Over the last 10 years, migration has been one of the major factors shaping the economy of today’s Moldova. Various estimates show that somewhere between 300,000 and 1 million Moldavans work in Europe. For many years, the country has been among the top three by the inward remittance contribution to GDP. According to the Carnegie Foundation, a few years ago money transfers from abroad accounted for 25% of the country's GDP. This is second only to Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan.
The share of the inward transfers between individuals, also known as peer-to-peer transfers, is substantial, which signals that the majority are economic migrants. It would be natural to assume that the largest Moldovan community should be in neighbouring Romania. The countries are culturally close and speak the same language. In addition, since 1991, over 500,000 Moldovans have become Romanian citizens. Still, Romania is rather a transit hub for the outflow of economic migrants. For example, there are around 200,000 Moldovans living in Italy compared to only about 40,000 of those in Romania.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration of Moldova estimated that in 2021, there were more than 150,000 Moldovans in France, around 100,000 in Germany, 60,000 in the USA, and over 40,000 in the UK. Spain, Greece, Portugal and the Czech Republic followed, hosting more than 110,000 citizens of Moldova in total, the majority of whom are economic migrants.
All these people occasionally need to send money to Moldova. There are several ways to do that. Let’s look at the most popular ones.
Sending money to Moldova with a courier
This method is still very common even though it originated back when neither banking nor fintech, as we know those today, existed. While there are no immediate pros, the cons are plenty:
It’s expensive. Expect the amount a courier would charge for the delivery to be in hundreds of euros. Even if it’s a good friend of yours, the risk associated with moving the money across borders is too high, and so is the price.
It takes a lot of time. First, you need to find the courier, which by itself requires time and energy. Moving the money takes another couple of days. Moreover, your recipient needs to find the time to meet with the courier as it’s highly unlikely that the delivery will be door-to-door. And even if it is, then the price goes even higher.
It’s inconvenient. As previously mentioned, searching for a courier alone is a complicated task. Then you need to synchronise your schedules for a personal meeting to give them cash. It eats up a lot of energy – which you can spend on something more important if this process is ‘outsourced’ to a smart service that transfers money to Moldova.
It’s unsafe. Unfortunately, it is still rather common for couriers to disappear with the money. When entrusting a courier with cash, one can easily end up a victim of fraud. At the same time, the courier is also at risk.
Sending money to Moldova by bank/SWIFT
Bank wires are one of the most popular ways to transfer money internationally. The method is very safe. However, speed is not a strong point here. International transfers to Moldova are only sent by SWIFT, which means the recipient has to wait for the money for up to 7 business days. Often that is not an acceptable option, nor is the commission fee one needs to pay for a transfer. It comprises a fixed fee amounting to dozens of euros and a commission calculated based on the transfer amount. Moreover, there may be an additional charge on incoming SWIFT transfers. In this case, not only you but also your recipient must pay up. It means you cannot know the amount your recipient gets until the money is deposited into their account. This unpredictability, being typical for SWIFT money transfers to Moldova, is utterly inconvenient and often rightly outrageous.
Sending money in cryptocurrency
It is a state-of-the-art way to transfer money, which is in high demand among financial anarchists. But are laypeople comfortable with it, those who know next to nothing about Satoshi Nakamoto’s world? Most probably, they are not, as wrapping your head around cryptocurrency and p2p transfers is not easy. It takes a lot of time and mental effort. Even if one successfully registers with a cryptocurrency exchange and deposits money there, they still need to perform p2p-transactions to send transfers to an account or a card. They need to find a proper broker with suitable amounts and means of transfer. Therefore, a fast money transfer with cryptocurrency to Moldova is basically impossible.
Sending money with Profee international money transfer service
The optimal way to send money from Europe to Moldova, which is fast, convenient and secure, is with Profee. The service allows for instant card-to-card transfers from any European country to Moldova.
International transfers with Profee are a money saver. First, Profee does not charge any commission for the first transfer. Second, Profee offers the best euro/leu rate thanks to its in-house online system that monitors exchange rates on the market. Rest assured, the rate you see in the app or on Profee.com is the best at any given moment. Besides, the online converter always displays the total amount to be deposited to a recipient’s card in Moldova. There are no extra charges either by Profee or the recipient bank.
Profee transfers are available by iOS and Android apps as well as on Profee.com, all boasting a user-friendly interface. Once the registration is completed and the phone number confirmed, you can send up to EUR 1,000. If you need more, go through a simple automated verification procedure for Profee to increase your annual money transfer limit to EUR 30,000.
Once logged into the system in the app or on the website, you only need to select your home country in Europe, enter the transfer amount in the converter, and select Moldova as your destination country. You immediately see the amount the recipient gets, calculated based on the currency exchange rate. The next step is to provide the recipient’s full name and card number and the sender’s payment details: a bank card or Sofort. As a means of transfer, Sofort is available to residents of Germany and some other countries. The transfer can also be paid via Apple Pay or Google Pay, depending on your device.
Finally, you confirm the details of the transfer and click ‘Send’. All this takes about 3-5 minutes to complete. After another couple of minutes, the money is deposited into the recipient’s account. Try Profee to see for yourself.
