Pros and cons of different methods of sending money online from Germany
When sending money from Germany abroad, you’ll be able to choose from online and mobile banking, online international money transfers, wire transfers and foreign exchange services. In this article, you’ll find impartial descriptions of all these methods.
According to Eurostat, Germany accounts for 17.6% of personal remittances from the 27 countries of the European Union. The second place in this rating belongs to France that makes 11.1% of personal remittances. The funds that are sent abroad from Germany are generated largely through seasonal, short-term or border work. However, many people send money abroad as presents to their friends or to support their family members. From this article, you’ll get to know about the most popular and reliable methods of transferring funds from Germany online.
Mobile and Online Banking
To use this method, you should open an account in a German bank, get access to its web app and/or download its mobile app. To transfer funds to a foreign recipient, the system will ask you to indicate their name, the name and address of their bank, IBAN, SWIFT/BIC and account number. Normally, the recipient should get the money almost immediately. Yet sometimes, they might need to wait for a few days.
The fees for online or mobile transfers abroad might vary considerably from one institution to another. When you start reading the bank’s rules, you might find out that you’ll need to pay a flat fee. Please don’t stop at that point and keep reading. Further in the rules, you might come across information about margins and additional costs that you should also take into account. Exchange rates, for instance, might add up to a 7% margin.
According to German laws, both the sender and the recipient might need to pay the fees. Selected banking institutions charge no fees for premium account holders. Digital banks might feature flat account service fees, up to approximately €17 per month, and no extra fees for transferring funds abroad. In this case, there should be no hidden charges, no matter how large the sum is and to what destination you send it.
Mobile and online bank transfers are exceptionally secure. They protect customers’ funds and private data with encryption and powerful ID protection, such as fingerprints or face or voice recognition. If someone loses their bank card or it gets stolen, the card will be blocked immediately.
Online Transfers
To use this type of service, you should create an account on its site and verify your identity. This might take more than 24 hours. Because of government regulations, services have to limit the number of transactions that each client is allowed to carry out daily.
To carry out the transaction, you’ll be required to indicate the name of the recipient, their bank account number and maybe some other data (that would depend on the system). You should pay the money to the service provider using a credit or debit card or via a bank transfer. As soon as the provider gets your funds, it will start transferring them to the recipient. Once the transaction is finalized, the provider will notify you. The recipient might need to wait from a few minutes to five days to get the money.
The commission might vary from 0.5% to 4% of the sum of the transfer. The exact percentage will depend on such factors as the amount of money sent, the speed of the transfer and the exchange rate of the currencies if you need it. Mind that companies with more lucrative exchange rates usually charge higher commissions and those with more affordable fees normally feature less appealing rates.
Wire Transfers
This variant should come in handy for those who transfer money urgently. The recipient will be able to pick up the funds immediately after you send them and there will be no delays. However, the fee for the wire transfer might reach 7% or even 10%.
To use this method, neither the sender nor the recipient needs a bank account. You send the money to the agent through a bank transfer or using a credit/debit card. You’ll need to indicate the name of the recipient and the place where they should pick up the transfer. To claim the money in the agent’s office, the recipient should show their ID.
If you send money through an online interface and not from a brick-and-mortar branch of the service provider, it should not only save your time but also reduce your expenses a bit.
Foreign Exchange Service
They might offer a wide variety of exchange services and transfer tools: 24/7 client support, 0% commissions, lucrative exchange rates, foreign exchange alerts and the option to set individual minimum and maximum exchange rates.
To use this method, register on the service’s site and transfer money to the recipient’s account. The service will exchange your currency, if you need it, and you can send it to the recipient as a transfer. Typically, the recipient should be able to get the funds in around three working days. Sometimes, transfers might be instant, if both the recipient and the sender are registered within the same system.
When you resort to service, you’ll get to know the transfer cost from the onset and will be able to lock in exchange rates. This might be the optimal solution for those who are planning to send money abroad regularly.
Some services might charge no fees for foreign transfers. Yet if you use funds from your bank account, you might need to pay a commission for the transfer to the account on the service. Nevertheless, that would be the affordable cost of a local and not of a cross-border bank transfer.
Final Thoughts
When transferring money from Germany to other countries, you’ll be able to choose from online and mobile banking, online international money transfers, wire transfers and foreign exchange services. That should be quicker, easier and more cost-efficient than visiting an offline branch of a service provider. When selecting an optimal method, please pay attention to such parameters as exchange rates, commissions and the speed of the transfer. All the options that were described in this article are exceptionally safe and reliable. Apart from them, you might want to use some other methods — such as, for instance, cryptocurrencies. But we won’t focus on these alternatives because their respective customer bases are not too numerous yet.
