International Money Transfer - US/CAN to DR

[Unit5]

Hi All,

I am wondering if anyone knows of a cost effective way to transfer money to a recipient in the DR. I have no idea what fees are deducted at the banks in the Dominican, This example is for a Recipient who has a Scotia Bank account in the DR. I transfer 10 000 DOP as per Google's rate at the time, my bank charges me $6 CAD per transaction, but when the money eventually arrives in the recipients account, it is around 7 or 8 000. Does the 2000 or so DOP sound excessive?

 

[AlaPlaya]

It really just sounds like the wire fees. In my experience, Western Union and XE are the most cost-effective to transfer money to the Dominican Republic.

 

[zeferus]

Hi All,

I am wondering if anyone knows of a cost effective way to transfer money to a recipient in the DR. I have no idea what fees are deducted at the banks in the Dominican, This example is for a Recipient who has a Scotia Bank account in the DR. I transfer 10 000 DOP as per Google's rate at the time, my bank charges me $6 CAD per transaction, but when the money eventually arrives in the recipients account, it is around 7 or 8 000. Does the 2000 or so DOP sound excessive?

The source is key. Are you asking about a Canadian Bank or a USA bank being the source?

 

[CristoRey]

It really just sounds like the wire fees. In my experience, Western Union and XE are the most cost-effective to transfer money to the Dominican Republic.

I recommend Remitly for anyone looking for a low-cost way to move money to the DR.

Send or Transfer Money Online to the Dominican Republic from the United States with Remitly

Send money to the Dominican Republic from the United States with Remitly, and find out why we’re a trusted online money transfer service with thousands of 5-star reviews.

www.remitly.com

 

[Lou2100]

Hi All,

I am wondering if anyone knows of a cost effective way to transfer money to a recipient in the DR. I have no idea what fees are deducted at the banks in the Dominican, This example is for a Recipient who has a Scotia Bank account in the DR. I transfer 10 000 DOP as per Google's rate at the time, my bank charges me $6 CAD per transaction, but when the money eventually arrives in the recipients account, it is around 7 or 8 000. Does the 2000 or so DOP sound excessive?

paypal has a service i use xoom. Fairly decent fee's and you can set the amount the recipient receives and see the actual cost ( exchange and fees) so you know how much it would cost you . I just checked and sending 10 000 DOP would cost 270.75$ CDN

 

[Yourmaninvegas]

paypal has a service i use xoom. Fairly decent fee's and you can set the amount the recipient receives and see the actual cost ( exchange and fees) so you know how much it would cost you . I just checked and sending 10 000 DOP would cost 270.75$ CDN

You can send money directly to yourself in cash or your bank account using Xoom.
Then you can exchange for pesos here.
I have tried almost every which way to get money in to the 🇩🇴.
Wiring the money to my bank account here works out the best for me.
As far as fees, transactions cost money.
Just work out your affairs so that the costs are under your pain threshold.

 

[SKY]

paypal has a service i use xoom. Fairly decent fee's and you can set the amount the recipient receives and see the actual cost ( exchange and fees) so you know how much it would cost you . I just checked and sending 10 000 DOP would cost 270.75$ CDN

You do realize that the person is receiving an exchange rate of 37-1 instead of the current rate of about 53-1. And ignore the like, I hit the wrong button...............

 

[Yourmaninvegas]

You do realize that the person is receiving an exchange rate of 37-1 instead of the current rate of about 53-1. And ignore the like, I hit the wrong button...............

I always just send money in USD.
Then let the person work out the exchange.
I have found that is the best way for me.

 

[Unit5]

The source is key. Are you asking about a Canadian Bank or a USA bank being the source?

It is a Canadian Bank

 

[Unit5]

paypal has a service i use xoom. Fairly decent fee's and you can set the amount the recipient receives and see the actual cost ( exchange and fees) so you know how much it would cost you . I just checked and sending 10 000 DOP would cost 270.75$ CDN

I am testing this currently. I initiated a transfer today. Waiting to see length of time it takes to deliver as well as the fees

 

[NanSanPedro]

Another source to consider is World Remit. I think they're English. They are a bit cheaper than Western Union.

 

[Unit5]

You do realize that the person is receiving an exchange rate of 37-1 instead of the current rate of about 53-1. And ignore the like, I hit the wrong button...............

The 37-1 rate you mentioned seems closer to the CAD vs DOP as opposed to USD vs DOP (which is probably at the 53-1 rate you mention)

 

[Lou2100]

You do realize that the person is receiving an exchange rate of 37-1 instead of the current rate of about 53-1. And ignore the like, I hit the wrong button...............

Yes, but being in canada , why would I send buy USA dollars at 0.724575... to get to the same amount ?
When I can just send it in the currency i use.
CDN= Canadian Dollar$$

 

[Lou2100]

I am testing this currently. I initiated a transfer today. Waiting to see length of time it takes to deliver as well as the fees

It should tell you when you send the transfer, however i have never done a transfer to scotiabank in the DR

 

[JimW]

Hi All,

I am wondering if anyone knows of a cost effective way to transfer money to a recipient in the DR. I have no idea what fees are deducted at the banks in the Dominican, This example is for a Recipient who has a Scotia Bank account in the DR. I transfer 10 000 DOP as per Google's rate at the time, my bank charges me $6 CAD per transaction, but when the money eventually arrives in the recipients account, it is around 7 or 8 000. Does the 2000 or so DOP sound excessive?

Back in February (2022), I did a test of three popular money transfer services from the US to the DR; Xoom.com, Remitly.com and Xe.com, by setting up identical USD $200 transfers with each to my recipient’s local RD Banco Popular bank account.

