Ria Money Transfer Review 2023: Pros, Cons and How to Send Money

The globalization of the world led to the emergence of the digitalization of money transfers across countries. Hence, it has helped in the smooth functioning of the businesses operating cross-border.

Ria operating in 160 countries, has grown to be the third-largest money transfer service entity globally since its inception in 1987. This article features an in-depth analysis of its services, fees, and the procedure for opening and transferring money through its platform.

Ria opened its first store in 1987 in New York City. In 2007, Euronet Worldwide, Inc. acquired it. It partnered with Postbank, owned by Kenyan Govt on July 31st,2014, thereby allowing customers to send money through the bank branches and receive it directly into their accounts.

Walmart joined hands with Ria to create the Walmart-2-Walmart domestic transfer service in 2014. In 2015, Euronet acquired IME of Malaysia and XE, the Canadian foreign exchange service company. Further, it extended its partnership with Walmart Chile in 2016 through Lider brand supermarkets by offering money transfer services.

Let's see some of its pros and cons. 

Pros

• You can send money via an app or from a brick-and-mortar location.
• No minimum transfer amount
• Many pay-in options are available, such as cash, bank transfer, credit card, etc.

Cons

• Maximum transfer limited. Example: US $2,999 per transfer and $7,999 per month.
• Fees are higher compared to its competitors.

Ria is a certified Extended Validation SSL, making it a haven for the customers as their sensitive information relating to credit card and bank accounts is kept safe and secure. Besides that, it has a sophisticated modeling approach for spotting suspicious transactions before any damage is done.

It has a security experts team working 24/7 to monitor any strange money transfer activity. Moreover, it never stores the customers' sensitive credit or debit card information on its servers.

Ria is one of the largest money transfer service providers that operate globally. 

Services Offered

Besides money transfers, it also facilitates other financial products, such as electronic bill payment, money orders, mobile cellphone top-ups, prepaid debit cards, check cashing services, etc.

Web and App Service

It has an online platform and a mobile application for both Apple and Andriod devices besides providing currency exchange and local money transfer at brick and mortar locations.

Various Methods for Funding Transfers 

Ria provides numerous options for funding the transfers. Besides using debit or credit cards, bank accounts, or agent location services to pay for the currency exchange, you can also pay by setting the money transfer online.  

The fees depend upon the amount transferred, payment method, and the country where you send the amount. Ria provides the "Check Prices" tool that allows you to verify the exchange rate and the fees associated with your transferred method.

The processing time and Ria money transfer rate depend upon the chosen method of transfer. For example, the transfer made via credit and debit cards requires a higher fee, but the amount gets credited within 15 minutes. On the other hand, the least expensive method for transfer is via bank account, but it may take up to 4 business days.

For example, if you want to send $1,000 to Finland by bank account, the fee charged is $5. Similarly, the fee is $15 and $35 when transfers are made via debit cards and credit cards, respectively. Let's see some of the fees for transferring money from the United States to other countries:

• US$1,000 from a US bank account for cash pickup in Australia- US$5.
• US$1,000 from a US debit card for cash pickup in India- US$4.
• US$1,000 from a US credit card for a bank deposit in the UK- US$35.

The fees and Ria money transfer currency rate vary between transfers made through online platforms and their physical agent locations.

Ria levies an additional charge on the mid-market exchange rate in the range between 1.5% to 2.5%. Generally, this charge hovers around low 1%, but most companies even charge up to as high as 3-5%. So, Ria falls in the middle ground.

You can open an account in Ria and start sending money by visiting its website and following the below steps:

• Click Register at the top right corner of the page.
• Enter your email and create a secure and safe password, then click Continue.
• Select three security questions that only you can answer. Enter the answers for those three and click Continue.
• Enter your first name, last name, birthday, address, phone number, preferred communication language, and the country you most often plan to send the money.
• Then, check the box, thereby agreeing to the privacy policy and the company's terms and conditions and giving consent to receive the account and transfer-related communication.
• Click Submit.

You can secure your account with two-factor authentication by verifying your phone number via a text message or a phone call. So, click send code.

Enter the code received and then click verify phone. With this, your official Ria account gets created, and you can start sending money. 

You can send money through Ria by using your credit card, debit card, bank account, or paying cash by visiting the nearest stores. In addition, you can use the Ria money transfer tracking tool "Track a Transfer" to monitor your transfer by entering the PIN, order number, or reference number. The recipient will receive the money based on your mode chosen, such as bank deposit or through cash pickup at an agent location.

You can send money online with Ria Money Transfer by following the below steps:

• You can fill in the receiver's name, address, and phone number. You must add their bank name and account to send the money directly to their bank account.
• Add your payment information and fund your transfer via credit/debit cards or bank account. The payment funded via bank account takes up to four business days and is cheaper than funding via credit/debit cards, where it takes only 15 minutes but is relatively expensive.
• You must select the method in which the recipient should receive the money. For example, you can choose for direct deposit in the recipient's bank account or ask for recipient cash pick up from the nearby location.
• After filling in all the requisite details, you can click the send button. Further, you can use the Track Transfers tool to monitor your transfers.

Let's see how we can transfer money via Ria through an example. Suppose you want to transfer $500 from the US to the UK in GBP. Ria charges the fees depending upon the mode of payment. The fees and total cost for different methods will be as follows:-

• Bank-funded transfer- The fee will be $5, and the total cost will be $505 irrespective of cash pickup or bank deposit method of receiving money by the recipient.
• Credit card funded transfer-  The fee will be $20, and the total cost will be $520 irrespective of cash pickup or bank deposit method.
• Debit card funded transfer- The fee will be $8, and the total cost will be $508 irrespective of cash pickup or bank deposit method.

The US$500 will be transferred with an additional charge to the mid-market exchange rate.

Ø A the time of writing, the mid-market exchange rate is 1 USD= 0.726276 GBP so, US$500 will equal 363.14 GBP.

Ø Ria transfers US$500 at an exchange rate of 1 USD= 0.7112 GBP, so the recipient, in this case, will receive 355.60 GBP.

Ø Thus, the difference in amount between the mid-market exchange rate and Ria's exchange rate is 7.54 GBP which equals $10.60. Thus, the additional charge on funds transferred is 2.12%.

The speed of the transfer depends upon the funded payment mode. For example, the transferred funds are available to the recipient within 15 minutes in case of credit/debit cards funding. If you are making a bank account transfer, it takes around four business days.

You can reach customer service by phone every day of the week, but it’s not available in the evenings on the West Coast. However, plenty of users have complained about the long hold times you get with customer service. 

The Ria Money Transfer reviews from customers across the globe have been mixed to largely positive. It is one of the largest and best money transfer apps and services globally and is operating across 160 countries. You can compare it with other money transfer companies to choose the best for yourself.

Besides Ria there are other great money transfer services like TransferGo (read our Transfergo review here) and Remitly (read Remitly review here).