Thanks to fintechs, international money transfers are now far easier and faster than it was about two decades ago.
However, although it now only takes a few clicks on your smart device to send money to an account halfway across the world in a few seconds, you’re likely to have noticed that there are lots of factors at play.
You must consider exchange rates, potential bank holidays, time zones, peak transfer periods, fluctuating fees, and even seasonal/holiday discounts.
All of the aforementioned have one thing in common: Time!
Timing has a significant influence on the outcome of international transfers, and if leveraged effectively, could result in substantial annual savings for regular senders. And that’s why scheduled transfers are gradually becoming a common practice.
Let’s take a look at scheduled international money transfers, including what they are, their benefits, and how you can maximize them.
What Are Scheduled Transfers?
Scheduled transfers are transfers set up in advance to transfer funds from your account to a recipient’s account on a specific future date and time.
Essentially, when you schedule an international money transfer, you are providing your provider with instructions and the authority to transfer money from your account to another’s account on a specified date.
Usually, once it’s time, the funds will automatically leave your account unless you cancel the transfer or your provider stops it due to an error.
Scheduled transfers are ideal for non-urgent situations, such as recurring payments or when you need to send money to someone. Therefore, scheduled transfers could be:
- Recurring: Repeated international bills that can be scheduled on a monthly, bi-weekly, or weekly basis.
- One-time: One-off transactions.
Most reputable international money transfer providers offer scheduled transfers (or a similarly-named feature) under their payments/transfers option.
Whether for a recurring or a one-time payment, transfer scheduling can benefit you in many ways.
Benefits of Scheduled Transfers
Fundamentally, scheduled transfers feel more like a time management tool than anything else. But the truth is that it could save you more money than you’d expect.
1. Better Exchange Rates
It is true that exchange rates are not predictable. However, you might face more volatile exchange rates on certain days, especially at the end of the week or month.
Additionally, some disruptive market trends or political news might influence exchange rate fluctuations, temporarily causing higher margins across various currency pairs.
If, within any of these periods, you feel like the current rates are unfavorable for a currency pair that has been pretty much stable, you can schedule your transfer for a few days later, midweek, or midmonth when rates are likely to have stabilized.
2. Circumvent Delays and Costs Due to Bank Holidays and Time Zone Differences
It can be extremely frustrating when a transfer that would usually take a few minutes suddenly takes hours or even a few days to reach the recipient.
Take Nigeria, for instance, which has about 14 public holidays and is also about 5-8 hours ahead of the US time zones. You can ensure fast delivery every time you send money to Nigeria by planning your transfers around these holidays and the periods the banks are sure to be open.
This eliminates the anxiety that comes with waiting impatiently for your loved ones abroad to confirm receipt of funds.
Additionally, considering that exchange rates fluctuate during bank holidays, doing this could save you extra money.
3. Avoid Extra Costs Due to Peak Periods
In addition to volatile exchange rates, peak periods such as month-end or Friday afternoons often attract extra service costs, depending on the service provider.
For these providers, the extra costs are a matter of dealing with the burden laid on their system by high demands, as most people try to close their books or meet payment obligations around these periods.
Additionally, since high demand sometimes meets low supply, some providers don’t mind temporarily increasing their fees to take advantage of the less competitive market.
By scheduling your transfers for off-peak periods with better service charges, the slight increase in their fees would not affect your transactions.
4. Take Advantage of Seasonal Promos
Popular international money transfer providers in the US typically list their seasonal promotions for the year on their website.
If you are keen on saving every dollar you can while enjoying better rates, consider timing your non-urgent transfers to coincide with promotional days. Typically, you may need to allow time for a manual transfer, as automated transfers don’t always capture the prevailing promotional offers.
These promos can come in various forms, from very low fees to $0 fees, which are too tempting to pass up.
Tips for Scheduling International Money Transfers
First, you need to check with your provider to confirm the terms surrounding the use of their scheduled transfer feature.
If they are to your satisfaction, you should take the following steps before scheduling your international money transfers:
- Ensure you have sufficient funds to cover the transfer amount; otherwise, the transfer will not proceed at the scheduled time.
- Recall that exchange rates are not predictable, so you may have to account for that by adding a little extra to buffer potential differences, ensuring your loved ones abroad receive the complete amount.
Lastly, note that lots of providers have a minimum 2-day window for scheduling transfers. Therefore, same-day or next-day scheduling won’t work in most cases.
You will have to make the effort to schedule your transfer at least two days ahead to enjoy all the potential benefits that come with scheduling.
Conclusion
Clearly, international money transfer scheduling is as much about timing as it is about saving money.
However, if you are not intentional about optimizing it to benefit from the cost savings that come with better exchange rates, avoiding peak periods and bank holidays, and keeping track of seasonal promotions, it would simply be a mere time management feature.
To ensure that your scheduled transfers proceed smoothly, it is essential to have sufficient funds to cover the transfer amount and any associated costs.
Not sure if you are really saving money by scheduling?
For the sake of fun, consider dedicating a sheet to tracking the differences between the rates and service costs at the time you scheduled the transfer and the time they were eventually sent out. You might be surprised to learn how much you save by the end of the year.
Photo by Atlantic Money; Unsplash