• In the States we don’t have any banks in-common such as Scotia which Canada/DR have so I wasn’t able to test a direct bank transfer.
• Also, I didn’t test the ever-popular Western Union as there’s an abundance of existing posts which generally note their conversion rates are on the low side. (of course, the trade-off is in some countries, WU is everywhere for local cash pickup)
• I left out Ria.com and WorldRemit.com because in the past, I was unable to complete a transaction with either (Ria wouldn’t accept my bank account information and WorldRemit had problems with the transfer). I’ve since heard good things about WorldRemit from several folks and on my next transfer would probably take a look at them again.
• As this test was done in February 2022, the exchange rate is of course what was in-effect at that time. The purpose is to show the difference between the three services tested. Note, in each case I used my US TD Bank checking account as the source. While many services offer using credit cards or debit cards as a funding source, there are in many cases either (a) delays (debit cards) or (b) cash-advance fees (credit cards). Bank account ACH withdrawal is usually the least expensive (short of being a mule and hopping a flight to Las Americas with a wad of cash but then you can have other problems...)

Here’s my results. Hope it’s helpful:

Site	Principal Sent	Fee	Rate* (in effect in mid-Feb 2022)	Total Recipient Received	Delivery time	Website Ease (Scale of 1-5)
XOOM.COM	$200	$ 2.99	54.12 DOP/1 USD	10,824 DOP	2 hours	5
REMITLY.COM	$200	$ .99	56.06 DOP/1 USD	11,212 DOP	4 days	4
XE.COM	$200	$3.00	56.67 DOP/1 USD	11,334 DOP	7 days	2

XOOM.COM Summary
PROS:
Easily the easiest of the three experiences to send money. The website is polished and has a professional feel. Easy to setup recipients, quick transfers etc. The transaction has that "financial institution" feel vs. "money transfer partner" experience.
Multiple bank and pickup options available (direct bank deposit, home delivery, local pickup (banks, Caribe Express etc.).
Easily the fastest service (recipient is notified money is available in hours as opposed to days)

CONS:
Lowest exchange rate of the three.

BEST FOR: When you need to transfer money quickly and want a easy transfer experience and are willing to pay a little more to get it.


REMITLY.COM Summary
PROS:
Slightly lesser website experience than XOOM but still good. Easy to navigate.
Multiple bank and pickup options available (direct bank deposit, home delivery, local pickup (banks, Caribe Express etc.).

CONS:
Recipient needs to wait a few days for funds.

BEST FOR: When you plan in advance to allow time for funds to transfer and want a good exchange rate.


XE.COM Summary
PROS:
Best exchange rate however, depending on the amount being sent, the fee may eat into that rate.

CONS:
Easily the least polished of the website experiences. For example, I needed to manually find and then enter the recipient's International SWIFT code for their local bank. Really??? I always thought there was just one SWIFT code per bank. Learned there are multiple ones (in some cases per local branch) and it's not always easy figuring out which to use which could have further delayed the transfer etc.
Took a week for the transaction to complete.
After sending, you receive this strange "transfer contract" .pdf in your email. Xe.com was the only service that seems to do this.

BEST FOR: When you plan well in advance to allow time for funds to transfer, want the absolute best rate and are willing to put in some time dealing with the sub-par website experience.

 

[cavok]

I've been looking for ways to send money from the US that would be cheaper than the wire transfer that I use now. To transfer $5000 USD I currently pay about 2500 pesos. I just checked Remitly, XOOM, and Western Union:

Remiltly gave me a rate of 52.07, so it's going to cost me about 5000 pesos with them

XOOM gave me a rate of 50.66, so it's going to cost me 11,700 pesos with them.

Western Union quoted me a flat rate of $75 USD, or about 4000 with them(sending and receiving cash USD at a W.U. location)

I wasn't able to get a rate quote online from XE w/o opening an account.

So far, wire transfer is still the best for me.

 

[zeferus]

It is a Canadian Bank

Here are my notes on transferring directly from a Canadian Bank to a Dominican Bank. I have used them all. All amounts in CAD$

This is using services from the banks directly instead of a wire transfers.


List of banks
Bank of Montreal (BMO)
CIBC
Royal Bank of Canada (RBC)
Scotiabank of Canada
TD Canada Trust


BMO
BMO Global Money Transfer
Have not tried it yet.

CIBC
From IOS app and Web
Global Money transfer
Requires a Visa Debit card as recipient
Max 3,000 daily

Scotiabank Canada
International Bank Deposit
Max 10,000 daily
Max 15,000 weekly

TD Canada Trust
From EasyWeb Internet Banking
Two services possible
Visa direct
2,500 daily
10,000 weekly
25,000 monthly
Send to Accounts
6,500 daily
26,000 weekly
65,000 monthly

 

[pularvik]

Royal Bank ( possibly other Can. banks) have a branch in the USA. you Open an account and you receive USA checques.. You can deposit a cheque in your DR account but you will wait 30 days for access. There are also cheque cashing services in Cabrera (and I assume everywhere else) that will charge you a fee but you get money right away.

 

[JD Jones]

Royal Bank ( possibly other Can. banks) have a branch in the USA. you Open an account and you receive USA checques.. You can deposit a cheque in your DR account but you will wait 30 days for access. There are also cheque cashing services in Cabrera (and I assume everywhere else) that will charge you a fee but you get money right away.

My favorite method. Even better is I'm a VIP at BPD so they have always cashed my checks and the money was available immediately.
I'm sure the fact I have multiple accounts with them probably has something to do with it.

 

[Radical]

Does the option to write a personal check at the BHD still exist?