Sending smaller amounts (100-200 USD) is not getting complex at all. Most of the smaller remittance companies does support and allow you to transfer $999 or less. For an amount of this range it is recommended to use RIA Money transfer and they support most of the destinations.
One major reason is that the state and the federal regulations are met easier when you send less than $999. Using Pangea could help you with sending money to Mexico. It is just because they give better rates though they have a small fee. It is always better to compare these remittance companies with USD Explorer as the calculation between exchange rates and fee can save you some money.
Usually transfers of more than $1000 are only fee free. So for a smaller amount it might always end up with a fee. So just compare with USD Explorer as it makes a lot of difference when sending money to countries like India, Mexico, Philippines, Pakistan or Bangladesh.

You are here as you may be part of the 6 million households in the U.S who send billions of dollar as remittances to their friends, relatives and families in their native countries. Between you also wanted to know that today there are as many remittance companies in the United States that can make a lot of difference with the amount received by the recipient based on the daily exchange rates that they offer. Keeping this is mind the amount received at the recipient does not just change with the exchange rate. You also have to consider other factors like fee and the transfer time that the companies quote. The recipient amount mostly depends on how much you send today.

An example)

When 1 USD = 66.60 INR

Company X can give you 66 INR with $0 fee

Company Y can give you real time exchange rate with $3.25 fee per 1000$

So how much do you receive when you send with company X and company Y ?

with company X –> (66 * 1000) – 0 = Rs 66,000

with company Y –> (66.60 * (1000 – 3.25)) = 66.60 * 996.75 = Rs 66,383.55

You see, you got Rs 383 in excess though it appears there is a fee associated with. Come visit us and get the calculated rates per $1000. Happy sending money.

Last couple of weeks has brought questions from several countries over the strengthening of the US Dollar against their currencies. The most affected on this is Saudi Arabia followed by Hong Kong where the Hong Kong dollar faces a long time low against the US Dollar. In the Asian region, China does a small gain based on how the government had handled the recent down turn. On the other side in the Asian region, Indian rupee weakens against the US dollar with all time historical low. This has a greater impact on the remittance as India being the 2nd country accepting most of the remittances across the world. 2016 is going to give a greater impact on most of the global currencies with strengthening of the US Dollar.

Dollar exchange rates over Global Markets

As of 12/2015, UK and Germany might see slight increases with their exchange rates considering the latest consumer confidence measures. With this the start of 2016 will give a minor boost on their currencies.

There has been a lot of changes across the global markets that has hit a lot for the Dollar Exchange rates to various countries like India and united Kingdom. The key factor among them are the fed decision that has raised rates by 0.25%. This has given a little progress for the USD hitting other currencies and in-turn the money transfer market. This is going to be key and is about to continue all along the 2016. Why? Yes, the Fed has already stated that they are going to be increasing the rates during various periods of 2016.

The impact of this is also due to the jobless claim numbers that has given a good hike for the USD. Though UK has its developments flourishing still it has weakened against the Dollar.

Following are the set of trends that can be seen during 2016:

• EURO getting weaker against Dollar.
• Pound getting slower periodically.
• Weakening of Australian and Canadian Dollar.

Effect of interest rates on Euro

Though the expected interest rates were kept at a record low of 0.5% this had a very less effect on the currency and is really trading lower from the start of 2016. The december ECB meeting though it made a little progress on the Euro it is expected that the ECB may still be increased in the near future.

Remitly is a mobile payments service that enables consumers to conveniently make person-to-person international money transfers from the United States. They are really user friendly and makes your routine transactions much easier. Their online service uses the latest technology and mobile devices to eliminate the forms, codes, agents, extra time, and fees tied to the traditional money transfer process.

Remitly is a licensed money transmitter currently operating in 47 states (including D.C.) and sending millions of dollars to thousands of customers each month.

Remitly is backed by DFJ, QED, Trilogy Partnership, DN Capital, Founders Co-Op, Bezos Expeditions, and TomorrowVentures. Remitly is headquartered in Seattle, WA with additional offices in the Philippines.

There are as many best remittance services available to send money to Philippines. Some of them are Money2anywhere,
Moneygram, Remitly, Ria Money Transfer, Small World Fs, Transfast, Transfer Wise, Western Union,
World Remit, Xendpay and Xoom. Below are some key features to be noted.

Moneygram:

Transferring money to the Philippines using Money Gram is quite fast with support for more than 190 outbound countries.
Online money transfer service using credit card is also supported with comparative fees that is so close to that of
Western Union. Transfers are usually done in minutes.

