Family living abroad? What you need to know before an international money transfer

Canada By Janaina Da Costa Sep 20, 2022

Anyone that has family living abroad may need to send money to their relatives, to help them with their expenses or as a gift. But, unfortunately, many of them struggle to make an international money transfer at some point, facing bureaucratic and long processes.

But it doesn’t have to be that way! Before making an international money transfer for your relatives living abroad, you should know that it is possible to make your transfer without getting a headache every time.

Western Union Canada’s app lets you send money to more than 200 countries and territories in a simple and fast way. Do you want to know how? Keep reading!

What do you need to know before making an international money transfer?

Before making an international money transfer, there are some things you need to keep in mind. First, you can choose how you want to pay for your transfer, whether by an online transfer or using your credit card¹, and also choose how the receiver will get the money, note that your available options will vary depending on the conuntry you are sending to.

Your relatives don’t need to have a bank account in their country for you to make your transfer: you can send it to one of Western Union’s stores spread around the world. Then, the recipient will be able to pick it up in cash at the store. And, of course, they can also receive it directly in their bank account.

Another thing you need to know before making an international money transfer is that by using an app like Western Union’s you can make a reliable transfer for your family, without having to wait too long for them to get the money. But how do you do that?

Making an international money transfer for your relatives

One of the reasons why making an international money transfer for your relatives can be fast using an app like Western Union’s is that creating your transfer on the app is quite simple and it takes only 6 steps. Below, you’ll learn what are these steps:

  1. Register and create a profile for yourself. Create a login and password for you to use on your future money transfers;
  2. Click on the “send money” button. Here you will choose the destination country’s currency and you will set the amount of money you wish to send. Remembering this amount must be set in your own currency;
  3. Choose how the receiver will get the money. As said before, they can either pick up the cash in person or receive it directly in their bank accounts;
  4. Choose how you want to pay for the transfer. You have two options here: to pay for it through your credit card1 or by an online money transfer;
  5. Insert the reciever information. You need to insert like the exact name, official ID number, and home country.
  6. Review the details of your transfer. If everything is ok, make the payment with all the fees³ included and write down the transaction register number, MTCN, so you can follow up later.

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