Best way to wire money to India
 

We seem to be having trouble wiring our deposit to India. Anyone have any ideas? We live in a small town and I'm not sure if it is that we don't have all of the information (it seems we do) or if they don't have the experience.

Might be your bank. I had a really hard time at one of my branches when I tried to wire money to Sher Bagh in India. At a different branch there was no problem. Same information given to the teller.

go to a commercial bank and they should be able to do it....check with american express and they might be able to help...

call western union and they for sure can do it for you and charge a credit card...

won't the indian company take your credit card??

No, the Indian company doesn't take credit cards. I'm thinking Western Union might be best, but if we use a credit card to send money, I wonder if it is like getting cash from your credit card where they charge interest instantly. I'll check with AMEX too. Thanks.

The fastest and least expensive way is get the bank name, address, name(s) on account, routing number and accout number. I just did this quite easily in Malaysia. My bank charged me $20 for the wire transfer. Yes, it most likely needs to be a commercial bank and hopefully has an affiliation with a larger commercial bank. If 2 banks are involved fee might be $50+/-

StanKase is quite right. Every commercial bank in India has either a direct nostro account with all major banks in the US & Europe or will have a tieup with another bank, to fecilitate money transfer. You must ask the company/individual to go to his bank & take the instructions for transfer of funds from the US. His bankers will provide him with exact instructions. Armed with such instructions, you may go to your bank & provide them with this info. Mind you, any deviation from the "bank instructions" will delay receipt of payment in India. It normally takes 48 hours from US. Incase, of the money being delayed, your bankers will charge you again for starting the process of tracing the payment. The money never gets lost though. When the Bank Instructions are vague, the money goes into a limbo account & the instrument of transfer lapses after six months. The money is then sent back to the payee.
Hope it helps.

another thing i often do is to send travelers checks either in pounds, euros or dollars made payable to the payee...these i get from AAA or my bank...

the best way is to visit the commercial bank as i mentioned above...this is a "national bank", "trust company" or general business bank....not a credit union, savings or co-operative bank, savings and loan type banks...