manneca

I want to send funds to an individual in Indonesia. Wire transfers seem to be complicated. My bank won't send rupiah (although they will send other currencies to other countries). The recipient's bank seems to need information about the sender some of which I don't understand.

Are there other reliable to send funds to an individual in Indonesia? The amount is in the neighborhood of $2700 given today's exchange rates.

Background (because inquiring minds will want to know). A dive guide I have known for about 10 years has a daughter who wants to go to medical school. His older daughter could not get enough governmental financial support for her to go. After finding the the total cost for the second daughter to go is less than what I spend on a dive trip, I offered to give him the money for his daughter's school fees. She will graduate from high school in about 4 years. Because I am old and have no idea how much longer I will live, I want to begin sending him the fees annually for the next 5 years. And no, if he uses the money for a new house I really don't care; I do trust him to use the money for his daughter's schooling or if she doesn't get into medical school, then for another educational course or for his son.

flynoob

It's been a while, but I've sent cash to Vietnam using RIA. It was in a pinch, but was pretty much instantaneous.

I've never sent to Indonesia, but a cursory review shows outlets scattered about.

If you go to the website, you can see the estimated exchange rate USD/IDR and search outlets for sender/receiver to see if the service is convenient. I was only sending a few hundred so I found the closest outlet to me (10 min drive) dropped cash off and was done. You have to have receiver info and send them a pin code for pickup. IIRC they also had a delivery option.

You must go on some epic dive tours. I might spend a few hundred before I've had enough.

Firemansam

Have you looked at western union, remitly or money gram?
western union can be picked up from one of their locations, no need for bank transfer.

travelingdrsuz

I have used Western Union to send money to a close friend who runs an orphanage (which I have personally visited and seen in action) in a country that I could not send funds to another way. She went to the WU office basically right when I sent it to confirm she received it. It was very smooth, though.

BobFF68

Never had issues to get and receive founds via wire transfers from overseas in Indonesia, can be that receiver has an IDR only account in a small local bank? Below 100 million IDR equivalent there is no need of specific authorization or documentation to be given to Bank of Indonesia.
Anyway i would give a look to popular transfer services such as Wise https://wise.com/us/

enelym1978

I recently sent IDR amounts to hotels and dive centers in Bali and Lombok, paying for deposits for an upcoming trips and I used either my own bank to transfer the money (they allowed sending IDRs) or used Wise (TransferWise) to do it. You can quite easily open up an account with them and then use them to wire the funds.
I didn't have to put anything else than the full name of the beneficiary and the address, together with the reasons for the wire.

manneca

Thanks all.

Did you put in the bank info for the beneficiary? My bank used to transfer in rupiah but it doesn't seem to any more. They seem to have changed the system so that tellers can initiate the wire whereas before it was only a VP who could do it.

enelym1978

What do you mean by bank info? I had the account number and the SWIFT code, that's it. The bank was Bank Permata. Maybe the bank you're trying to pay is not in the SWIFT system, which doesn't allow easy international wires....?

IAN-UK

For me Western Union is plain sailing, I set up the transfer, send cash from my UK account to WU and they wizz it over to the destination account in Indonesia. The entire operation takes only a few hours. Bank to bank used to be free, but now there's a charge (£2. I think).

nuzbim

manneca - have you figured this out? i can ask my wife how she sends money back to indo, she found an app that's easy to use and gives a good rate.

kaspars

Wise should be the easiest and most honest option in my view. Just download the app and use it online. Not sure WU or similar agencies would be that cheap/easy.

bwiadca

Another vote for Wise. Easiest and cheapest. WU is a highway robbery with their pricing comparing to Wise.

invisible

THe best/fastest is to use money transfer apps and there are several - Revolut, Wise (Transferwise), Instarem.

Basically all of them operate in Indonesia so you need to find out which one of them operates in your country. Then it is simple - download app, register, go thru KYC, validate your identity/bank account, then link your bank account to your account. After that you can send funds to the recepient, assuming that the recepient has the app/account as well.

rankourabu

I've sent money to Indonesia via Wise.
It was super easy for both me and the recipient.

moondog

I used WU to send money to Indonesia a few years ago. IIRC some of the other services, including Wise, were marginally cheaper, but the recipient was familiar with WU, so we went with it. No issues.