PayPal recently caused a lot of furore and confusion when they announced “temporary halting” of payments to India. Every other person was left outraged and stranded with no means to withdraw funds from PayPal to a local bank. Xoom is a service that aims to solve such a crisis from affecting PayPal users. Apart from allowing you to withdraw from PayPal to a local bank, Xoom also lets you send money globally at really reasonable rates.
Here’s how you can use Xoom to move your PayPal money to a local bank account.
Sign up for the service
Head over to the Xoom website, and sign-up for their service. The website automatically detects your country and shows you the exchange rate that you can get for your precious dollars. Once you sign-up, you need to verify your email address. Head over to your inbox and click the validation link there.
Transferring Money
After completing the verification process, use your credentials to sign-in to the Xoom website. Click on the Send Money link at the top of the page. You will land at the page shown below.
Select Send Money To A New Recipient and select a country from the drop-down list. Enter the amount to send in the text box to the right side of the screen. Then click on the Calculate Fee button to calculate the fees that you will be charged for the transaction. Although the transaction fees appear steep, many-a-time you can evade those by using a coupon code that you can find by performing a search online. I managed to find a few but they expire pretty quickly.
Now you’ll be presented three options for your transaction. Select the one that suits you best. Let’s select bank deposit for this example.
Now, you’ll be redirected to a page where you need to enter recipient information. Simply enter all the details of your (or anyone else’s) bank account. This is the bank account where you want to receive the money. Make sure you enter accurate details as these will be verified with the bank once you authorize the transaction. After entering the details, click Next at the bottom of the page.
Once you click Next, you’ll be taken to a Payment Information page. Under Service Type, select Pay With Your Debit Card, Credit Card, or PayPal Account. Under Select a Payment Method, select PayPal. Now comes the good part. If you’ve got a coupon code, enter it in the text box under Coupon Code (optional), and click Apply.
Thereafter, click Next.
Finally, you will be taken to a Review Your Transaction page. Here, you will be provided a summary of your transaction. Make sure all the details are correct (it is after all, your hard earned money!). If there are any changes to be made, hit Back and make them, else click on Authorize.
On clicking Authorize, you’ll be taken to a PayPal authorization page where you need to put in your PayPal credentials. Once you do that, you need to authorize the payment from your within your PayPal. Thereafter, you’ll be taken back to the Xoom website and a summary for your transaction will be shown to you. A link to the transaction summary will also be automatically be emailed to you.
Lastly, heave a contented sign of relief as your PayPal money is transferred to your local account (especially if you are an Indian).
If you are one of the many plagued by India’s PayPal blackout, give Xoom a try. If you aren’t, you’ll still love the convenience it offers for transferring funds all over the world.
Let us know about your experience (or any alternatives) in the comments.
Image Credit: stock:xchng
Tagged: finance • freelance • money • money management • paypal
