Bank Alfalah international money transfer: Your full guide

Bank Alfalah offers an easy service to receive money, also called a remittance, in Pakistan from friends and family overseas. Bank Alfalah has a Home Remittance service that lets resident Pakistanis receive money in a Bank Alfalah bank account or for cash pick up.

Bank Alfalah makes it easy to receive money into one of its accounts, but check closely for the fees on each transfer. Sometimes transfers can be cheaper with other online providers which let’s receivers get more from a transaction. Read on to learn more about money transfers with Bank Alfalah and cheap ways to send money to Pakistan.

Send money to Pakistan with mid-market exchange rate and low fees with Wise Web/Android/ iOS app.

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How to remit money to Pakistan with Bank Alfalah

Bank Alfalah has a Home Remittance service to help make transfers easier to bank accounts and for cash pick up in Pakistan. Home remittance let's overseas Pakistani workers send money through global partners abroad. Senders should go to the partner website to complete the transfer, and Bank Alfalah will process and deposit the money.

Here are a few of the partners that Bank Alfalah works with for Home Remittance:

• Remitly
• Moneygram
• Xoom
• Enjaz
• Alrajhi Bank
• Ria money transfers
• Transfast
• Hellopaisa
• Western Union

Bank Alfalah has the full list of partners on their website.

You can use any of these partners to send money directly to a Bank Alfalah bank account as a deposit, or for a cash pickup in Pakistan.

The benefit of using one of these partners is that accounts can be instantly credited once the money is processed by the sender. And cash can be picked up from any of Bank Alfalah’s 700 branches.

One thing to keep in mind are the fees for sending money with the partner services. It is a good idea to research and compare different companies to see which one has the lowest fees. And while this is Bank Alfalah’s primary international money transfer service, you can use other companies to send money to bank accounts in Pakistan. ¹

Receiving money internationally with Bank Alfalah

Receiving money in Pakistan is easy with Bank Alfalah. You will first need to know how your sender transferred the money to you. It is either by a direct deposit into your Bank Alfalah account, or for cash pick up at a bank branch. All payments are received in Pakistani Rupees.

For money transfers into a Bank Alfalah bank account, the amount is instantly deposited to the account once it has been paid and processed from the sender’s side. Receiver’s will be notified when the money is deposited by SMS. Receiver’s with a deposit into a bank account will not need to take any actions, but it is a good idea to have the sender input the receiver’s mobile number to stay updated on the transfer.

For cash pickups, the receiver will be notified by SMS when the funds are ready. It can be picked up from any Bank Alfalah branch in Pakistan. This service is also called Cash-over-Counter at Bank Alfalah. When the money is ready in Pakistan, the receiver will need to go to the bank branch with this information:

• The transaction’s unique reference number from the sender
• A valid and original government-issued ID

Once the receiver has presented the information and their identity is verified, they can receive the transfer in cash.

Receivers without a Bank Alfalah account can still receive money transfers through the Home Remittance service, but the money will come the same day and not instantly once processed. ²

Bank Alfalah international money transfer charges

Bank Alfalah does not charge for receiving money into a bank account or for cash pickup. The bank’s services are free of cost.

But there are charges and fees when sending money from abroad to Bank Alfalah. The fees will depend on how the money is being sent and which partner or service is used. But typically, there are two main fees to expect- the transaction fee and an exchange rate fee.

The transaction fee is a charge for doing the transaction. This can be a flat fee or a percentage of the transfer amount. Some services may not charge a transfer fee as a promotion.

The second fee is the exchange rate fee. This is hidden in the exchange rate the sender gets when converting dollars or Euros to Pakistani Rupees. The mid-market exchange rate, without any fees or markups, is what you see on Google. If the exchange rate the sender is getting is different from that, then you know there is an exchange rate fee. And while this difference can seem small, it adds up quickly.

Sometimes when you see a promotion with no transfer fee, it is a good idea to check if there is an exchange rate fee. The exchange rate fee can be more expensive, but it is harder to see.

Here is an example of how the fees matter when sending $1,000 USD to Pakistan with a service like WorldRemit and a mid-market exchange rate service like Wise:

as of 15 October, 2022

Simply by using Wise, a receiver can get Rs. 3,000 more in a transaction than WorldRemit. Even though WorldRemit does not have a transaction fee, it has a large exchange rate fee which reduces how much a recipient gets. .

Send money to Pakistan with Wise

Wise uses smart technology to make transactions cheap and easy. Plus, a Wise account is free to open and use. Get started on your first transfer with Wise today with just a few simple steps:

1. Head to Wise or download the mobile app on iOS or Android
2. Register for a free account with your email address, Google account or Facebook log in
3. Confirm your email address and you are ready to go
4. From the Wise dashboard, type in how much you want to send
5. Review the fee, delivery time and receiver’s amount
6. Pay for the transfer with a debit or credit card, or a bank transfer
7. Submit your transfer
8. Done!

You will be notified when your transfer is complete and when it has been deposited in your recipient’s account in Pakistan. On popular routes, your money can be in a Pakistani account within an hour.

• Please see Terms of Use for your region or visit Wise Fees & Pricing for the most up-to-date pricing and fee information.

• The speed of transaction claim depends on funds availability, approval by Wise’s proprietary verification system and systems availability of our partners’ banking system, and may not be available for all transactions

Time it takes to receive money with Bank Alfalah

It can be quick and easy to receive money with Bank Alfalah, but it depends on what service or partner the sender has used. Bank Alfalah will automatically credit the bank account or make cash available once the transfer is processed and sent to the Bank. But depending on what partner or service the sender has used, the money can arrive at Bank Alfalah the same day or it can take a few days.

The sender will be informed when they are completing the transfer how long the money will take to arrive. Check with your sender so you can know when to expect the money.

Bank Alfalah has a remittance tracker on its website to help know the status of a transfer. ³

Bank Alfalah remittance limit

Pakistani residents who are receiving money with Bank Alfalah can get a maximum of Rs. 500,000 per day. Check with your sender because there might be limits from the sender’s side too.⁴