If you are ready to send money to family, friends or colleagues in Russia, you don’t want to have to deal with a lot of hassle and unnecessary expense， then you must avoid using a bank. Because banks are notorious for providing quite dismal exchange rates on international wire transfers, not to mention charging high fees on each transaction.
So, what else methods can you choose especially when you just need to send a small amount?
Today, Let’s compare 3 popular money transfer providers to find out which one suit you best.
1.Traditional methods: WesternUnion
You will not strange to the two famous money transfer companies. They have a very similar service in sending money abroad, which is fast but with not cheap fees. And they both have an extensive network of offices in different countries and regions.
Normally, sending below 500$ through Western Union cost 5$. so if you just want to send 100, it still cost 5$. and it is even more expensive to send via debit or credit card. So, to conclude, sending a small amount of money through a western union is not a wise choice. It suits for a large amount of demand. For example, to send 3000$ cost 15$ fees.
2. Online payment service: Paypal
PayPal is a payment method already known by virtually anyone, which allows you to buy in many websites, as well as transferring money between users by email. Other similar methods implemented in Russia are WebMoney and Yandex Money.
PayPal, contrary to what many people think, is not an economic method to send money to Russia. PayPal charges a fee of 0.5% (send from bank account) when it comes to international personal money transactions to Russia, and 3.9% if it’s sent from a credit card, whether debit or credit. and the exchange rate is not competitive.
Also, if the recipient wants to transfer this money to its Russian bank account, it would have to wait a couple of days to have the money available.
3.Advanced international payment platform: Epay
Epay dedicated to international payment industry for 5 years. It builds a global remittance network to save money and speed up the transfer time for global remittance users. Epay has over 6000 local remittance agents all over the world at present.
The payment currency supported by Epay now is EUR, GBP, AUD, HKD, JPY, and SGD. It means you can send all these currencies to Russia, and the receiver receives it by RUB. To transfer 100 EUR to RUB cost 1 EUR only. and the exchange rate is very competitive.
In conclusion, Western Union suits for large amount transfer, Paypal has a weak exchange rate, so it is not recommended. Epay has both a competitive exchange rate and low fee. You can choose a payment service that suits you best by comparing the exchange rate, fee, transfer time and the amount to send.