In this article I tell you my experience sending money to Russia using different methods: bank transfer, Western Union, PayPal and TransferWise. You will see how the price differences between one method or another are very noticeable.
Updated May 17, 2020
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0. The different ways of sending money to Russia
On several occasions I have had to send small amounts of money to relatives to Russia or Georgia. Sending money abroad always means paying commissions, and if you do it to countries of the former USSR (Russia, Ukraine, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, etc.) these commissions are even higher.
Let’s analyze what it costs today to send $1,000 to Russia (the results are the same if you send euros, pounds, Australian dollars, Canadian dollars or Indian rupees), with the recipient receiving the money in rubles, by comparing 3 methods:
- Traditional methods: such as WesternUnion or MoneyGram.
- Online payment services: such as PayPal, WebMoney or Yandex Money.
- P2P money transfer services: like TransferWise.
I have used these three methods to send money to Russia. For comparative purposes, all calculations were made on May 17, 2020.
The first thing I have to say is that for small amounts of money, a bank wire transfer is the worst method, since the fees charged by the banks (from both the issuing bank and the receiving bank in Russia) are usually very high. For this reason, I have stopped using bank transfers for sending money to Russia for many years, since these are very expensive.
1. Traditional methods: WesternUnion or MoneyGram
WesterUnion or MoneyGram are specialized companies in sending money abroad. They have an extensive network of offices, which I have used on different occasions, though they are now offering the money transfer service through their Internet website.
Well, sending $1,000 to Russia through Western Union has a high commission if you send it by bank transfer ($25) or by debit or credit card ($25), but it applies a good exchange rate. This means that if you send $1,000 to Russia today, you would be charged an exchange rate of 71.9160 rubles per dollar, so that the recipient in Russia will receive 71,916.00 rubles.
2. Online payment services: PayPal, WebMoney and Yandex Money
PayPal is a payment method already known by virtually anyone, which allows you to buy in many websites, as well as transferring money between users by email. Other similar methods implemented in Russia are WebMoney and Yandex Money.
PayPal, contrary to what many people think, is not an economic method to send money to Russia (or to countries in which it implies a currency change), mainly due to two reasons:
- Firstly, when it comes to international personal money transactions to Russia, the commission is not free, as PayPal charges a fee of 2.15 USD if it’s being sent from a bank account, and 4% if it’s sent from a credit card, whether debit or credit. In the case of commercial transactions, commissions are even higher. You can check the commissions in this link.
- Secondly, when you send dollars to a recipient in Russia, Paypal applies a rather unfavorable exchange rate. Today it applies an exchange rate of 70.0678 rubles per dollar.
Thus, if you send $1,000 to a relative or friend of Russia, the commission would be $2.15 ($40 if you use your bank card), but your friend or Russian family member would receive in its Paypal account a total of 70,067.81 rubles. Also, keep in mind that if the recipient wants to transfer this money to its Russian bank account, it would have to wait a couple of days to have the money available.
3. P2P Money Transfer Services: TransferWise
Recently, several financial peer to peer (P2P) online services have emerged, offering money transfers with low commissions and that apply the actual exchange rate of the moment. The most popular of all is TransferWise (from the creators of Skype).
This is the method I currently use to send money to Russia because it is cheaper and easier for me.
For example, sending $1,000 to Russia today has a commission of 1.6% (16.01 USD) but the good thing about TransferWise is that it applies an exchange rate close to the real exchange rate (73.4870 rubles per dollar). As a result, the recipient in Russia receives 72,310.47 rubles (having discounted already the applied commission, unlike previous methods where commission is paid separately). In addition, note that TransferWise allows you to make the payment by card without additional costs:
4. In summary
- You send $1,000 and the recipient in Russia receives 71,916.00 rubles.
- In addition, you have to pay a commission of $25.
- You send $1,000 and the recipient in Russia receives 70,067.81 rubles.
- In addition, you have to pay a commission that varies between $2.15 and $40.
- You send $1,000 and the recipient in Russia receives 72,310.47 rubles rubles (with the commission of $16.01 already discounted of this amount in rubles, unlike previous methods where commission is paid separately).
All calculations were made on May 17, 2020. As you can see, the price differences are very large between these different methods.
Have you sent money to Russia or to countries of the former USSR? You can tell me about your experience below.
I have sent money to a friend in Russia many times , using Money Gram and Western Union.& Transfer wise Now they refuse to allow me to send claiming possible online-scaming. My friend has not got a bank account . so it has to be cash pick up. most of the other money transfer require a bank. so I’m in a pickle.
I am currently using:
1/ Transferwise, the receiver gets money in RUB on the bank account (USD not allowed to Russia with TW)
2/ PayPal, the receiver gets money in USD, on the bank account.
