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Exclusive: Minimum transfer of $1,000 for Finder readers (normally $5,000).
CurrencyTransfer lets you shop around for the best exchange rate on its online marketplace.
An international money transfer allows you to send money to friends, family and businesses overseas. Generally, it involves you sending cash or money from your bank account to an intermediary transfer service or bank, which then exchanges and sends the money to your recipient in another country — in this case, Belgium.
Depending on the provider, you can initiate a money transfer in person, online or by phone. Your cash or bank account transfer is then either deposited into your recipient’s bank account or made available as cash for pickup at a location in their country.
You might think that your bank would be the best place to go when you want to send money to Belgium — but you’d be wrong. While banks can easily handle international wire transfers, especially when you’re sending a currency as common as the euro, they offer quite low exchange rates and regularly impose high fees.
You can save a significant amount of money, and ensure that your recipient gets a whole lot more, if you send your funds via a specialist money transfer company. These companies usually offer exchange rates far superior to the banks and also charge much lower fees.
Lionel is spending two years working in LA for a production company, but he stays in regular contact with his elderly parents back home in Gent, Belgium. His parents need some funds to help pay off a debt to a previous landlord, so Lionel plans to send them $1,000 from the United States. Rather than approach his bank, he compares two money transfer companies to see which one can save him money on his transaction.
| Money transfer company 1 | Money transfer company 2 | |
|---|---|---|
| Exchange rate | 1 USD = 0.89 EUR | 1 USD = 0.90 |
| Transfer fee | $4 | $5 |
| Transfer method | Bank account deposit | Bank account deposit |
| Processing time | 1-3 business days | 3 business days |
| Amount received (in EUR) | 890 EUR | 900 EUR |
As you can see, while the transfer fee is slightly higher for the second company, it allows Lionel to send an extra 10 euros to his parents.
The exchange rate determines how much one country’s currency is worth in another currency. When a country’s currency is strong, it will yield more money when exchanging it in a country with a weak currency. The euro’s exchange rate is flexible, which means it can change from moment to moment. Factors that influence the exchange rate include interest rates, economic stability and inflation.
Do you need to send an emergency cash transfer to Belgium? Maybe you need to send an urgent transfer to a friend who is vacationing in Belgium and has had their wallet stolen?
There are several companies that can get your funds to Belgium within minutes, but just be wary of the fact that you will need to be willing to pay a bit extra for this service. High fees and sometimes lower exchange rates will apply, so check the fine print closely before committing to a transaction.
Learn more about using euros in Belgium
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First question is how many days will it take me to receive a money sent to my PayPal account from Belgium and second is how can I transfer the money to my bank account so that I can withdraw the money? Please I need an easy and fast way of receiving the money, thanks.
Hello Michael,
Thank you for your inquiry.
Standard turn around time of 3-5 business days for the funds to be cleared on your PayPal, and another 3-5 business days from PayPal to your bank account. As for the transferring of your money to the bank account, you can do this by linking your bank account to your PayPal account.
Please take note that your bank information is not stored in PayPal system and is used to match up with your banking institution to confirm ownership. Once this information is entered correctly, your bank account will be confirmed instantly.
Hope this helps.
Cheers,
Jonathan