SENDFRIEND, the next-generation remittance service and currently the "smartest way" to send money to the Philippines, announced that overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) can now send money quickly from the United States back to the Philippines at a lower rate than ever before.
“Living and working far away from loved ones is hard; we don’t think sending money home should be. We started SendFriend to reduce the costs and improve the experience for the millions of overseas Filipino workers who send money home to support their families,” said David Lighton, SendFriend co-founder and chief executive officer.
Migrants around the world sent home $650 billion in remittances last year, but they paid an average of over seven percent per transaction, or $45 billion in fees, for services that often took three to five days.
SendFriend was founded at MIT by a group of experienced individuals who believe that there is a better way for OFWs to support their families from afar.
SendFriend leverages secure blockchain technology to reduce settlement time and the cost of service. Benefits of using SendFriend include:
* Send More Money: Reduced fees mean that more money is sent to family overseas; SendFriend’s fees are 65 percent lower than the industry average as it replaces the frictions and fees of the banking system with one seamless, ultra low cost experience to send money globally
* Seconds instead of Days: Save time as payments sent from US to Philippines are sent and received in near-real time
* Secure and Trustworthy: SendFriend has cutting edge partners and is supported by leading institutions and investors, including The MasterCard Foundation and Barclays Accelerator powered by Techstars.
* Easy to Send and Easier to Receive Funds: Sending money only requires internet access and a bank account.
* The recipient in the Philippines does not need a SendFriend account.
* Money can be received via cash pick-up at Cebuana, M Lhuillier, LBC, and others; in a mobile wallet like Coins.ph; or at any of the major banks in the Philippines including BDO, Metrobank, BPI, PNB, and others.
* Customer First: SendFriend is intuitive and built with the customer in mind; service is accessible via both desktop and mobile.
“SendFriend is the only option for OFWs to securely and reliably send money internationally in essentially real time and at the lowest cost to the customer,” said Joel Kosloski, SendFriend chief technology and compliance officer and former MoneyGram chief architect.
“Whether its legacy players like Western Union or MoneyGram that are cash based and can charge up to 12 percent in fees or other digital or mobile newcomers that typically charge four percent in fees, SendFriend is the only option putting customers first and recognizing that every dollar, every peso matters,” he added.
SendFriend plans to launch in New Jersey but will soon be available to OFWs in other states.
Customers can now request early access and claim three fee-free transactions by visiting https://www.sendfriend.io/. (PR)