How to Send Money to Pakistan

If you’ve immigrated to the United States from Pakistan, then you’ll want to send money back home from time to time. This is more important for first-generation immigrants who have the majority of their family members back home. But when sending the money, there are certain things you need to take care of. In this article, we’ll explain those things to you and the best options you can adopt.

Can You Send Money To Pakistan From The US?

The United States adds the most number of immigrants to its tally than any other country. Recognizing that they’ll actively need to send money back home, it has one of the most flexible offshore remittance policies. The US is also the leading source of foreign remittances, Russia and Saudi Arabia taking the second and third spots, respectively. In 2019, the remittance market stood at $689 billion.

But to curb money laundering, there are various laws you must abide by, and these laws are strict. But these are all handled by companies facilitating the transaction. You must use their services to stay on the right side of the law.

So to answer the question of whether you can send money to Pakistan from the US, yes, you can send money to Pakistan in addition to various other countries like India, and there are various options at your disposal.

But there are a few things you need to take care of. Those are:

Exchange Rates

The first thing you need to look at is the exchange rate. When you send money from the US to Pakistan, your money gets converted from US Dollars to Pakistani Rupees. The exchange rates, which keep fluctuating every second, determines how much the recipient will receive. Higher the rates, the more money they’re likely to get. If 1 USD equals 80 PKR, then they’ll receive 80000 PKR for every $1000 sent.

Cost Of Sending Money

For facilitating the transaction, different companies charge different rates. Ideally, you should go with the company charging the lowest rates.

Speed Of Transaction

 Lower speed affects the speed of the transaction. If a company charges more, then most likely, it offers a quick service.

Best Ways to Send Money to Pakistan

To fulfill the growing demand for sending money overseas, more and more companies are coming onto the scene with innovative products and services. In this section, we’ll recommend the five best ways to send money to Pakistan from the United States.

Remitly

Remitly offers the best of both worlds – lower service fees and super fast transaction. It is a digital remittance service, which means you can send money from home and never have to visit a bank. Because it doesn’t have any physical location, it cuts down all the costs and offers lower fees.

To get started, you’d be asked to create a Remitly account and link your bank account. If not, you can input your card details. The thing to consider here is card-based transactions are fast, usually processed within minutes, while sending through bank accounts will consume 3-5 business days.

Remitly also offers multiple ways to deliver money to the recipient in Pakistan. The first is by directly sending it to their bank account. Just gather their account details and send money directly to their account. The second is to a mobile wallet they might be using. The third is the cash pickup, and the fourth method is home delivery. The charges are different for each method; cash delivery being the most expensive one.

Remitly has partnerships with major banks in Pakistan like MCB, Bank Alfalah, BankIslami, Askari bank, HBL, among others. It facilitates speedy and safe transactions. Behind the scenes, Remitly works hard to get you the best possible interest rates.

Xoom

Xoom was introduced by PayPal to take on Western Union and MoneyGram, both of which are excellent foreign money transfer options. And in some regard, Xoom is better. It facilitates the movement of money to over 158 countries, including Pakistan.

Just like Remitly, Xoom is an online service. Which means you send money from the comfort of your home. Also, it offers the lowest rates in the industry. For sending money to Pakistan, Xoom charges a flat fee of $4.99, irrespective of the amount. Then you’ll have to pay the exchange rate, which you can optimize using the Fees and Rate Calculator.

Also, Xoom focuses on security. It boasts of being the most secure transaction medium because of the 128-bit data security certificate.

To send money to Mexico or any other country with Xoom, you need to create a free account. Then you can either send from a bank account or credit/debit card. Delivery options include bank deposit, cash pickup from the nearest assigned store, or home delivery.

Western Union

Western Union is the first name that comes into mind when you think of sending money overseas. An established player, it offers convenience, speed, and security.

It operates more than 500,000 stores in over 200 countries. To transact with Western Union, you can walk into one of its stores. Hand over the money to the agent and fill out an online form detailing the recipient’s information. Once accepted, your family member can instantly claim the money from his/her nearest Western Union store. That’s as easy as it can get. To make things even simpler, you can send using its online website.

This type of transaction means you don’t have any control over exchange rates. Moreover, service fees can be higher for certain regions in Pakistan.

TransferWise

TransferWise is a London-based finance institution that started because the transfer fees at that time were deceptively high. The majority of those were hidden charges. TransferWise offered a wiser option to send money overseas with absolutely no hidden fees. You get to know the exact exchange rates, which they call mid-market rates.

TransferWise offers you a borderless account which you can use to send and receive money from overseas. This displays the exchange rate, and the company ensures you get the same rate. You can make the payments by bank transfer, credit card, or wallet, and send money directly to the recipient’s bank account in Pakistan.

MoneyGram

The final service we’d recommend is MoneyGram. It operates much like a bank and has several locations throughout the United States. But it doesn’t charge as much like a bank. The fees are much lower. Otherwise, you can also log into its online website and send money directly. You can also use MoneyGram to pay your usual bills. You might consider doing that because the company rewards you for your transactions. So the more money you send, the higher your reward is likely going to be.

Conclusion

You can use any of the above methods for sending money to Pakistan. All of them offer instant services, and this ensures your family has quick access to cash when necessary. As a security measure, you should always transact from a secure device and never from a public computer.

Frank Gogol

I’m a firm believer that information is the key to financial freedom. On the Stilt Blog, I write about the complex topics — like finance, immigration, and technology — to help immigrants make the most of their lives in the U.S. Our content and brand have been featured in Forbes, TechCrunch, VentureBeat, and more.

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