VMBS Money Transfer Services: Connecting Lives

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It’s just past 5 a.m., the sun hasn’t risen yet but Andrea is up washing uniforms for her daughter, Danielle, with days to go before the new school term. She’s a hard worker but times are tough, and she finds that she needs some assistance every now and then. Fortunately her uncle is happy to help whenever he can. “It’s just what family does,” he says. Uncle Neville is a mechanic who moved to England many years ago, started over at the bottom of the ranks and worked his way up to co-owner of a small garage in Birmingham. Today at lunch, he stopped by a RIA branch to send Andrea money to help with Danielle’s school fees plus books, backpack, crayons and all the things that really add up at this time of the year.

Joel is the youngest of Donna and Conrad’s three sons. It wasn’t easy raising three boys and putting them through school, but with hard work and a dedicated savings effort they did it. Now they’re on the last leg of building their dream home in Cooper’s Hill, the house where they expect future grandchildren to spend summers. “Now of course you budget for the walls, the roof and the doors, but you don’t always remember the little things like light fixtures, cabinet knobs and faucets until you find yourself washing dishes in the bathtub!” Donna laughed. So Joel, who now has an IT job in Florida, sent his parents some money through Xoom.com for the finishing touches. He’s so glad to help his parents out after all they’ve done for him. That afternoon, Donna picked up the money at her local VMBS, and went straight to the hardware store.

Carol has been a saver and a multitasker all her life, she works in Toronto, but has been sending money to her VMBS branch at home to pay the mortgage and utilities on her home in Trelawny for the last 15 years. Today she did some grocery shopping. She also stopped by the in-store Coinstar kiosk to cash in the coins from September’s saving jar so she could send some funds to cover October’s utility bills. She’s looking forward to visiting her home-sweet-home this holiday and we’re looking forward to her bi-annual visit to her local VMBS branch (and not just because she always brings us these lovely maple candies — yum!).

We hear these and other similar stories every day at VMBS Money Transfer Services. They’re stories of the Jamaican experience for so many, with friends and family who are making their way around the world and sending money back to their loved ones.

Latin American and Caribbean expatriates send $60 billion home each year, and about $2 billion of those dollars are sent into this island by Jamaicans abroad. Remittances, according to the Inter-American Development Bank “by far outstrip all sources of foreign aid to the region.” They’re absolutely essential for some, and quite a convenience for others, especially during the holidays and at the start of each school term. Others use remittances to fund investments, family businesses, and save and pay for their family home.

But the World Bank notes that one of the challenges to many migrant workers and their families, are fees and charges that take a chunk out of the funds they send. It’s therefore essential to do the work it takes to make remittances more affordable and convenient and VMBS Money Transfer Services is up for the challenge. We’re proud to say that our money transfer service fees are consistently among the lowest across all money transfer service providers to Jamaica and our exchange rates are the highest.

Here’s how we make money transfers work best for you and your family:

  1. Sending money home is easy and convenient. VMBS Money Transfer partners are located all over the globe and online at Xoom.com and Worldremit. It’s just as easy to pick up your cash at home, with 46 locations islandwide, including any our 15 VMBS branches. Just bring a national ID along with you. You can send or receive with VMBS Money Transfer even if you don’t have a VMBS account — although we’re pretty sure you’ll want to get one to enjoy all our Member Benefits 🙂  See below for a quick look at where to find us. Or click here to download a more detailed pdf.
    Come to our any of our locations or visit our online partners to experience easy, low fee money transfers.
  2. It’s affordable. If you’ve heard about VMBS, you probably know about our commitment to #NoOrLowFees, and that includes money transfer fees. Why have your hard earned dollars gobbled up by unnecessary charges?
  3. Our rates are the best. We’re not kidding. We challenge you to find better exchange rates for your funds in the market!
  4. We’re working to make your life easier. Pay your mortgage from anywhere in the world, plus we can pay your local utility bills for you. We’ll even send you a text so you’ll know when they’ve been paid.
  5. Done in a flash. No matter where you send your money from, it’ll be transferred in a matter of minutes.
  6. There’s more to come. Look out for exciting new developments around the corner that will make your VMBS Money Transfer experience even better.

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