Money to Russia

[Rutherford]

We have been sending $250 a month via
 Western Union   to my  wife's son , cost $30 each time .
Thought about sending him a debit card  to retrieve  money from ATM machine  which  would cost nothing .

Any ideas  on how to save money  when sending the $250 to FSU .
How are you experienced guys getting money to Russia  for her family ??
Thx
Ross

[Dave13]

Ross, We sent a ATM card to my wife's mother, she has no problems using it, we have it on a separate account, to insure some safety. Send the card Federal Express, flat rate is around $100.

Dave

[Turboguy]

You can send money by monegram for half the cost of western union and the service is about the same.  The only thing is there are not quite as many pick up locations but here are many.

You can do it online at www.emoneygram.com or at any WalMart as well as many other locations.  I belive we send $ 200.00 at a cost of $ 11.00.

[Gylden]

I allways use a direct wire transfer, from one account to another. Don't see the problem, unless they don't have a bank account.??

[tim 360]

or you could use PayPal    http://www.paypal.com/worldwide/

[roykirk]

or you could use PayPal    http://www.paypal.com/worldwide/

Although keep in mind that Paypal is not yet fully supported in Russia, at least not the last time I attempted to send money to Russia with it (early 2009).  The other thing to be mindful of is that sending ATM cards to Russia could cause a problem.  Credit cards are prohibited to send to Russia, and since a lot of these ATM and debit cards have Visa and Mastercard logos on them, they could get confiscated.  I think it would be pretty rare that they'd take one during a customs inspection, especially if it's sent by Fedex, but it's a possibility.

http://fedex.com/us/international/irc/profiles/irc_ru_profile.html?gtmcc=us#C04

[RussianWind]

If he is not a holder of this debit card, it would be illigal to use it. I would do a direct transfer from/to a bank account. He can open his account and get his own debit/credit card associated with his account. I believe each transfer will cost around $15.

[OlgaH]

Ross, We sent a ATM card to my wife's mother, she has no problems using it, we have it on a separate account, to insure some safety. Send the card Federal Express, flat rate is around $100.

Dave

We did the same. Only we sent by DHL two or more years ago. She has not had any problem using Visa.

[TheOldMan]

We sent an ATM card to Russia inside a book in regular mail.  We've been doing this for years and no real problems.  Well, we use a separate account that we opened especially for this purpose.  Make sure to leave extra to allow for currency exchange fluctuations and costs.  It's definitely the best way to do this.

[Enot]

I use an ATM card for my step son.  I sent it USPS Express mail which takes about 3 weeks and costs about $50.  A direct bank to bank wire deposit also works and cost about $35-$50.

[Rutherford]

Did any of you folks  notify   the bank that your debit card will have on going use in Russia ?                   I am thinking  this may send up a red flag of some sort .

Thanks
RR     

[Simoni]

Did any of you folks  notify   the bank that your debit card will have on going use in Russia ?                   I am thinking  this may send up a red flag of some sort .

Thanks
RR     

No, just sent it.  About a year later the credit card company called me to approve the charges going on it in Ukraine.  I said it was legit and that was that.  No more problems.

[OlgaH]

Did any of you folks  notify   the bank that your debit card will have on going use in Russia ?         

We did.

[Enot]

Did any of you folks  notify   the bank that your debit card will have on going use in Russia ?                   I am thinking  this may send up a red flag of some sort .

Thanks
RR     

I did.  I even notify them when I will be traveling, what dates, and where.  If you don't you run the risk of your card being turned down. credit or debit.

[Vaughn]

How are you experienced guys getting money to Russia  for her family ??

Ross, we send money to my MIL 8-10 times a year. In 2003, I got fed up with all the
charges (like WU) so I set her up with an ATM card. She cannot overdraw. We pay a load
fee of 2 bucks, regardless of amount, we pay another buck and a half for each withdrawal.

Just like TheOldMan above, we've had no problems.

[Rutherford]

How about sending already filled out personal checks so my wife's mom can  deposit one a month into her bank  account ?
Will  the Russian banks honor American personal checks ??

Just considering different  options .


RR

[RussianWind]

I cashed an American check, it's a long way. She will have to pay them about $15 and wait for a couple of months. Plus delivery time, post doesn't work fast here.

[Al_C]

Have you checked out this new thing with Pay Pal?  Supposedly, anyone with an e-mail address can be sent money that way.

[Gator]

Have you checked out this new thing with Pay Pal?  Supposedly, anyone with an e-mail address can be sent money that way.

I presume these are the fees:

http://www.paypal.com/ru/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_display-receiving-fees-outside

A fee of 3.4% if a credit card is used is higher than a moneygram.  Thus, debit card is best for repeated transfers.

However, paypal does not charge fees for domestic transfers if the money is withdrwan from a Paypal "balance."  So maybe that is the way to do it - deposit money in a paypal account.

[Gator]

I allways use a direct wire transfer, from one account to another. Don't see the problem, unless they don't have a bank account.??

What was your experience with fees by your bank and the receiving bank?  Exchange into roubles?

My bank (Bank of America) must use a correspondent bank (an intermediary bank in Europe). My US bank charges $40 for each wire regardless of the amount.  Then the money must be exchanged into roubles unless the Russian account is in $US.  Sometimes the exchange rates are not favorable.

[Gylden]

Gator,
It is different from here, I just went into my nett bank site and sent money myself with the account number. It was only the equivalent of about 12 dollars. It was in her account the next day. You know I think things are much easier from here. No one here even has a checkbook and almost no one knows what it even is.  LOL
If you can believe it I have more trouble sending money to the US.
 

[RussianWind]

Have you checked out this new thing with Pay Pal?  Supposedly, anyone with an e-mail address can be sent money that way.

That's right. But they can't cash it in Russia.

[Gator]

That's right. But they can't cash it in Russia.

Russianwind,

I used to think that it was a "bad sign" if a RW knew everything about sending money to Russia.  You are clearly the exception.     Also, RW are much more informed than 5 years ago. 

[Shadow]

If you wish to use 'vrtual sending' then know that PayPal has a very ;imited acceptance of the Russian market.

There are other companies like : Moneybookers, Yandex money and Webmoney.
However the sending procedures are not always straightforward, and fees are high.

[Jumper]

Ross, We sent a ATM card to my wife's mother, she has no problems using it, we have it on a separate account, to insure some safety. Send the card Federal Express, flat rate is around $100.

Dave

That is what we did in the past. no problems.