Transferring money to a foreign bank account by an ATM.

My experience is using the Rajhi bank. Everything is supposed to be available in online services however, when transferring money to an inside or outside bank acct, one need to add the recipient's name and acct number then activate it. I used to activate the acct through phone calls, but they've changed this to using ATM in activation of new acct. However, the ATM referred me to the bank it self.
I am not sure why they change processes like that so often once you got used to one method they move to the next!.
Al-Rajhi ATM has English language instruction as are all banks. The ATM allows me to transfer money just to the activated accts. I have no experience dealing with other banks recently.
Best,

Hend

Thanks very much Hend.  Can I just clarify:  you need to "activate" the account you're going to transfer money to with the bank that has your Saudi account?  So you have to "arrange" to make a transfer before you do it?  The reason I'm asking is because I want to send money today or tomorrow as a one time thing - not a regular thing.

Just a thought: Maybe when doing online banking add the foreign account as a beneficiary. In other words if you would like to transfer money form your local Saudi bank to your home country bank, add yourself as a beneficiary.

Thanks.  Good idea, I'll do that.

Please let me know if you've managed 

Hello Friends,

Remitting money outside a country using an ATM machine is the most expensive means to send money out. Firstly the currency conversion rate is much higher than normal and secondly there are fixed charges which can be seen after you check your bank statements.

Sorry for the late reply Pitch, I don't get notifications of the replies so I don't check the thread unless prompted.
I went to the bank yesterday, they said if i will transfer to an account from the same bank (alrajhi) then I can use the ATM directly without activating the beneficiary. but if I was going to transfer to a bank outside Al-Rajhi then I would have to come to the branch and complete the transfer.
they ask the number of the acct and the branch number. In al-Rajhi, the branch number is the first three numbers of the acct number.
I hope this helps albeit late.
Best,
Hend

riazcdki wrote:

Hello Friends,

Remitting money outside a country using an ATM machine is the most expensive means to send money out. Firstly the currency conversion rate is much higher than normal and secondly there are fixed charges which can be seen after you check your bank statements.

Riazcdki, what are the other cheap options from your experience?

Thanks
Hend

Hello H_sh,

Yes I can definitely guide you. Where do you normally want to send the money? what is the typical amount per transaction?

Thanks for the useful information Hend.

Al Inma bank is the best with low rate.
I transfer money from  my mobile to any account

riazcdki wrote:

Hello H_sh,

Yes I can definitely guide you. Where do you normally want to send the money? what is the typical amount per transaction?

Thanks, but I wanted to know in general. I have used Westren Union a couple of times before and since you said there are other options I wanted to know for reference.
Thanks

Hello Hend,

Best rates are offered by selected banks for 'online transfer deals, for example National Bank for Pakistan, SABB for India.

Second category which is slightly more expensive is Express Money, Enjaz Bank, Telemoney, Western Union and Money gram.

When I travel to UK and Europe, I find carrying Sterling and Euros currency notes would save me an extra 5 to 7 percent rather than the option of  transferring through remittance. While carrying cash please remember not to exceed USD 10K limit and always declare the money you are carrying at customs.

Go to Al-Rajhi Transfers or Tahweel Al Rajhi.

The Rajhi Bank is one of the worst to have an account with but the best to transfer you money through.

The Transfer branches are different from Bank branches. The transfer branches are open till 8:30 at night. Don't need to have a bank account with them. The conversion rates are the best. Very very economical transfers.

Search tahweel al rajhi on google to get all the locatinos.

Hope it is helpful.

Thank you, that's very useful information.

Almost all banks have online transfers and transfers / remittances through atm.
But in order to make a transfer, we need to define beneficiaries first, we cant transfer to random people, I guess that's due to the financial restrictions worldwide these days.

Adding a beneficiary is easy, go to the branch and give details of the person you want to transfer to (used to be over the phone as well).

You can use QuickPay, Tahweel Al Rajhi, Enjaz etc to transfer as well, usually better rates and cheaper cost to make transfer.

Again, thanks so much for the advice.

I do the transfer at the online banking website at ncb. I barely ever visit the branch.

Hello ....

You can transfer money by using the online banking.

Hello,

I'm having online bank account of Al Rajhi bank in Saudi arabia. but i dont know how to add beneficiary. can you please tell me how to add beneficiary through online. or else i should visit bank ??

visit the online portal and you could enter the beneficiary and later confirm by phone banking. If not approach the branch or any remittance center of al rajhi and you can do this.

You can't add an international beneficiary on Rajhi bank portal. You have to visit any Tahweel center and ask him to transfer money from your account. Once this is done, the beneficiary will appear in the portal.

Thanks a lot for valuable reply.

I need help im an expat here in saudi

And i went to al rahji bank atm machine i try to send money to philippines through express remittance and then i choose the name of my wife and then tha amount  then the atm machine just gave me an reciept

When my wife is going to get the money to BDO bank they asked her for referece number the problem is that theres no reference number in the reciept that the atm machine gave me what should i do

Can i still get my money i only have the reciept as a proof can someone help me

you can check online and print the transaction history and show it to the bank

Pitch306 wrote:

I would like to know if it is possible and easy to transfer money (cash) from Saudi Arabia to a foreign bank account using an ATM.  The banks here are only open during business hours during the work week and it is difficult for a worker to get to one.  Do the ATMs have explanations about how to transfer (deposit) money in English?  And can you do this at any ATM?  Or does it have to be an ATM of the bank with which you have a Saudi account?  Also, do different ATMs serve different functions here?  I mean, maybe it will be possible to make a deposit to a foreign account like this at one, but only to withdraw cash from a Saudi account at another.  Your advice would be much appreciated.  Thank you in advance.

hi Pitch306,

in my experience my bank is Arab National Bank and i do my  remittance thru telemoney and since  ANB is the affiliated bank of telemoney you can do remittance online and no need to go to the bank. and have the same charges when you remit money thru remittance center.

For NCB its too convenient, you can just add beneficiaries through phone banking / online banking , were as for Al Rajhi bank, to add an international benificiary you need to visit the Tahweel branch and give the details of the account in which you want to deposit, they will add for you the beneficiary, its one time registration, from then you can easily transfer money to that added beneficiary any time
Thanks

I already had my benificiary on Alrajhi online account, but why is it every time I transfer money to benificiary it says "error.......not available this time please try again later". So what I did is to go to Alrajhi branch again and again to send the money to my benificiary. Does anyone here try to solved this problem? Please help how.  Thanks