Thursday, 13 October 2016

What are the tips to keep in mind when transferring funds abroad?

Transferring funds from location to another will be a stressful process, especially if you are doing it for the first time or if you are sending a large amount of funds. On the contrary, when you know a bit of the ins and outs of international money transfer you can rest easy, knowing that you have the possibility to save funds and time while enjoying a peace of mind as well.

Being aware of how to make a transfer will require a few components, namely, keeping track of your affordability, safety, security, reliability, knowledge and common sense. At the same time, you can follow certain tips to ensure that you have a smooth and successful money transfer. They include:

Being aware of the current exchange rates: With the international money transfer, most individuals are unaware that the biggest fee comes the exchange rate itself. This is based on the interbank exchange rate, which is used by major international banks to trade amongst themselves. Additionally, it also affects the overall money transfer, exclusive of a fixed sending or receiving a fee. However, very few members of the public will have access to the interbank rate or are even aware of it. By being aware of this rate, you can calculate the best rate for your financial transfer. 

Be aware of transfer fees: One of the main factors you need to be aware of is the transfer fees. Transfer fees can be added to the transaction from the sender’s side or the recipient’s side. The best way to benefit from this service, is to look out for a bank or financial institute that will provide you with reasonable or discounted transfer fees, especially for overseas payment.

Be safe and secure: All banks and financial institutes are regulated by a particular financial body that regulates all transactions and services about any financial facilities. Before you opt for a transfer service, check for the safety regulations followed by these institutes and if they comply with the local or international standards. At the same time, ensure that you can easily contact the customer service team, without being diverted.

Review the reasons why you are making an international money transfer: There are plenty of reasons why you would be in a position to send funds abroad. They can include:

• Purchasing a property for your retirement years
• Facilitate a business that involves international customers or suppliers.
• Facilitating the expenditures of a college student who has resided abroad
• Sending and receiving invoice funds as a freelancer
• Financing a family event
• Financing purchases during auspicious events or festivals.
• Or even relocating for work.

Based on your requirement you can opt for a provider that will handle your type of money transfer, thus providing you with the peace of mind.

How can you benefit from choosing the right money transfer service?

You could be individual who has settled abroad who has to send funds on a regular basis home. Or you can even be a student who is studying abroad who requires a regular income to manage the daily expenditures. In similar ways, there are plenty more individuals who would require funds or need to send funds abroad. In this case, you would want to opt for a money transfer service that would suit your requirements.

However, with plenty of money transfer services available in the financial market, how do you choose the right one? Neither would you, or the recipient would want to sit around and wait till the money transfer goes through. Neither would you want to sit and wonder how long your delay with last. Therefore, it is important to know what money transfer services are available, and how they can benefit you. Bymaking a transfer service comparison, you will be able to know the best way to send or receive money from abroad or from your own country. Here is how you can benefit from comparing all the available options:

• Save money: Have you ever compared flight details before opting for one or even something as simple as comparing grocery items before making a purchase? The main purpose of this function is to save funds. So why shouldn’t you compare money transfer services before making a choice? By doing so, you can save a lot on your funds for long-term transactions. Additionally, certain comparison services are 100% free.

• Save time: In today’s age, ‘time is money’ is true, especially when it comes to transferring funds on a regular basis. You would not want any delays in your transactions, especially if there are bills or fees to paid. Plenty of money transfer services offer express services, which can are relatively cheaper than losing out a on deadline.

• Avoid hidden fees: Although plenty money transfer services offer ‘zero fees’ solutions, they rarely exist. Only co – operations will actually make the calculations for you. Therefore, ensure that you are aware of the possibility of these ‘zero hidden fees’ and get clarity on them.

• Look out for special deals and discounts: Plenty of money transfer services recognize the need to send funds during special times, events and functions. At such times, these services offer great deals for all your money transfers. Alternatively, they will offer deals and discounts if you register with the service for a long term purpose.

• Transparent services: Transparency in the services offered will provide you with an understanding and awareness of what is available and what can suit you. Through this transparency, you can get an understanding of what services can benefit your and how much you can save in the long run.

Tips for Safe Online Money Transfer Experience

ney transfer solution. It is one of the best ways to send money to any account without any hassle. This has even led to its growing popularity. Some banks offer the option of online money transfer. Have you ever given a thought whether your online transfer is safe? The growing popularity of the online financial transactions is also constantly prone to attacks. Well, you can have a safe online transfer experience with these safety tips.

