How to Send Money or Remittances to Family Members Abroad

Sending money abroad is easy, but is there enough money to send these days?

U.S. economic slowdown, lack of construction jobs and tight border control prevent many immigrants from sending money to their family members in Latin America. From Miami to California, immigrant workers have been unable to make enough money to afford to send some back home. Yet, those left behind depend on the monthly remittances which are their lifeline according to IDB, International Development Bank. The bank conducted a study that showed that the money sent by Mexicans, Haitians, Jamaicans and other immigrants contributes a lot to the home country's GDP.

Standing in front of A Western Union on Miami Beach, I can witness the few immigrants who are dropping by to send money to their family members. Obviously, this small number of people amounts to a large group as it happens all over the country. So far, Western Union, the largest and oldest money-transfer company, indicates that it conducted 168 million consumer-to-consumer money transfers and an additional 405 million consumers-to-business transactions. The average is over a million transfers a day according to a Western Union rep.

Western Union offers three ways to send money: Online, at a location such as this one, and by phone. On the website, one can find out which services are available where. By using a Visa or Mastercard or debit card, one can send money in minutes. Recipients are able to go to any of the 345,000 Western Union locations world wide to claim their money.

Immigrants also use MoneyGram International. MoneyGram offers two services to send money abroad: emoney transfer same day service and emoney economy service.

Some computer users can also use Paypal, an eBay company to send money to family members overseas.

There are other services that can be used too.