I have now some administration problem with PayPal, they want me to use my full name in all my banks and credit card provides so that my name fully correspond with my ID card. In Sweden that is unnecessary since its the Social security number that matters! So I might stop using PayPal if they keep demanding name change!
3/ Western Union, the receiver gets money in RUB, cash.
With Transferwise how does the recipient get the money in Russia. Does it go into their bank account?
Hi Irena! Thanks for the info. I’d like to add one more option which me and my girlfriend use. I’m from Italy and she is Russian, now trying to move here but because of this covid-19 situation, she is still in Moscow. We both have blackcatcard, that’s a euro debit card, opened online for citizens of any country. All transactions are free and unlimited. The card itself is in euro. Account is opened instantly with ID and selfie and the card is delivered within 10-15 days. That’s a good option if you need to set up an account and transfer money from and to the recipient in any country
You briefly mention Moneygram which we’ve used seven times over last 2 years to send money to Tajikistan and Russia. It doesn’t seem to be working now. Is it still available there?
Hello Irena! Thanks for the article. But some information is missing. Like if you are recieving money via WU you can receive it in dollars or rubles. You can choose by yourself. And then if it makes a big difference or even a small you can go and exchange your dollars to rubles in a bank where they have a better rate exchange. The other thing is that besides paying paypal up to 40$ for a transfer and besides this not so appealing rate exchange the recipient is also charged like about 4% of the amount has been transfered. And there is no option of transfering money in US dollars to US dollars account for Russian paypal users. And normally it takes about just one business day to withdraw the money from paypal to a bank account. I would recommend you to try paysend. The rate exchange is good there. And it’s very fast. Though I’ve been transfering and recieving amounts like 100-200$. They might ask you to provide an additional information to be able to transfer/recieve bigger numbers.
Russia is now making recipients of PayPal transfers pay INCOME TAXES on the money they receive. Just because a few operators of home-based businesses (like hair salons) were using PayPal to receive payments, and theoretically not paying tax on them. All transfers are now suspected of being “income” subject to taxation.
Let’s say you have a family member in Russia that you are sending money to, to perhaps help them out, or even just to help pay for some bureaucratic paperwork they are conducting on your behalf – they cannot get the money until they pay income tax on it to the State! And then you send again to cover the tax, and the State will take tax out of THAT.
Can’t you just use your relatives bank account nr and send the money directly to their account?
Bitcoin
Irena,
I recommend you add Xoom as an option. It is owned by Paypal and they just added Russia as a country you can send money to! It’s great – only $4.99.
I’m from Brasil and recently tried to send money for russia, but i couldn’t, i called support from Western and they said that trasferences from Brasil to Russia or Ukraine it not allowed, but not explained me exactly the reason. I think i’m gonna try this TransferWise
Recently (Jun 2018), Western Union offers new way of transfer money to countries, including Russia and Uzbekistan: you start a transfer via WU app (up to $2,999); then bring cash to the WU center (I use one in Fry’s supermarket). Transaction fees are only $5, compared to bank transfer $22. It is hard to say whether they “bake in” fees into the exchange rather, but the recipient has an option to get USD and exchange at better rate if exists. Drawbacks are: you need to withdraw cash, and you have to get your butt to the store.
Not good today the 6th of May 2021. WU has got very greedy. Wanted to charge me 12 % to transfer $700 to my daughter and son in law in Russia.
Hi Irena! Is there any known issue with PayPal when transferring from a US to Russia?… The receiver is having difficulties withdrawing the money into her Sberbank Account…it’s taking more than 5 business days, and we are talking about $400… PayPal customer Service in Russia said they are having technical difficulties… But I don’t believe them…
Hi, Irena! Did You -taki ever send by TransferWise? I’d like to tranfer small amounts ($100-200) every month from my US bank account to personal visa account in Russia, Moscow region.
And besides, what do You think about PaySend service? paysend.com
Thanks a lot for Your article.
how i can send Money to yandex?
https://money.yandex.ru/
HI I would like to transfer money from my business account in Malaysia direct to University payment in Russia, can i use transwerwise
Have you ever tried the “New Siberian Money Transfer” Place? Is it legit? I’m kind of worried…
I do not know this service
Thanks Irena
So my question, is how long does it take for them to physically recieve the money using Transfer wize…. Paypal holds for 5 days, Western Union holds for 2 days, and transferwize???
About 48 hours
Hello, I am international student in Moscow Russian Academy of public administration. I read you blog and liked it. I need to pay tuition fees from my dollars account but I don’t have any Russian bank account. How do I go about it?
You can use TransferWise
Hi Irena I have a Russian friend who told me she couldn’t use her own account for foreign money transfer instead she had to open an account in euros which is the currency I want to send.It would also have to go through an intermediate bank in Germany. Could I do this with ‘
transfer wise’
I want to transfer money to my russian bank account but I live in Nevada and I see that i am not allowed to use TransferWise from this state?