A close friend of mine wanted to send some money to her relatives in Karachi urgently…Her relative is having an operation and needs some money urgently…And no one she knows here is going to Pak anytime soon…
She’s in the process of getting her US citizineship right now or something and has applications pending with the INS, and she has been told that if she sends large amounts of money to Pak thru banks, then theyll start enquiring abt her and itll affect her immigration application or something…She’s really careful abt this and hasnt travelled out of te country for abt two three yrs now just because of all this…She doesnt wana take any chances…
I’ve heard of some HUNDI system which is unofficial and which ppl use to send money to Pak…I think those shops in Karachi like Glaxy money exchange and Kaalia and Khanani…are HUNDI ppl?
Does someone know how it works? My friend is in the Bay Area in California..
Would really appreciate any info, thanks very much…
Hundi system is not recommended these days. Yes, its probably still reliable, but with all the greater suspicion and monitoring of funds transfer due to terrorism threats, more and more people are just using regular channels to transfer money. I had heard Western Union has opened a lot of outlets in Pakistan. Check from their website. Since a lot of people use it, so they will be in a very good position to offer good rates.
Use Wire Transfer, It is the quickest, safest and probably the cheapest (legal) way to send money. I have used it many times to send money to my parents and it has worked fine every time.
Western Union is expensive plus they have a limit of 2500 USD per day.
I wont suggest Hundi system. Please be careful if at all you decide to use that.
thanks a lot for the info salman bhai ,Faisal bhai and Asif bhai…I’ve fwded it to my friend…I sent a mail abt this to my college PSA as well and everyone there said too that hundi is not allowed…so i’ll ask her to just go with one of the ways mentioned…
Please don’t call me “Bhai” its very unethical and non-professional attitude; such words should not be coming from an educated person like you. Please refrain from using it or else I have the right to either call you anything or have my complain forwarded to “Admin Baba”
Use wire, if you need more info on how to wire, give my buddy Pilot a call. He will guide you in the right direction.
Use any major bank's wire transfer. My bank charges a fee of $35 and transfers the money to Pakistan within 2 or 3 days. Just used it recently and it was a pleasure. I think peeps who're travelling to pakistan and are carying large amounts of cash should also send the money via wire transfer to an account in Pakistan. Its prolly better/cheaper than traveller's checks plus the safety of not having a large amount on hand for international travel makes it well worth the $35 dollars, flat fee.
As for the FBI, well dear, they're prolly keeping an eye on you regardless of what you transfer or not. For all intent and purposes, you can safely assume that your phone line has been tapped among other things. So there's isn't really any thing that will avoid the checks. Just remember to cross your t's and dot your i's and everything should be fine.
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*Originally posted by salman_2you: *
Use wire, if you need more info on how to wire, give my buddy Pilot a call. He will guide you in the right direction.
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^ Try, not to drag me while you are socializing :)
Irem Behan, I guess you are very close to SFo, try these location
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*Originally posted by Umer: *
How does this wire transfer work? As I understand it, you transfer money to an account in Pakistan. Which exchange rate is used for that?
Is it available only in the US or can we use here in Europe too? If possible from Europe: Do we have these flat rates here as well?
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All you need is the Swift Code of the Local Bank (The Bank in Pakistan where you want to transfer money) & The corresponding Bank in your Country/City. It is available in UK too, My brother lives there and he has done it couple of times.
The exchange rate will depend on the value of the Currency in Pakistan on the day it reaches in your account. Most banks charge flat fee for any amount you want to transfer.
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*Originally posted by Umer: *
How does this wire transfer work? As I understand it, you transfer money to an account in Pakistan. Which exchange rate is used for that?
Is it available only in the US or can we use here in Europe too? If possible from Europe: Do we have these flat rates here as well?
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Umer lala, All you need to have is
1) Money :D
2) Bank account information for the person your are sending the money to
You can even take the cash to any Bank in Austria and transfer the money without having a personal account, cash money works like an account :D. Use Habib Bank Austria's branch. My Dad used to work there for Habib Bank, Vienna, Austria :(. That's why how I know that there is a Habib Bank..
The Banks usually don't give you very good exchange rate also they charge you transfer fee too. As compared to hundi which charges you nominal fee and actually deliver the money by hand to your love ones...
But there is a way... I usually send the money to Edhi Trust and how it works is pretty simple... I have a business account in Citi-Group, which can be operated from anywhere in the world. I have a pre-authorized payment system just for Edhi's account in Citi-Bank Karachi. They get funds in US dollars and I don't have to pay the wire transfer fee or any depreciated exchange rate. Isn't that great…
try Tezraftar, its the sevice United Bank Limited provides for sending money. I head it comes with the gurantee of sending the money with in 24 hours, except in remote areas. its also not necessary to be the account holder of U.B.L.
Habib Bank in Austria? I don’t think so. If they ever had a branch here, it must have closed down because as far as I know Habib Bank is not present here.
I have sued every possible way to send money abroad.
the best I have found is
if anyone has dollor or pound account in pak. send money in dollors or sterling. by paying small amount to any bank here in uk(£17) or US,
you avoid loosing money in exchange rates. ;)
so what you send , is exactly what they get.
hundi(no fee), western union(even worst but very quick in 5-10 min) give lower exchange rates cause they pay in local currency.
So staying legel and sending the real value money to is by wire, SWIFT, CHAP etc are best methods from any bank.