Don’t know about the best, but I am happy with the one I use ( onlinesbi.com remit)
I had tried almost 3-4 options and found xoom.com best of all.
+
Fastest!!! I was amazed to get transfer in 1 business day… (generally it won’t be more than 3 business days)
Competitive and guaranteed rate ( you’ll know the rate at the time of booking your transaction itself so no worry about $ fluctuation)
Super customer care.
-
They charge some fee (will be ranger from $3-$5) for transaction up-to $1000 but that’s okay.
SBI Express Remit is a good option.
The fastest way is to use Xoom money transfer, It gets transferred within 1 working day. Below 1000$ its 2$ charge, above 1000$ its free.
1. Money2India
a. GOOD: Online transfer via ACH to your ICICI bank in India is fastest
b. GOOD: Best transfer USD to INR rate
c. GOOD: No transfer charges
d. Bad: Initial setup takes a lot of time
e. Bad: I don’t know how fast it is if you don’t have an ICICI bank in India and choose the draft option
2. Wells Fargo with ICICI: If you have ICICI bank account in India
a. GOOD: Online transfer takes 3-4 business from the day you initiate transfer to the money being deposited in your ICICI bank in India
b. Better: Transfer rates are good but less than Money2India
c. Bad: Transfer charge for smaller amounts( I think less than 1000 is about 10$ and more than that is no charge)
d. Bad: Must have ICICI bank in India
e. Bad: No draft mail option
3. Remit2India: [Never used]
4. Citibank: My brother in law used it and seemed to like it a for the rates and draft option and OK turnaround time.
We’ve discussed money transfer a few times on this DL. I just stumbled across this – it seems pretty convenient.
I called the number below for exchange rates - the exchange rate is 46.5 VS ICICI’s web transfer of 46.68 (for 1000$).
Wells Fargo, USA
ICICI Bank has joined hands with Wells Fargo to bring you unprecedented convenience for sending money to India. You can just call or walk into any Wells Fargo branch and send money to anyone having an eligible ICICI bank account.
You just need to enroll in the Wells Fargo Express SendSM Global Remittance Service to India to be able to transfer money from your eligible Wells Fargo checking or savings account to your beneficiary's ICICI bank account. Your transferred funds will be available in your beneficiary's ICICI bank account as soon as the next business day.
To avail of this economical, convenient and dependable way to send money home to India, just open a Wells Fargo ExpressSend Service Agreement and ensure your beneficiary has an eligible account with ICICI bank.
Benefits
· Fast - your money will reach India in a day’s time
· Convenient - you get 24-hour access to Wells Fargo branches and telephone banking services across the USA
· Nominal charges - flat fee of as low as $5 to send up to $3,000 per day. You may even be eligible for a waiver of this fee based on your account relationship with Wells Fargo.
· No monthly or annual service fees or setup fee for your Wells Fargo ExpressSend Service
· Competitive exchange rates - you can get the latest rates by calling Wells Fargo at 1-800-556-0605, selecting the language, and choosing option 3
My Decision and Experience:
I decided to use SBI depending on all the responses. All it takes is Rs. 25/- from the transferred money in Indian Account. And there is no mention of this deduction.
For e.g. if you transfer $1000 @ Rs. 45/- rate, then instead of getting Rs. 45000/- you would get Rs. 44975/- in your Indian Account.
As far as the exchange rate is concerned, I was told by some friends that these sites (like SBI, ICICI etc) take money from you and wait for 4-5 days or so and then give you the least possible exchange rate in this period.
But in my case when I initiated the transfer the exchange rate offered by SBI on that day was Rs. 45.10. It did take almost 1 week (4-5 business days really) to deposit the money in my HDFC Account. But the exchange rate I got was Rs. 46.60/-
So it seems that they did follow there promise that:
STATE BANK OF INDIA offers you the BEST exchange rates.
Normally your remittances get converted into INR after 4 - 5 days of the transaction request. The exchange
rate applied for the conversion will be the exchange rate on the date of conversion.
- Charan
The Compile below:
I don’t know what the best way is, but I have used money2india before. It’s pretty easy.
An old compile that worked well for me, I use SBI now
And more corrections:
Bank or agency used for transfer
|
Allow transfers to any bank?
|
Fee
|
Advantages/Disadvantages
|
Max limit per year
|
Link
|
ICICI Money2India
|
Yes.
|
A small fee is to be paid for remittance to non-ICICI accounts.
Exceptions when sending more than 1K USD when no fee is charged.
|
Convenient.
Sending money to a visa debit card in India (any bank).
Option to send DD.
|
|
|
Citibank
|
No. Need Citibank NRI account
|
|
Exchange rate is not the best.
|
|
|
HDFC
|
Yes.
|
No fee.
|
By far among the best exchange rate.
Option to send DD.
|
|
|
SBI
|
Yes.
|
No fee.
|
By far among the best exchange rate and convenient.
Option to send DD.
|
|
|
Remit2India
|
…
|
No fee.
|
Decent exchange rate and convenient.
Not the best customer support.
|
|
|
I generally use ICICI Money To India. Its good ,fast and reliable. They give good conversion rates also. They don’t charge you if the amount is greater 1000 $ USD.
The transaction gets completed in 4 business days.
Note : I transfer it to an existing ICICI bank account in India. I don’t know about transfers to non ICICI account using this service.
Remit2India वापरुन बघ....
I use SBI GLS – bing it.
Use WAMU – CHASE free wire transfer. It use to be a good service. Not sure if they still have it.
My Friend:
I use WAMU/CHASE even now.
It is more beneficial now for the following reason.
Earlier while it was WAMU they used to send it through the intermediary bank HSBC unless you mention an intermediary bank. HSBC used to charge $40 for their services.
Currently after chase took over, the funds get transferred through CHASE and hence you don’t lose that $40 and its FREE wire transfer too. Reaches India account on the 2nd day.
ME:
Could you provide me with a link?
My Friend:
Hi ,
You cant transfer the money online.
You will have to go to a chase bank and open a checking account which has free wire transfer facility.
Then on you will have to visit the branch every time you have to make a wire transfer.
To my knowledge I don’t think you can make a wire transfer online.
Friend 1:
I have a WAMU account. Don’t you have to pay in India for the incoming wire? Also how do the exchange rates offered at the incoming bank compare to rates on sites like Money2India?
Friend 2:
Yes, I would pay Rs 40. Nothing more.
That is there even if you send money through options like money2india.
I get the best of exchange rate with SBI through Chase.
Citibank money transfer: Rs 50 service charge + 10% tax + 2% education cess + 1% higher education cess
Transfer within a week
Needs a NRE account
SBI: Rs 25 service charge
Takes about a week
Does not need any NRE account, just registration
Rates better than Citibank
In both these cases (and almost all banks), the rates given are as of the transfer (about 2-3 working days from the date you transfer funds).
So, they do not promise rate in advance. It all depends on market fluctuations.
Money2India uses ICICI and the rates are low.
Wells Fargo has a direct connect with ICICI and transfer happens within 2 working days but needs registration which takes about a week and rates are pathetically low. In this case, rates promised at the time of transfer are the rates that you actually get.
As a special promotional offer, Wells Fargo will waive the transfer fee for any account-based online Express Send transfer to ICICI Bank. This offer is valid up to December 31, 2009.
I use SBI GLS – its got the best rates..its free..only catch is that it takes a few days.. but not more than a week for sure.
You also get email confirmations when it clears etc..
