What is a wire transfer anyway?

We've all had to transfer money at one time or another and mostly during what is referred to as a wire transfer. Yet for those that didn't understand in detail they might not know what exactly what is a wire transfer anyway?

Basically it's a process called an electronic funds transfer. It also is termed as a credit transfer as well as a wire transfer. The terms may be different but they generally mean the same thing.

When one person wants to send cash to another it's just that simple wire transfer. The sender deposits a specific amount of cash, adds the data of the recipient, pays a small fee to the company that is sending the cash such as a bank or wire service depot like Western Union. When it comes to banking a wire transfer may take anywhere from minutes to several business days. Each facility has its own guidelines and it takes one to be on top of what each facility provides.

Nowadays people try to avoid wire transfers because of the high fees involved. It can cost over $20 to $30 to send a wire transfer and over $10 to receive it if you go through a bank. However, there are many ways around sending wire transfers if you don't have to. Wire transfers for huge sums of money for the big banks may be fine for them, however due to the heavy regulations bulk and sometimes small transfers cost a good penny.

As far as security goes most wire transfers are pretty secure and the total process is considered highly secure overall. Each level of security and process of wire transfers has to follow prescribed steps which government and industry go by.

If you want to save big dough then go with retail wire transfers.

Mentioned earlier is Weston Union that has been allowing transfers for decades on end.

Back in 1974 the co-operative society SWIFT was established to help with getting wire transfers or money transfers done in an ethical and professional way. In this case each of the SWIFT financial institutions are assigned what is referred to as an ISO 9362 code or Bank Identifier Code (BIC). In the US a bank will use their SWIFT code to notify foreign banks a payment has been made and then the US banks use their CHIPS or FEDWIRE transfer system to make the actual payment.

The advantages of your using wire transfers

The advantages of you using wire transfers is simple. You need to understand that the security and speed of a wire transfer from a center like Western Union is so convenient that you just can't turn it down. You don't have to put up with lots of paper work and you get your money sent to the party you intend as well as receive money. This way of wire transfer comes in handy and is why so many use it. There are dozens of companies that offer wire transfers this way and use debit/credit cards to facilitate transfers fso that customers can easily get their cash at any atm or bank. This helps out with college kids or relatives that are at a distance. It's easy to use this form of wire transfer. If you have employees at a great distance as well you can send them money with speed and security. You can bet military personnel use wire transfers f this kind. They've got a more secure system but also they have private institutions to do the work. Those lower fees still have security and that bodes well for all parties involved.

Wire transfers are the way we send and receive money theses days as you can see and what's better is that they've become quite the common practice thus leading to less headache and more security and peace of mind.

We're all taking part in variations on the wire transfer theme. Actually, thanks to the web we've seen a massive increase over the past decade of people using the web for commerce. There are a number of payment solutions that have come along making it easier to use wire transfers or money transfers in order to do commerce on the web. These payment solution companies have wire transfer options that allow you to send money in seconds with fees so low they stagger the mind. They also allow for you to establish a merchant account and take orders from your website. Payment solutions offer wire transfer cards that will make for convenience and follow legal guidelines.

Banks now realize the growth of the wire transfer industry and are making all sorts of inroads to provide security and convenience. This provides savings on a massive scale. The banks are making money hand over foot as today's headlines can testify to that. With further software development and API applications you'll see more colorful yet just as effective wire transfer technology.

What's On The Horizon For Wire Transfers And Technology?

Already people can use their smartphones to do wire transfers of all sorts. tablets and who knows what else may come along and you can bet that whatever new comes along they'll be able to transfer money. That's the future in the works and it would be well advised to keep an eye on what is going on so that you can keep tabs on what you'll have to do to make your transfers easy and safe. In a few years you might be able to use toys or who knows what. Maybe even jewelry.

So overall, wire transfers are done under regulation of government for safety and convenience. Other companies have their own wire transfer procedures that may cost less or more as the bank transfers do. However, all are governed by the guidelines of government to prevent fraud and money laundering. As long as people need money sent there's going to be wire transfers needed and the experts will be around just to make sure things go alright.