Do You Remit to India Regularly? 5 Reasons Why You Should Consider a Remittance Account
By combining the features of online money transfer service and a savings bank account, a remittance account offers multiple benefits to the NRIs working in the UK. Check out this post to know five reasons why you should consider opening a remittance account if you regularly send funds to India.
Online remittance is now a preferred method for NRIs wanting to send funds to India from the UK regularly. It is quick, convenient, secure, and offers highly competitive exchange rates. But to offer enhanced convenience and benefits to such NRIs, there are now banks that offer exclusive remittance accounts that combine online remittance with a savings account.
Using such accounts to send funds to India is as simple as using net banking for transferring funds to another bank account. If you regularly send funds to India from the UK, here are five reasons that make such remittance accounts a must for you-
1. 24×7 Same-Day Money Transfers
Be it a day, night, weekend, or a bank holiday, you can use your remittance bank account to send funds to India anytime you like. As it is an online account, the money transfer service is available 24×7.
Moreover, if your recipient in India also has an account in the same bank, the transfer would be processed instantly. Even in case if your recipient in India has an account in a different bank, the transfer would still be processed within 24 hours.
2. Confirmed Exchange Rates with Rate Block Feature
The GBP/INR exchange rate fluctuates 24 hours a day as per the movements in the currency markets. This also means that the rate at which you initiate the transfer and the rate at which your GBP is converted into INR can vary. This could lead to losses in some cases. To avoid this problem, some remittance accounts now offer confirmed exchange rates. This ensures that the rate of exchange would remain the same throughout the transfer.
Some banks also offer rate block feature, which allows you to select your own rate at which you’d like to process the transfer. With this, your UK to India transfer will only begin if the current GBP/INR exchange rate is the same as the rate you have mentioned or is higher.
3. Automatic Transfers
Another top reason to open a remittance account is the automatic transfer feature. If you are working in the UK and send funds to India at fixed intervals, you can use this feature to automate your transfers.
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You can select a date and the GBP you’d like to transfer to your recipient in India regularly. On the chosen date, the bank will automatically initiate the transfer on your behalf. You can select weekly, bi-monthly, monthly, and quarterly transfers.
4. Earn Interest on Your Savings
Apart from the remittance-related features discussed above, the account also comes with several additional benefits of a savings bank account. For instance, the balance you maintain in your remittance account earns monthly interest.
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As per the maintained balance and the rate of interest, the bank will deposit your interest income at the end of every month. You have the option to withdraw your interest income or send the same to India along with your remittance amount.
5. Easy Deposits and Withdrawals
The remittance account is linked to a current account in the same bank. This ensures that you can easily deposit and withdraw funds to and from the remittance account as and when you like.
Even in cases when you want to remit to India instantly, you can easily transfer funds between accounts online to initiate the transfer as quickly as possible.
Online Remittance Account for Regular UK to India Transfers
As can be seen above, all the different features and benefits of a remittance account make the whole process of UK to India fund transfers simple and cost-efficient. It eliminates the need for you to look for a remittance service provider and also makes your transfers safer as banks are known to be more secure.
Look for a top Indian bank in the UK offering this remittance account facility to know more about their features and benefits.