Send Money to Romania: What Are The Cheapest Options?

How do you choose money transfer services when you have to send money abroad?

Upfront charges, exchange rates and the time for the completion of the transfer are the most important features to consider when you make your choice. It’s easier to send money to the United States or Australia. But how about sending money from Romania from the US, Australia or Canada?

What transfer methods do we use at Time Doctor?

We have a remote team with people in 19 different countries around the world. The two transfer methods we use the most are:

• TransferWise – is a new kind of financial company that you can use to transfer money internationally at a very low cost. Their system is based on local bank account transfers, which makes transfers abroad cheaper than what banks or other providers charge. They charge a small upfront fee between 0.5% and 2% for transactions, depending on the route.
• Payoneer – very convenient for sending and receiving. They are also one of the few methods that works to receive money in almost every country and the receiver can get their money on a debit card and withdraw from an ATM. They also have an option for direct transfer to the receiver’s bank account. They also have a $50 bonus if you receive more than $100 through this method.

Finding the best conditions and the lowest fees will require time and a lot of research. At Time Doctor, we’ve created tables for the most popular money transfer services with their stated fees and hidden conversion costs. These tables reveal less expensive ways to send money to Romania in comparison to the traditional international bank transfer.

Table 1 – Sending $1000 from the US to Romania
Transfer Method	Stated fees to send $1000 USD	Hidden currency conversion cost	Total cost	Time for the transfer to arrive
TransferWise	$10	$0	$10	1-2 days
XE Trade	$0	$24	$24	3-5 days
Payoneer	$3	$28	$31	3-5 days
MoneyGram (slow)	$25	$7	$32	3-5 days
Western Union (slow)	$5	$44	$49	3-5 days
Skrill	$14	$50	$64	3-5 days
PayPal	$40	$25	$65	3-5 days
Ria Money Transfer (slow)	$5	$62	$67	3-5 days
Ria Money Transfer (fast)	$15	$62	$77	Minutes
Western Union (fast)	$40	$44	$84	Minutes
Wire transfer	$25-55	$10-30	$35-85	3-5 days
MoneyGram (fast)	$81	$7	$88	Minutes

Table 2: Sending Money to Romania from Different Countries. The TOTAL Cost in Percentages including the HIDDEN currency exchange fees.
Transfer Method	From the US	From the UK	From Canada	From Western Europe	From Australia
TransferWise	1%	1%	1.2%	1%	1%
TransferGo	Not available	1.5%	Not available	0.9%	Not available
Azimo	Not available	1.5%	Not available	2.6%	Not available
XE Trade	2.4%	2.7%	2.9%	2.7%	2.6%
Payoneer	3.1%	Not available	Not available	Not available	Not available
Western Union	4.9%	3.5%	5.7%	3.4%	4.9%
Small World FS	Not available	3.9%	Not available	1.3%	Not available
MoneyGram	3.2%	5.7%	7.4%	2.1%	10.6%
Wire transfer	2.5 – 5.5%	2 – 4.5%	2.5 – 5.5%	2 – 4.5%	3 – 6.5%
Skrill	6.4%	6.4%	6.4%	6.4%	6.4%
PayPal	6.5%	6.5%	6.5%	6.5%	6.5%
Ria Money Transfer	6.7%	Not available	Not available	Not available	Not available
Xpress Money	30.6%	5.6%	9.7%	6%	17.4%
First Remit	Not available	6.9%	Not available	Not available	Not available

Notes:

• If you’re not sure what I mean by “hidden currency exchange fees” check out our explanation in this article.
• The fees for wire transfers are estimates and vary from bank to bank.

Other articles that might interest you:

Transferring Money with TransferWise
How to Send Money to Serbia with Less Fees
How to Send Money to Your Offshore Workers in Ukraine
3 Ways to Send Money to Bulgaria that are Cheaper than using a Bank