How e-remit Helped My Maid to Pay for Her Mom’s Medical Bill

Last wednesday evening, I came home from work and found Yati, my domestic helper sobbing in the kitchen.

‘Yati, what’s wrong?’, I asked.

She replied, ‘Sir, I just called home. My sister told me that my mom is ill. She needs to be hospitalized.’

She then continued, ‘I need to send money back to Indonesia immediately. Sir, can you help me?’

I asked, ‘How much do you need to send?’

She answered, ‘RM 1,000 sir.’

Sensing the urgency, I switched on my laptop and proceeded to my online banking account. I intend to transfer money to Yati’s little sister, Wati. From the instructions provided, I told Yati that the money would be transferred to Wati in 3 working days.

Yati seemed worried.

She asked, ‘Sir, can the money be transferred by Friday? Also, is there another way to send money over to Wati? Continuing on, she explained that Wati would need to commute 3 hours to Yogyakarta where her nearest bank is located to withdraw the money.

Thus, I went to Google and typed ‘Money Transfer from Malaysia to Indonesia’.

From which, I discovered e-Remit.

e-remit allows Wati to collect money from cash pick-up centres as it is more convenient. Hence, I decided to register and create an e-Remit account.

To complete the registration process e-remit needs to verify my ID through a face-to-face meeting. I called its Customer Care Line at 03-7724 2070 and to my surprise, e-remit is willing to send its representative to my office to verify my ID. They conduct this service free of charge if you live in the Klang Valley Area.

That’s convenient. But due to the urgency, I decided to visit their branch, instead of waiting.

Meeting Gopal

On Thursday morning, I visited Mr. Gopal e-remit’s main branch in Damansara Intan. Upon verification of my MyKad, he completed the registration of my e-Remit account. Then, he showed me how to transfer money through e-Remit. It is easy. Here are the steps:

1. Login to my e-remit account.
2. Add Wati into my Recipient Folder.
3. Create my first Transaction Folder.
4. Fill in the transaction details, select Wati as my intended recipient, and click onto the ‘Send Button’.
5. Click onto the ‘Confirm Button’.
6. Select my preferred bank account and authorise my payment through FPX payment gateway.

Who Uses e-remit?

While making the transaction, I had a nice chat with Mr. Gopal who is very friendly. I found that e-remit is owned by Merchantrade Asia Sdn Bhd. It is Malaysia’s leading licensed remittance company with 69 branches nationwide.

It allows me to transfer money to 9 countries comprising of Indonesia, Singapore, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, The Philippines, Myanmar, Nepal and Sri Lanka. e-Remit is affiliated to most major banks in these countries and has access to over 150,000 payout locations overseas.

For those needing to send money to other countries, e-remit is in partnership with MoneyGram, one of the world’s leading money transfer providers, making it possible for you to transfer money to over 200 countries and territories via e-remit’s online portal. However, for these transfers, the standard MoneyGram exchange rates and service fees apply.

Mr. Gopal explained that e-remit enables foreign workers to send money back to their respective home countries. It is very helpful especially to beneficiaries who are illiterate or do not have a bank accounts.

This is because, like Wati, recipients are able to collect money at a cash pick-up point at their preferred location. For Wati, she will present her ID to a local agent at the pick-up point and will receive the cash in 1 working day.

Quickly, I called Yati and told her the good news. Yati is relieved.

What About the Charges?

I paid RM 15 to transfer money to Wati. It is truly a small price to pay to give Yati peace of mind.

On my side, I find that the exchange rate offered is competitive. e-remit updates the exchange rates 3 to 4 times a day and the rates are published on www.eremit.com.my The actual exchange rate for the transfer is the exchange rate published on the website at the point when I confirmed the transaction.

Besides offering competitive exchange rates and low service fees, e-Remit does not impose any fees on recipients.

So, not only is it user-friendly, but also a cheaper way to transfer money.

e-remit Mobile App

Before leaving, Mr. Gopal introduced me to the e-remit mobile app. It is available on both Google Play and iOS Appstore. To name a few, the features include:

1. Tracking & Monitoring of Transactions
2. Live Exchange Rates
3. Currency Calculator
4. And Promotional Updates

Then, Mr. Gopal guided me to download the free mobile app from AppStore (also available on Android). Gone are the days of needing to travel and queue up to send money. Now, I enjoy the convenience of sending money through my smartphone at anytime and anywhere.

Currently, MoneyGram services are not available on e-remit’s mobile app, but will be made available in the near future.

Want to know more about e-remit?

For more details, please log onto www.eremit.com.my or send in your enquiries to enquiry@eremit.com.my