Transferring money to India

Like many others who are living abroad, I have a need to transfer money from my US checking account to myself in India. Ideally I’d like to do this online as much as possible. Here are the options I’ve found. Of course there is always Western Union and standard bank wire transfers, but I believe they are costly, especially for small amounts.



Large Amounts (> $500): Currently I think xoom.com is my solution. As far as I can tell, they have low rates and no hidden fees, but we’ll see once I actually use it. You can transfer money from a US bank account to an Indian bank, whether you have an account there or not. Supposedly you can even have the money delivered. Some online reviews have said it is slow (takes days), but that shouldn’t matter too much for me. So here’s how the fees breakdown:

• up to $50 = $5 fee
• $51 - $700 = $2 fee
• over $700 = FREE

That’s right- free over $700. Of course there must be a currency conversion charge at the receiving bank end, but that’s still cheap!

Small Amounts (<$500): Another option is simply withdrawing cash directly from my US account using an Visa ATM card. Some checking accounts offer to refund ATM feed WORLDWIDE (including Charles Schwab and Compass Bank), but I’m not sure about the conversion charge. Again, I think I might just have to try this one out when I hit the ground in India.