PERSONAL FINANCE We, at Connector, also spoke with expats from different nationalities to know their preferred way of sending money overseas.
Henry Coyle, British expat "I send money through the website currencyfair.com. I have opened a Dirham account with currencyfair.com. I transfer Dirhams from my HSBC account to my Dirham account with currencyfair.com. HSBC charges Dhs 100 per transaction. Currencyfair.com then transfers my Dirhams to UK pounds in my local HSBC account in the UK. The rates are far better if I directly transfer through HSBC Dubai to HSBC UK."
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Jatin Gupta, Indian expat "I have opened a Non Resident External (NRE) account with an Indian Bank. Since I am an ENBD customer, I linked my NRE account with an ICICI Direct Remit account. I transfer directly from ENBD to the ICICI account in India. There is no transaction charge and rates are good. Exchange houses may give slightly better rates, but the hassle of taking out money and going to an exchange house is not worth the savings." Naweed Lalani, Pakistani expat "I have an overseas account in Pakistan. From my local UAE bank, I send money to my overseas bank through direct remit. There is no transaction fee involved." So whether it’s the bank, money exchange or online transfer, make sure that you do your maths and research, and choose the best option for yourself.
CONNECTOR DECEMBER 59