Transferwise:

Transferwise is a new and is a cheaper way of sending money to Philippines. They usually transfer money at the real exchange rates. They save some transfer fees when compared to bank and do not have any hidden charges. Transfers usually take 3 days with Transferwise.

Westernunion:

Western Union being a traditional money transfer company has a lot to do for Philippines. They do support cash pickup in almost every place like mall, bank, pawnshop, drug store and even in a grocery store. They support over 200 countries online and through money agents. The transfer time is usually longer for Western Union when sending to Philippines. They usally take 5 days to transfer.

Xoom:

Xoom supports transfers to Philippines by means of credit card, debit card (or) paypal. It is estimated that the recent buyout by Paypal has given a huge US customer base to Paypal. Most of your transactions are fee free. Transfers using bank account is faster compared to the debit card transfers. They usually take 1 day.

More on Philippines

Remittances to Philippines – statistics
Remittances from Philippines – statistics
Migration to Philippines – statistics
Migration from Philippines – statistics

Do you need a government ID to send your money?

Yes. When you do your first money transfer with any remittance service provider like Remitly or Xoom, they are going to ask you for a government ID to verify your identity. This is compulsory due to the federal and state regulations and hence it is important that you must verify your identity on your first transaction.

Remittance is a process by which money is transferred by a foreign worker to an individual in his or her own country. The financial institution that supports sending the money to the home country from a foreign country is called as the Remittance Service Provider. It was accounted about more than 400 billion dollar was transferred to developing countries by means of remittance. China and India are considered the two top countries that receive most of the money in remittances.

You will find more statistics at Statista

Following are the top 4 countries that are the major sources of remittances:
– United States of America,
– Russia,
– Saudi Arabia,
– Switzerland.

Following are the top 10 countries that are the major recipients of remittances:
– India

– China

– Philippines

– France
– Mexico

– Nigeria
– Egypt
– Germany
– Pakistan

– Bangladesh

Sending money has been a greatest challenge as the final amount that reaches your country may vary a lot depending on three important factors namely, Rate, Fee and Time. These three factors could help you make certain decisions when you look for to send your money. The fourth factor that has to be considered is just “Luck”. Yes, for most of the customers who complain about their remittance service provider, it’s been a nightmare on why the delay happened just for them. Yes, it does happen and ultimately it’s not completely just on the remittance service provider but on the whole end to end process. The reason may be because of the following:

• Delay with Agents,
• Delay with receiving banks,
• Delay on acknowledgement from the receiving banks,
• Delay with processing by the remittance service provider.
• Last but not the least sometimes the time zones and the time at which you send your money also makes a difference.

Time vs Remittance Service Provider:

It is important to note that the transfer time varies a lot based on the remittance provider. This also depends upon the country to which the service is for. Some providers like Remitly, Xoom and RIA Money Transfer does support instant deposits to their major recipient countries that includes India, Mexico, Pakistan and Nigeria.

Xoom has been doing an amazing job with the money remittance for a long time. Xoom still remains to be the most preferred remittance provider for most of the workers in United States for countries like India and Pakistan. It is also notable that Xoom is recently acquired by Paypal.

Xoom to India:

Most of the Xoom transactions are fee free to India when compared to other service providers. They also provide instant deposits that works really well for people who want to just send money immediately and to just forget about it later. Bank deposits to India like ICICI and HDFC are so instant from Xoom.

Xoom to Pakistan:

Most of the Xoom transactions are fee free to Pakistan when the sending amount exceeds $1000. Bank deposits to Pakistan like HBL, MCB Bank Limited, Bank Alfalah, United Bank Limitedare are so instant from Xoom.

Xoom and Paypal:

Xoom is recently merged with Paypal and this has made Paypal with a consumer offering of 68 million customers in US. This make both Paypal and Xoom with a strong presence in the international market. Considering Xoom having a competitive technology platform the buyout by Paypal has still extended its international customer base and marketing.

List of countries supported by Xoom:

Argentina
Australia
Austria
Bangladesh
Belgium
Bolivia
Brazil
Canada
Chile
China
Colombia
Costa Rica
Dominican Republic
Ecuador
El Salvador
France
Germany
Greece
Guatemala
Honduras
Hong Kong
India
Ireland
Italy
Jamaica
Mexico
Netherlands
Nicaragua
Pakistan
Panama
Peru
Philippines
Poland
Portugal
Singapore
South Africa
Spain
Sri Lanka
United Kingdom
Uruguay
Vietnam