Avoid Using On-Screen Keyboard

One of the easiest ways to predict a password is when you use the on-screen keyboard. You might think if is a feasible option but you should know it is recorded by key-loggers. A key-logger can be anything whether hardware or even application. It does the work of recording and passing the information of all the keyboard taps you made. This is further used to know your username and password.

Use Random Password

You have told a lot of times to avoid using passwords that are easy to predict. Pick out any random password. Ensure your password is not your name, your birthday, your family or loved one’s name, your pet's name and so on. They are easy to predict. Instead, you can pick the first letter of the long sentence. The sentence can be anything like I proposed my girlfriend on 10th December, well in this case the password would be ipmgo10D. This is not an easy to guess the password. Try to use the number and other symbols. Ensure the caps lock in the password is not the first letter.

Clear the Cache

It is of paramount importance to clear the cache as and when you visit an online money transfer website. Browsers tend to save the pages you have visited which further makes easier to access the next time. However, clearing the cache ensures no one views your online banking account information which is confidential. Also, make sure not to consider the option of remembering you on this computer that automatically saves your confidential information.

Always Visit the Website to Log into Your Account
You might receive a lot of emails from your banks. It is wise that you do not follow these links to access your account. This is how phishing works. It directs you to a malicious site that resembles your bank's website and gathers all the information provided by you. One of the best ways to spot this aspect is if there is an unlocked padlock or unbroken key symbol. A trusted website tends to be secured through an encryption process.

Well, these are just some of the safety tips one need to consider for secured online money transfer experience.

What are the factors to consider when making a money transfer?

Making a money transfer today will seem like an easy process today. You can log online onto your bank website and input the amount you need to send. You can even approach a money transfer institute and opt for the money transfer you want to make.

However, there is more to clicking a button or approaching a money transfer institute to make the required transfer. Are you aware you can spend more on your transfer fees over your transfer amount, or that you may have to pay extra charges depending on the pick-up location and method?

Apart from these factors, there are plenty more that can influence you money transfer. Therefore, if you are going to make a transfer, here are a few factors you need to take into consideration. They include:

Exchange rate: This is one of the most important factors if not an imperative one when it comes to opting or making a money transfer. Whether you are making a money transfer to India or any other country, you must first check the exchange rate of the value you are sending. Exchange rates can change in a matter of hours. Therefore, today’s value will not be the same as tomorrow. Therefore, to avoid the possibility of overspending on your transfer, check the exchange rates.

Transfer fee: Each institute charges a service fee for making a transfer. Plenty of banks and financial institutes mostly offer rates and discounts on this factor, so it is a good idea to take a look at it. In most cases, the transfer fee depends on the amount that is being transferred or the location that it is being transferred to.

Pick up method: Some receivers prefer to collect their transfer through particular modes or even have them deposited at particular locations. If the bank or financial institute does not offer the standard pick up methods, they will offer additional charges for any other drop op service.

Payment method: There are different ways you can make a money transfer. This can differ from the online transfer, cash deposit or even cheques. Each of these options will attract different fees or payments. Therefore, it is crucial that you check each available option before you make the transfer.
Transfer time: The transfer time can vary depending on the payment and collection methods. It can also differ in the location you want it to be sent to.

Therefore, if you need to make an urgent money transfer to India or any other country abroad, you will need to take into consideration the transfer time that will suit your needs, or you want to reduce it.
Apart from these factors, there are plenty more that need to be taken into consideration before you make your decision. It is best to compare all the available factors before settling on one option.

Are you aware of the All you need to know about EMV chip embedded ATM cards

Over the last few years, banks are slowly upgrading their banking cards to incorporate the new EMV chip embedded system. EMV is a short hand for the technologically-driven service that is now making all banking cards safer in the future. It has been inspired by Euro pay, MasterCard, and Visa, which have collaborated to create a series of banking cards with a more secure technology for banking transactions.

Birth of the EMV chip banking card due to the banking card fraud epidemic

Several credit, debit, and even ATM cards were being used in plenty of frauds. In this case, the details of the card used to be collected and revealed to buyers, who would purchase this information to make replicate banking cards. By using these replicate cards, one could easily access and make transactions, with funds getting debited directly from the original card owner’s account. In addition to this, frequent data breaches have exposed consumer’s data to the public, which has added fuel to this fire. However, EMV chip any debit, credit or ATM card makes it difficult for such a particular tactic.

How do EMV card works?

