Financial & Economic Blog

Before you transfer money to  Pakistan, you should find out which techniques  are available, and use the one you assume would  be most convenient. Clearly, not all methods  are useful to all people. For example, if your family  member does not have a bank account, you cannot use the common  route of transferring money to an account.  In such a case, using a prepaid debit card could be the most  helpful method. However, you should ensure that there  are many ATMs in the country before you do so.

Like many  regions, Pakistan has tons of ATMs in the major cities, such as Karachi  and Islamabad. This is because there are plenty of bank locations,  such as Citibank Pakistan, in these cities. The banks tend to  boast ATMs that are open all day, everyday, which makes having  a prepaid debit card in Pakistan quite convenient. However,  more remote areas, like Kashmir, have few,  if any, ATMs, so having some cash there would be good.

Fortunately, it is rather  easy to take cash from  ATMs. If your relative does not live in an area  with plenty of access to these machines, they could consider  traveling to a larger city to withdraw cash  to have on-hand. The charge is usually about  $1.50 USD per withdrawal, or about 128 Pakistan rupee. You  can add up to $1000 USD per day on the card, so your relative can withdraw a sizable amount at once. On  the other hand, some small towns without ATMs do have large  stores that accept debit cards. Your recipient will  probably know if this is the case where they reside.  If they do not live near any ATMs or merchants that take  cards, and do not want to travel, you might be better off  using a different method to transfer money to Pakistan. However,  this route has been known to work in almost any country.

This area  has seen an increase in usage of ATM cards in recent  years. This is largely because more banks in the city  have added ATM machines to their branch, and the people’s  increasing familiarity with them has persuaded even more  banks to continue this trend. Therefore, your family  member should have few problems using a prepaid debit card,  which makes it quite simple for you to transfer money to Pakistan.  You will just ensure that your recipient wants you  to take this pathway, and if so, you can expect to pay a $5  fee each transfer. Your relative can then decide whether  it is more convenient to withdraw cash from ATMs, or  use the debit card to purchase things such as gas, food,  or pay bills online. Either way, your relative will likely  love the flexibility that they are offered when you use a prepaid  debit card to transfer money to Pakistan.