Xoom expands across Europe into Greece

The digital money transfer provider has expanded its services across Europe to countries such as Greece, Austria, Belgium and Portugal.

Xoom will now offer fast deposit services to those countries and users can deposit money in under a day when customers send by 4pm BST (British Standard Time).

Transactions submitted after that time will be deposited in two business days.

Xoom will allow expats from those countries to transfer money to those countries without having to queue in a bank as the service is available online and on smartphones.

Naturally the focus will be on Greece. It was only this week that the Greek Prime Minister, Alex Tsipras, enforced capital control laws that prevented Greek citizens from transferring their money abroad and only being able to withdraw a maximum of €60 per day.

However, Xoom’s expansion to the financially troubled country means that, whilst people cannot transfer money out of the country, people should be able to send money in.

Earlier this week other transfer companies such as Western Union resumed their incoming service.

Despite this bit of good news, as mentioned above, whilst people can receive money going into Greece, they will only be able to take out €60 per day. However, the capital controls will be lifted tomorrow meaning the restrictions will be lifted then.

The cost to send money with Xoom when paying with a U.S.-based bank account is $4.99 to send up to $2,999. Recipients will not be charged fees from the receiving bank.

The expansion comes after last week’s news that PayPal are buying the money transfer service for $890m.

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