EMV cards are embedded with a microprocessor chip that contains the bank account’s information. This chip is read, when the card is dipped into the terminal, tapped against the payment terminal or even when it is waved in front of it. The process of reading this computer chip is different as compared to the traditional card with a magnetic strip, which is read only when the card is swiped through the machine. For criminals who access this data, it is almost difficult to replicate the dynamic transaction code that is generated by the chip making it considerably safer.

Why is this EMV chipped card safer?

In the occasion that the store or restaurant where you used your card has been hacked, the information of the banking card that is stolen cannot be used to make additional purchases or create new banking cards. Each transaction used with this EMV chip credit, debit or ATM card uses a unique authentication code with is a one-time use only. Additionally, these microprocessor chips are virtually impossible to duplicate.


How does the PIN’s come into play?

Apart from the embedded chip, the PIN adds an extra level of safety to the card usage. If a card required it to be accessed with a PIN, a code must be entered after the card is swiped. Without this pin, it wouldn’t work. These PINs are particularly helpful in preventing a lost or stolen credit or debit card from being used. This also works as a better alternative to thwarting fraud, especially when a scribbled "signature” is required on an electronic keypad.

The right way to apply for the best credit card

A credit card will go a long way to provide you with the ideal financial support. For one, you can borrow funds from the bank, in order to satisfy any of your financial requirements. Additionally, you can also repay back the funds at your own convenience with no fixed repayment tenure.

However, a credit card is only as good as a banking card, if it matches your financial requirements perfectly. In order to apply for the best credit card that will suit your financial need, here is what you need to consider.

Spending habits

Every individual possess a different financial spending habit. If you are looking to opt for a credit card that will support your financial habit, you will need to look for the card in a particular category. Do you carry a balance every now and then? In this case, you may need to look into a low interest card. Do you want to avoid paying down a high interest card balance? In this case, a balance transfer credit card will be your ultimate choice. Do you want to spend less, and yet get high returns? Then you can opt for credit card with reward points, which can be further customized to suit your expenditures. With a bit of research and persistence, you can get figure out a credit card that will suit your needs.

Determine your qualification for a credit card
Normally, lenders provide a credit card with features and rates that will suit your needs, while protecting their own interests. In this case, you will need to satisfy certain eligibility criteria before you can apply for this card. As each application and rejection will reflect in your credit score, you will need to be careful about applying for a credit card. Check your lender for any prior eligibility criteria when it comes to a particular credit card in a category. You can either make the necessary adjustments to satisfy the criteria or you can opt for another type of card which will suit your needs.

Read the fine print

Once you have the basic idea of the best credit card that will suit your need, then you can go to the next step of the application process. As a part of the application process, you will be provided with terms and conditions pertaining to your application. You will want to ensure that you understand all the possible fees, interest rates and interest free tenures you will incur once the application process is processed. Ensure that you read this fine print to get a better understanding of how you can use the card to its full financial advantage.

Factors to consider when applying for a credit card

A credit card, no doubt, will offer you plenty of financial benefits, especially when it comes to flexible borrowing power. No matter how many credit cards you possess, it is essential to sit down and think of the type of credit card that will suit your needs and spending habits. Even the most careful credit users or owners can find themselves in a financial bind if they aren’t careful about the card they choose.

Here are a few factors you need to consider when making your decision to apply for credit card:

Find your current credit score:

Before you being researching for your next credit card, you must look at your current credit score. Depending on your credit score, the lender of the credit card will determine your eligibility for a credit card or even any particular credit card offer. This will help you avoid getting to attached to any credit card with spectacular reward points or even spending it abundantly.

Think about how to plan on using you card:

One of the many benefits of the credit card is that it can be used for several uses. For one, it can be used to boost your credit score. Alternatively, it can be used for only emergencies or even to receive rewards. Depending on your answer, it will help further narrow down your options when you are about to apply for a credit card. For example, if you pay all your dues on time, you can opt for a credit card with long grace periods and no annual fees. If you feel that you are most likely to have a monthly balance on your card, you must focus on options that offer low interest and introductory rates. Credit cards that offer reward programs and credit limits are often the best fit for owners who are frequent card users.

Credit cards for first time users

Are you applying for a credit card for the first time? Then it is crucial that you use the credit card to its full potential as it can help build your credit history as much as destroying it. At the same time, it helps you access unrestricted funding in the event you require emergency financial funds. However, before you apply for this card, you must be aware of the interest rates and repayment tenures that are associated after using it. You must also ensure that you are aware of the fees and penalties, payment due dates and credit limit. It will work to your benefit if you start developing good spending habits right in the beginning itself to keep from falling into a potential debt even before you start earning.