WorldRemit Money Transfers India: Your full guide

For sending money to your family, friends or a business account across the borders, you need an international money transfer service that values your hard earned money. So while you must research and examine various service providers, the most important aspect to look out for is that they charge you fairly, besides offering the best rates. You can compare the fees and rates with Wise to find the best option for you.

WorldRemit is a fast-growing international money transfer agency, which has transformed the way money crosses borders. Setting foot in the industry in 2010, in less than two decades, it has expanded in around 150 countries, has four million customers and deals with close to a hundred currencies¹.

WorldRemit works very well for receiving money in India from abroad, but when it comes to prices and transparency, Wise could be a better candidate. In this guide you will find-

• Receive money internationally with WorldRemit
  * Bank transfers
  * Mobile airtime
  • Sign-up and process
  • Fees and charges
  • How much time does it take
• Send money abroad with WorldRemit
• The true cost of international transfers with WorldRemit
• A cheap, fast and transparent alternative: Wise

Receive money internationally with WorldRemit

WorldRemit allows you to receive money from more than 145 countries, with a very simple process. You can receive money with WorldRemit by two modes of money transfer, namely, Bank Transfers and Airtime top-up².

Bank transfers

Transferring money directly into the bank account is a much-preferred money transfer mode. You can receive money in both personal or business accounts, in any bank in India³ with WorldRemit. However, Indian business accounts can receive not more than ₹1,500,000 and money can be received only in INR⁴.

Mobile airtime

Mobile airtime⁵ top-up is a smart way to send money in the way of mobile recharge. In this, the money transferred adds directly to the recipient’s prepaid mobile phone plan. WorldRemit makes it easy and safe to send airtime to any Mobile Network in India. Please note that mobile airtime money can only be used for making calls, texts, etc, and can’t be converted into cash.

WorldRemit sign-up and process

For receiving money sent by WorldRemit money transfer, you don’t need to sign up into WorldRemit or follow any other procedures. When the sender sends money, you will immediately receive an email and SMS alert. Your amount will be automatically transferred in your bank account or mobile call plan, as selected during the transaction.

WorldRemit fees and charges

With WorldRemit, the fee for transferring money across borders depends on the amount, currencies involved, mode of transfer, etc. With WorldRemit transfers, the sender is charged a transfer fee on a percentage basis. Thus, if you are receiving money through a bank transfer in India, you will receive the entire amount, after the transfer fee deducted by WorldRemit. However, for Mobile airtime top-ups, there will be a tax deduction as per Indian laws at your end. So the money you receive will be around 87% of the amount.

To make it more understandable, let’s consider an example where a sender sends 1000 GBP from the UK to India. In this case, WorldRemit deducts a transfer fee of 2.99 GBP (subject to change), which leaves the amount of 997.01 GBP. Hence, the amount that will be converted will be 997.01 GBP. Now if the selected mode of transfer is through the bank account, there will be no further deductions. But in the case of Mobile airtime, the Indian government will tax the amount converted in INR.

But the good news is that your money transfer experience could be even better with Wise. How? Let’s take another example. See the table below, which compares WorldRemit and Wise with respect to the transfer fee, exchange rate and money received, when an amount of 1000 GBP is sent from the UK account to Indian account in INR.

collected on 23 May 2019

There is no such thing as free transfers, so WorldRemit secretly hides its fee in its exchange rate. On the other hand, Wise offers a fairer currency exchange rate, which is the real mid-market rate at any given point⁶, without any hidden fees.

How much time does it take

Once the payment is made by the sender, you will receive the money within one business day in case of bank transfers. For Mobile Airtime transfers, the money will reach your mobile account instantly, or within a few minutes.

Send money abroad with WorldRemit

WorldRemit doesn’t offer the service to transfer money from India to abroad, yet. You can only receive money.⁷

The true cost of international transfers with WorldRemit

No doubt, WorldRemit is a convenient and safe way to transfer money, but do you know what is the real amount it costs you? To get a fair idea of the true cost of transferring money with WorldRemit, see the example below.

Let’s again take the example of transferring 1000 GBP from the UK to India in INR.

collected on 23 May 2019

WorldRemit charges a marked-up exchange rate, instead of actual mid-market rate. In simple words, they charge a hidden fee for international money transfers. The hidden fee charged by WorldRemit can, in fact, pile up to a greater amount if you transfer money more frequently.

A cheap, fast and transparent alternative: Wise

When sending money to your friends, family or clients, you need to be sure of how much you are actually paying towards the money transfer, as exchange fee, and if you are being offered the actual rates.

Wise, unlike other service providers, lets you check the fee and actual amount that will be received by the recipient before sending the money. Wise doesn’t have any hidden fees and offers the real mid-market rate, just as they are. To check how Wise could be the best option for you, you can compare it with other money transfer agencies.

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