Want to transfer money to loved ones who live away from you? 
Already transfer money aboard regularly using one of the famous money transfer companies?

If you do this or are about to, then you should certainly look into using a prepaid card as a cost effective alternative for money transfer.  We’re not saying it’s for everyone, but we think it could certainly be cheaper for some, depending upon where you need to send your money, plus you get all the extra utility of a prepay card.

So why are prepay cards a good alternative to Money Transfer?  There are a few reasons to be honest:

• Every time you transfer money you pay a fee, usually a percentage of the amount you are sending.  Although you have to pay for your prepay card, and sometimes have follow up fees, often this is the cheaper option.  Simply pick the right card and pricing plan, and you can minimise any ongoing fees.  Once you have chosen wisely, you should be able to cut down any losses on the money transfer fees.
• When you transfer money, the recipient generally has to collect it from a specific place, be it a Post Office or an ‘agent’ of the company that you are using.  With a prepay card the person you are getting the money to simply needs to go to an ATM machine! So if you have a MasterCard, the ‘transferee’ uses a MasterCard ATM, the same goes for Visa.
• Your transferee doesn’t even have to use his or her card just for cash, it can be used in any store that accepts the prepay card you both have. 

How does it work?

The important point is that you don’t actually transfer anything, you simply share an account where your money sits. You then use your cards to access or top up the account. But you do need to get yourself set up.  The following summary should explain it all:

1. You need to get an additional card for your account in your friend or family member's name. Actually, you can usually get up to 4 or 5 additional cards (as long as you are fully approved – see the card verification rules to see how) which is good if you want to pass money to a number of people. Just make sure you are happy with who has access to your account!

2. You send the additional card (or cards, but we’ll assume we don’t need to say this again as you have to do the same for one prepay card as for 4!) to your lucky recipient, wherever they are in the whole wide world.  Remember to check though what kind of card is most practical for them though, for example, if they are in America, you should make sure you get a MasterCard or Visa (they may struggle to use a Maestro or something similar.

3. You then put money into your prepay account that you want to ‘send’ away.  And, this is the great bit, because you are just putting your money into your account your money isn’t going anywhere, so as soon as it is in your account your additional cardholder has immediate access to it!  Simple and quick, and at no extra cost. 

4. All you need to do is pick the right card for you!  To make your decision, you need to think about how you want to use your card and if it’s only for money transfer then you need to ask how often do you want to send money abroad? 

• Every week or month?  Think about getting an monthly prepay card so that you aren’t paying an additional fees without any reason, such as the Virgin prepay card. If you aren’t going to use the card in the UK, you could get one of the Travel cards, such as the ICE Travellers cashcard or Caxton FX. Just don’t forget to get the additional card to send abroad.

• Every now and then?  Look at the pay as you go cards.  You don’t want to be paying monthly fees unnecessarily so you may find it’s cheaper to pay a little extra per use if it’s only occasional.  The Virgin, Tuxedo or cashplus gold card may be suitable, or again take a look at one of the travel cards such as Caxton FX or ICE Traveller cashcard.

See our Card Chooser for more help.