Having trouble finding a good way to send money without extra fees? There are a lot of mistakes with transferring money that most people make. We’re going to cover the top four most costly mistakes in today’s article.
Don’t worry if you’ve fallen prey to these mistakes in the past, they won’t come back to bite you again in the future if you follow this advice. Keep reading to become money-wise in today’s quickly changing financial landscape!
- Only Using Money Wires
This technology is the oldest method of remote money transfer. It goes all the way back to 1851 and Western Union.
At the time, the company only sent telegrams. The first wire was an agreement from one bank to credit the other. Before long an institutional credit network was formed between banks.
We don’t use telegrams to send money anymore but it still isn’t free for banks to send and verify these kinds of messages.
We understand that sometimes there is no other practical way to do it than to use a money wire. If you are wiring money for transferring money, this advice about wiring money can help.
- Not Shopping for the Best Exchange Rate
Another of the biggest mistakes in transferring money internationally or transferring money online is not shopping around for the best exchange rate you can find. There are dozens of platforms and each has its own agreements with banks.
In investment markets, taking advantage of the discrepancy between exchanges for a commodity, stock, or currency is called “arbitrage.” When the discrepancy is high enough between the exchange rates, these traders act fast to get the best exchange possible, sometimes through two or three currencies.
You probably won’t be chaining together your currencies doing wholesale-level arbitrage, but you can still reduce losses incurred through remittance and exchange fees shopping around.
- Only Send Money To People You Know and Trust
One of the biggest issues with transferring money is that once it’s sent, there’s usually little you can do to recover it if you sent it to the wrong person. This is especially true in the case of fraud.
Reported wire fraud incurred $4.5 billion in damages to individuals and businesses in 2020. Phishing attacks (a kind of social engineering) through email accounted for more than half of the cause of wire fraud.
Always double-check email addresses, bank numbers, and all details are correct before sending anything onward.
- Not Getting the Timing Right
When does your bank finish doing business and when does it start? What about the bank you’re sending funds to?
Bank holidays, weekends, national holidays — they’re all very difficult to keep track of. Bear in mind that you even need to take into account time zones for when business days begin and end. This is especially true when you’re sending money between countries and continents.
No More Mistakes With Transferring Your Money
From here on, these top four mistakes with transferring your money shouldn’t cause you anymore problems. It’s a bit more leg work and effort, but automation isn’t always the best way to do things. “Mental autopilot” causes more problems in finance than the convenience it seems to provide.
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