Sending money to Liberia is not as easy as sending it to other countries in Africa.
This small beautiful country at the West coast suffered a lot in the last decades: political instability, civil war and the Ebola crisis. Due to the economic impact of the Ebola virus on the countries economy and tourism industry, as well as general inflation and instability, Liberia is in desperate need of financial aid to rebuild.
In this context it is worth to mention that there was a major decline in remittances e.g. in 2018, as reported by the World Bank and in African magazines.
This article shares different methods you can use to send money to Liberia.
500 million USD of remittances were sent to Liberia in average during the last years. An enormeous amount of money.
But wiring money to Liberia is expensive. This is because the country’s bank transfer charges are enormous. E.g. Western Union charges 20 USD of fee for a 200 USD to LRD money transfer.
In addition, many African countries have established stringent regulations for money transfer in and out of their countries.
It, however, doesn't mean that you cannot transfer money abroad back home for people to enjoy the fruits of your labour. There are numerous ways that you can use to send mobile money to Liberia without incurring massive transaction costs.
This article will look at most money transfer methods available in Liberia and how to securely send money there.
To cut it short: Which is the best way to send money to Liberia?
4 Issues to solve to send money to Liberia
Problems that people face when transferring money to Liberia using local money transfers
There are so many challenges involved when it comes to sending money to Liberia. This makes it hard for employees to help their families whenever the need arises.
Some of these challenges include:1. It takes too much time for money to reach the receiver
There are times when you want money to be delivered fast to your family and without undergoing through many processes to do so. But whenever you use bank transfers, they can take days before the money is delivered to Liberia. This means that whatever the money is intended for cannot be done on time.To give you an example: If you remit money to Liberia by using Western Union, the transfer speed are 3 to 5 business days. Compared to a mobile money transfer to Liberia by using WorldRemit which is instant.
2. The charges are enormous
The last thing you want is to spend too much of your hard-earned cash to send money to your people in Liberia. Bank transfer fees can be very costly. That means that you will have to ruin your budget just catering for the transfer fees.in addition, you need to look out for getting a good currency exchange rate for the Liberian Dollar (LRD). Even if the transfer fee my be good, the Liberian Dollar (LRD) currency exchange rate makes you feel poor.
3. The withdrawal process is a bit lengthy
Once the money is delivered to your family in Liberia, they will have to access a bank before they can make any withdrawals. They can also use ATM cards which they will have to be charged an enormous withdrawal fee. This means that a lot of money will be wasted paying bank transfer rates and withdrawal rates.4. You need to have a bank account in Liberia
Other local money transfers require you to have a bank account in Liberia. This can be quite inconveniencing given that you need it to send cash back to the family. In case you are yet to open an account with any of the local banks, you will have too much time creating a current account with the local bank.Examples are Western Union Liberia and MoneyGram Liberia.
Available money transfer providers in Liberia
The first choice of many people are the mainstream companies such as Western Union and MoneyGram.
The following money transfer providers support remittances to Liberia:
- Western Union: to bank account, cash pick up or agent
- MoneyGram: to bank account, cash pick up or agent
- Ria money transfer: to bank account or agent
- Noble
- MTN
- PayPal: to email
- Xoom: cash pick up
- WorldRemit: mobile money and airtime topup
- SendWave: mobile money
But there is a significant shift towards new technologies. Nynati Doepoh of SellPayLiberia.com states: "The Mobile for Development team drives innovation in digital technology to reduce inequalities in our world. Bring relief to the 80% informal sector of Liberia." SellPay Liberia is Digital Financial Services for the Poor.
5 Reliable reasons to send mobile money to Liberia
The good news is that there are several safe methods which you can use to send money to your family in Liberia. This is by using mobile money transfer methods.
Mobile money is the main solution of how to transfer money to Liberia nowadays.
You also don't need to walk to the bank and queue only to send a couple of dollars back home. The methods allow you to send money at the comfort of your home.
Some of the significant advantages that come with using mobile money as alternative money transfers method include:
1. Mobile money transfers are fast
Send money to Liberia from the UK, Canada or the United States with mobile money Liberia and get ultra-fast services.
This means that your family will get the cash faster than they would if you used local banks to transfer the money. Cash apps such as Sendwave (which belongs now to WorldRemit) and Xoom, the mobile money service of PayPal Liberia, will only take your family a couple of minutes to receive the cash. Sending money to liberia becomes instant.
This means that you can send urgent cash without worrying about the transfer time it will take for the money to reach your family. You will no longer have to worry about transferring urgent money.
