Ria Money Transfer Review (2024)

Did you know that around 15% of Canadians regularly send money abroad to friends and family? Whether people are supporting grandparents who live in another country or just topping up the accounts of children studying abroad they still want to make sure that the transfer service they are using is offering the best security and most competitive interest rates.

In this short review, we will introduce you to Ria, tell you the pros and cons and help you decide if it is the right service for you.

Our Ria money transfer review: The world's safest money transfer service?

Ria is a well-established and extensive money transfer company that has a reputation for efficient service as well as excellent global coverage. However, Ria's fees are higher than its competitors and they do not provide a clear breakdown of costs.

Although the system is usually efficient and secure when there is a rare problem customers seem to have difficulties in getting prompt and effective customer service.

In conclusion, Ria is a good choice for people who wish to send small sums of money to places that other money transfer services don't cover. However, for larger sums, we would recommend using a service with smaller fees.

What is Ria Money?

Ria is an international money transfer service operating out of Canada, Australia, Spain, the US, and the UK. It allows you to send money to over 180 different countries around the world with a quick, secure transfer of funds.

Founded in 1987, Ria has over three decades of experience in money transfers or remittances. It is currently the third largest in the world. Customers can send money through the website (available in limited countries) or the mobile app which is available in almost all countries.

How does Ria work?

Ria works with a network of partners and local banks in countries around the world to move money to as many locations as possible. These transfers will use a routing or a SWIFT code.

Note: due to recent international developments, Russian banks have been excluded from SWIFT codes. It is not currently possible to send money to Russia via Ria.

Wire transfers usually take two business days, this is because the transactions need to be verified by financial service on the receiver's end. Sometimes a transfer could be flagged as suspicious, due to its origin, destination or amount. In these cases, the transfers may be delayed while an authority investigates.

Canada currently has sanctions in place against the following countries. These sanctions will usually target specific individuals or organizations. However, many wire services will avoid legal complications by not providing services to the whole country.

How to send money via Ria?

In this section, we will take you through how to send money using the Ria money transfer service either using the app or at a physical location.

Using the Ria money app

1. Download the app on your device and set up an account
2. Hit the Send money now button
3. Enter the country you are sending to, the amount you want to send, the way you will be paying and how you want it delivered.
4. Add any promo codes you have
5. Review the info you have entered
6. Add the info for the recipient
7. Select a payment method, confirm and hit send

Using a physical location

All major cities in Canada have Ria offices or counters. In these locations, you can send money in person.

1. Locate your nearest Ria office
2. Tell the clerk which country you are sending to and how much you would like to send
3. Provide them with the recipient's details
4. Pay using an approved method

How much are Ria's fees?

Ria's money transfer fees are not clearly stated on its website and some reviewers have criticized what they perceive as a lack of transparency. It is worth pointing out that Ria does not have full control over what fees are payable as they work with local financial institutions in order to get money to recipients.

To help you get a clearer understanding of Ria's fees by country we have created the table below which lays out examples for sending $100 to the 10 most popular recipient destinations. For the purposes of these examples, we assume the payment is made on a credit card for a cash pick-up at the destination

Destination country	Recipient gets ($100)	Fee	Total cost
India	5,894 INR	$7	$107
China	513.11 CNY	$7	$107
Philippines	4,305.43 PHP	$5	$105
Columbia	327,600 COP	$5	$105
Pakistan	16,018 PKR	$5	$105
Mexico	1,437.88 MXN	$5	$105
UK	64.14 GBP	$7	$107
USA	71.95 USD	$6	$106
France	72.31 EUR	$5	$105
Hong Kong	564.84 HKD	$6	$106

Interested in seeing Ria compared to leading competitors in terms of rates and fees?

Compare the top 10 money transfer platforms

Save money in just seconds

Is Ria safe?

Yes, Ria is a safe and trustworthy service. They take the following security measures in order to protect all of their customers and their customer's money transfers.

• A team of security experts monitoring for suspicious behaviour
• Bank card and bank account information is never stored on Ria's servers
• Multi-step identification verification process

Ria also offers educational resources to make people aware of common scams like catfishing, fake mystery shopper jobs and internet purchase scams. Ria offers guidance for dealing with these and also a database of anti-fraud organizations that can help you if you are unlucky enough to be the victim of a criminal operation.

Ria vs Wise

To help you get a better understanding of how Ria measures up to its competitor in terms of speed, exchange rates and fees we have put together a comparison table showing how Ria looks compared to Wise.

Below you can see a breakdown when sending money to Phillippines from Canada using both Ria and Wise. The example considers the payment is made the cheapest way for each, with the recipient collecting the money the cheapest way.

Money Transfer Company	Payment Method	Transfer Fee (CAD)	Collection Method	Currency Conversion Offered	Amount Sent (CAD)	Money Received (PHP)
Ria	Debit card	$5	Cash pickup	1CAD = 42.80 PHP	$500	21,144.64
Wise	Bank transfer	$6.17	Bank account	1 CAD = 42.8814 PHP	$500	21,176.12

Would you like to see how Ria and Wise compare against other leading, global money transfer services?

Compare the top 10 money transfer platforms

Save money in just seconds