Five ways you can ensure safe and affordable money transfer to South Africa

This information is provided by GlobalWebPay

Whatever the reason for sending money back to South Africa, there’s always a need to get the most ZAR for your GBP.

Whether sending funds to family members or paying for costs back home such as property maintenance or mortgages, getting a great deal is key, especially when considering regular money transfers.

Here are GlobalWebPay’s five top tips to ensure you are getting good value on your currency transfers:

1. Make sure the exchange rates and fees are transparent

With many money transfer services, it’s not always easy to find out the exact exchange rate on offer. Far too often, online calculators entice customers with a great looking GBPZAR rate only to reveal an inferior rate later in the process.

To avoid wasting time, it pays to use a service that is fully transparent on its fee structure and exchange rates. Being able to lock in a fixed exchange rate when creating your payment enables the sender to avoid any nasty surprises for both themselves and the recipient.

2. Use a recipient-friendly service

The choice of company for your money transfers can make a big difference for your recipient.

When it comes to delivery of funds, it can be very convenient for your recipient to use a service that deposits funds directly into their bank account. This can save them unnecessary trips to their bank or agency.

Another important factor is whether the recipient will have to pay a fee. If payments are sent via SWIFT international payment, it is likely the receiver will have as much as 200-300 ZAR taken from the amount sent.

This is particularly costly when sending small regular payments, or when paying a supplier an exact amount. You can avoid this by using a company that is approved by the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) to provide local payments within South Africa. This ensures the full amount sent is received in its entirety.

3. Check for genuine customer ratings

Sometimes it can be hard to believe some of the glowing customer testimonials you see online. Independent review platforms such as TrustPilot can help to clarify which companies are being honest, only collecting reviews from genuine customers.

With so many companies to choose from, there’s no need to settle for second best when it comes to customer support and reliability of service, so look for a high trust score.

4. Fast delivery doesn’t have to be expensive

Speed of delivery is always important, especially for urgent payments. Some companies and banks can take up to four working days while others will provide faster delivery at a premium cost.

By using a company that understands the South African banking system you can get funds delivered directly to a bank account within 24 hours, while also avoiding costly recipient fees.

5. Make sure your money is in safe hands

Check that any UK companies you send money with are fully authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and have been trading for several years. Authorised firms come under the highest levels of regulation and must hold all customer funds in segregated client accounts, offering protection in any unforeseen circumstances.

GlobalWebPay is fully authorised by the FCA (Registration Number FRN 631844) and offers an easy and secure way to send money from the UK to any bank account in South Africa. Working with an SARB approved service, GlobalWebPay enables users to send ZAR payments with no recipient fees and delivery within 24 hours.

For a free first payment please use promo code THESOUTHAFRICAN at checkout. Find out more at GlobalWebPay. Rated 9.6/10 on TrustPilot.