destination.
3. Security
Over five million people around the world trust Remitly to send their money, so it almost goes without saying that security is top of our list of priorities. Our customers’ accounts are protected by two-factor authentication (2FA) and the same kind of cutting-edge encryption technology employed by banks and government agencies.
Round-the-clock fraud monitoring is integral to Remitly, with automated risk management procedures running 24/7 to identify any signs of suspicious activity. We also have a team of in-house security experts who manually monitor our operations, staying vigilant for potential vulnerabilities, upgrading systems, and fixing any issues that might arise.
As we touched on earlier, you’ll receive updates on every step of every transfer, so you’ll have complete peace of mind throughout the process. You can also check the progress of your transfer through the Remitly app or website.
4. Customer service
Whenever you’re sending your hard-earned money online, it’s reassuring to know there are people on hand to answer your questions and resolve problems. At Remitly, we’re always ready to help with any issue related to your account or transfer, with customer support staff available via online live chat, 24 hours a day. You can open up the chat window and speak to Remitly staff who are fluent in English, French, and Spanish.
Alternatively, we have staff fluent in English and Spanish ready to chat on the phone between 5am and 11pm PT. So, in the unlikely event of a delay with your transfer, or any other problem, you won’t be left wondering what to do.
5. Disbursement methods
Convenience is key to international money transfers. After all, whether you’re sending a gift for the holiday season or providing ongoing financial support, it can be pretty frustrating if your loved ones aren’t able to receive the money in a way that suits them.
At Remitly, we support a range of disbursement methods. Depending on the country you’re sending money to, your friend or relative may be able to receive money by:
- Bank transfer, which means the money will simply land in their account, ready to be used. Your recipient won’t have to do anything at all except wait for the gift to get there.
- Mobile money, where the funds are sent to eligible mobile money apps in your home country. This is a particularly important service for customers sending money to countries where mobile apps are the norm, like China.
- Cash pickup, so your recipient can collect the money in banknotes from a designated location that’s convenient for them. A great solution if your loved one doesn’t have a bank account.
- Home delivery, which as the name suggests means the money is delivered as cash by courier to your loved one’s door. This is a popular option for those living in rural or remote locations.
So, however you send your gift, Remitly will make the process as secure, as fast, as fairly priced, and as convenient as possible.
Further Reading: Spring Cleaning with Your Finances: 3 Steps for a Fresh Start