Sending Money Internationally from Canada

We all understand that you when you are sending money internationally it is important to make sure your money is safe. But what does that mean, in practical terms? How can you make sure your money is safe when you are sending international payments? You can start by asking the following questions:

• Is the Canadian company you are sending money internationally with registered with the Canadian government? Canadian-based companies that are providing international money transfer services should be registered with The Financial Transactions Report Center of Canada (FINTRAC). FINTRAC provides a public registry that makes looking up companies simple. 
• Does the company that you are sending money internationally with have customer support based in Canada? Are you able to connect with the company by phone if you have any questions about sending money internationally?  

When you are sending money internationally from Canada, you don’t just want a safe service, but also a convenient and simple way to send funds. You want to be able to send money internationally in a way that works on your time and schedule. Here are a few criteria that you should keep in mind:  

• Is the company that you are sending money internationally with provide online registration? Or do you have to visit a physical location or call over the phone?
• Are you able to send money internationally online? Is the service fully available online? 

The exchange rate is essentially the price you pay to purchase the currency of the country you are transferring funds internationally to. The better the exchange rate, the more you will get for each Canadian dollar that you are sending internationally. Generally speaking, banks have the least favorable (lowest) exchange rates, whereas money transfer companies will have more competitive rates for sending money internationally. This is primarily because the money transfer companies must work harder to incentivize you to use their service for sending money internationally. Obviously, not all money transfer companies are the same when it comes to exchange rates,  most competitive money transfer companies will provide you a rate in the range of 0.50% to 1% above the market price for sending funds internationally.   

When sending money to Europe, or anywhere for that matter, you should be 100% confident about the company you are doing business with. Do they have retail locations, or are they just a website and a 1-800 number? Are they registered with FINTRAC (government agency that regulates financial entities in Canada)? Are they Canadian-based? Most importantly, can you contact them if you have a question?

While there is no one size fits all method that will work for every need and every case the above criteria will help you assess the best possible way to send your hard earn money from Canada to Europe and avoid any unnecessary fees or headaches.

• Slow and steady: start off slow and test things out. It is always a good idea to send a test transaction to see how the process works.  
• Ask around: leverage your friends and family and ask to see which company they work with to send money internationally from Canada. 
• Triple check: be sure to confirm the recipient’s banking information. Perhaps the biggest source of pain when sending money internationally is an error in the recipient’s banking information. Always triple-check that the recipient’s banking information is accurate, as any errors in the information can cause long delays.