REMITTANCE FOR ONLY 4.99

[mpesiao 2]

Im a xoom user but recently they started cancelling my transaction and requested a copy of my id and social security. (no way id just give away a copy of my social security card. )

so i found this site and i was zoo easy to send and its linked in your fb and you can just select from your friends list too.

http://remit.ly/14SA6mn

[Hank_ 9,174]

Its not just XOOM that is asking for that information, and XOOM is only asking for it to meet requirements. There are a variety of states that are requiring all companies that do money transfers to have this information, I also got a notice from XOOM when I tried to send a larger amount so I looked up the regulation they referred to and it was there. It partly depends on the amount sent also.

So be it WU, XOOM or whatever, some states are demanding more info with money transfers over a certain dollar amount.

[Juliet and Steve 93]

Does anyone know what the $ amount is that triggers asking for an ID/SS#?

Remit.ly looks interesting especially as they offer the first transfer with $10 off (or free I'd guess if below a certain amount)>

But it's really not $4.99. One has to consider what the exchange rate is, in other words, in PHP (peso) how many peso per $US you get.

They advertise the rate which I like, right now it's 42.72 PHP/US$ By looking up USD/PHP on finance.yahoo.com you can find the current interbank exchange rate which, from my experience is close to what you get if you have US$100 bills in Cebu. The current interbank rate is 43.53PHP/US$

Therefore the exchange rate loss (or charge) comes to 1.85%, so that would be $18.50 on a thousand dollar transfer if the first transfer is free.

At $4.99 then the transfer for $1000 would be $18.50 + 4.99 or $23.49 or (including the $4.99 fee 2.34% loss of what you send)

That seems about normal to me, but I haven't checked Xoom recently. I did one thing...NEVER use Paypal--we did once and it turned into a multi-hour phone problem with the money eventually being returned to me AFTER the US$ to PHP and AFTER the reverse PHP to USD.

[Hank_ 9,174]

I think the barrier is $1,000. This is a fairly new law with some states as I have transferred more then that before without issue, but recently things changed.

[Teague 6]

Remitly is the best less hassle and convenient,,

[smithmm 1]

Western Union still has free bank transfers. Yes, I note that transfers >= $1000 require an ID reference. RemitHome has one free remittance until the end of August to celebrate their 10th anniversary in business.