Recommended mobile money transfer providers are: Sendwave, WorldRemit and Xoom
2. They charge less fee
The fee that you are charged when you send mobile money to Liberia is much less than if you decide to use local money transfer methods.
Established local transfer methods are often expensive. For instance, if you send using Western Union Liberia, you will only be charged a total of 11 USD. This is if you use the internet. You will, however, be charged and a total of 15 USD when you use Western Union agent.
MoneyGram Liberia costs 10.99 USD via the internet using bank transfer method, 9.99 USD via a MoneyGram agent.
Now, sending mobile money to Liberia, the fees are significantly lower:
PayPal Liberia using Xoom charges 9.99 USD for using bank account transfer and 14.99 USD for using credit transfer. All these can be done by simply login into your account on the internet from the USA.
WorldRemit charges 9.99 USD fee as well. The transfer is instant and you get text messages for tracking your transfer.
Sendwave charges 3% fee, which are 6 USD for a 200 USD transfer. So, Sendwave is the cheapest mobile money provider for trabsferring money to Liberia.
3. There is no need for people back home to exchange the money
The best thing about using mobile money Liberia is that your family will receive the cash in Liberian dollar (LRD).
This means that they don’t have to undergo the process of converting USD to Liberian Dollar before using it. Same goes to the Euro (EUR) and the British Pound (GBP) in case you are sending from Europe or the UK.
Your family will thus receive the money sent via mobile money Liberia in Liberian Dollars, and so they will have an easy time making their withdrawal.
For instance, at the time of writing: With WorldRemit you send 209.99 USD and your family in Liberia receives 200 LRD (Liberian Dollar).
4. Your family can receive money from anywhere
There are methods such as WorldRemit Liberia, Western Union Liberia, MoneyGram Liberia and PayPal Liberia that allow your family to get money from anywhere.
This means that whether you are in Europe, the UK, Canada or the USA, you can transfer money to Liberia without worrying whether people back home will be able to receive it from that location or not.
Mobile money Liberia also gives them the luxury of receiving money at the comfort of their living room. With these methods, international money transfer Liberia has been made easy and fast.
5. There are no limits
Unlike local money transfer that will require you to send money during specific times of the day in a limited amount, international money transfer Liberia allows you to transfer cash during any time of the day or night.
Some like WorldRemit Liberia and MoneyGram Liberia work round the clock allowing you to send mobile money to Liberia whenever you want. This gives you the power to control your finances without having any problems whatsoever.
Providers that allow you to send Mobile money to Liberia
There are mainly two providers that you can use to send mobile money to Liberia. They are dependable and always available. All you need is the internet to utilize their services.
The two mobile money providers are:
WorldRemit
WorldRemit is a simple way of transferring money to Liberia. It is very secure, and you can easily access it via your mobile phone, computer or tablet. This is among the easiest way for anyone wondering how to send money to Liberia. The method is swift. Cash gets to reach your friends and family in a matter of minutes regardless of your location. The transaction cost is also meagre, and so you will not waste money sending the funds.
The international money transfer system is also very secure. You can log to their site directly or download the WorldRemit app. This will give you access to your online wallet in seconds and give you a comfortable time sending money to your family and friends. It is the best method for anyone wondering how to send money to Liberia from the USA, Canada and even the UK.
SendWave
The SendWave app offers yet another secure international money transfer system that you will definitely enjoy using. You can access it via your mobile phone or through their official website.
The process of sending money to Liberia is quite simple and straightforward. You need to select the country you are sending money to as Liberia, indicate how much you are sending and choose how you want to pay the money. This can be with your bank account, credit card or debit card.
Once you are done with all the selection, press "send". The system will deduct the transaction fee of 3% (max 20 USD) and deliver the money to the recipient in a matter of minutes.
The recipient in Liberia will get a notification that he or she has received money. They can thus proceed to initiate a withdrawal.
Conclusion
From the above information, it is clear that sending money to Liberia is quite hard and expensive, especially if you are using the local money transfer methods.
But then there are numerous mobile money transfer methods that you can use to get money fast and securely to your friends and family.
Pick which way best suits you and use its money transfer services.
My personal favorite provider is WorldRemit.
- The transfer is instant
- The fees are reasonable low
- The transfer is secure, you track every step of the transfer by emails and text messages
- The recipient gets the money in local currency (LRD)
Do like my article? Share it with with your friends or send me a comment below!
Thanks for your information. But world Remit don’t send money to Liberia, except for credit on phone. You forget to mention RIA.
Thank you
All one to do first is to set the apps on your phone be it receiver or send…
Now, there should be a cheaper way for people to send money from Liberia to the USA using their phones.