Since the United States is a financial superpower with a complex yet highly developed banking system, one would expect that it has an extremely efficient process for moving money – especially remittances or international money transfers – to and from the country. But technology is constantly changing and therefore there is still room for improvements that can be made and great leaps have indeed been achieved in the past couple of years. In this article, we reveal why your search for the perfect remittance solutions provider, offering the cheapest money transfer to the USA, should take into account five important factors:

#1 – Money Transfers Should Be Secure and Technologically Fluid

Transferring money through banks can definitely be secure, however non-banks or dedicated money transfer companies have become robust and more secure as the years have passed. Money transfers are an information technology, meaning they enjoy the benefits of exponential growth in the relevant technologies. In fact, providers nowadays operate using the same security measures and stringent controls that typical financial institutions like banks have.

For our part, OrbitRemit strives to make continuous improvement in terms of security and technology, and we’ve been recognized as one of the fastest growing technology companies and are part of the prestigious Deloitte Technology Asia Pacific Fast 500.

# 2 – Speed of Money Transfers

Banks normally process your payments within 5 to 15 banking days (that is, excluding weekends and holidays). Meanwhile, many money transfer services, like PayPal, process your money in 2 to 5 business days – sometimes a lot longer, depending where in the world you’re sending money to and from. (With OrbitRemit, we transfer funds to your recipient within one business day of receiving them).

#3 – What Determines the Cost of a Transfer?

The best international money transfer providers offer cheap money transfers without hidden charges. Remember that there are two main components to the cost of a transfer: fees, and exchange rates. You want to look for a service with the lowest fees possible, which also offers fair exchange rates which are not padded with a large spread between the buy and sell prices of each currency.

We prefer to charge clients a clear and upfront flat fee, rather than a percentage of the transaction like some providers do. That means there are no hidden fees and no ballooning charges whenever you transact bigger amounts.

#4 – Save Money by Avoiding Receiving-End Fees

It pays to be aware of what is an all-too-common practice in the world of money transfers to the United States: charging fees for receiving money, as well as sending it. Sometimes this is tacked on by remittance services, or sometimes by the recipient’s bank itself. You’ll save yourself a lot of money (and unpleasant surprises) by determining beforehand whether there will be fees charged on the receiving end, in addition to what is disclosed upfront for sending the money.

#5 – Reliability as a Cost Driver

Remember that the reliability of a remittance service can have a big impact on the long-term benefits of using them. Reliable services tend to last longer and reward their loyal customer base as time goes by. How do you know a service is reliable if you haven’t used it before?

Checking out reviews is one way to work it out – for example, Trustpilot, a transparent and community driven review platform, shows that OrbitRemit has a 9.4 rating (equivalent to an “Excellent” rating) and has accumulated a little over 8,000 reviews. Of these reviews, nearly 96 percent are 4 and 5 stars (81 percent of which are 5-star ratings). We actively try to make transfers cheaper for our most loyal customers, for instance by offering every tenth transfer for free, offering bonuses for customers who refer their friends – and for a limited time offering fee-free transfers into the United States.

Want to give it a try? Go ahead and use the calculator in the top right hand corner of the page to work out how much USD you’d get for your currency of choice.