While different banks in Saudi Arabia offer money transfer services through legal remittance channels at quite competitive rates; Samba is also in the same list through its money transfer service known as Speedcash. The money transfer service offered by Samba Speedcash provides both options to collect the money. i.e. money can be picked over the counter on designated banks in Pakistan or it can be remitted into the beneficiary bank account. Being an account holder in Samba, I opted to use Speedcash service for sending money to my loved ones back in Pakistan. In this post, I will share my personal experience using Samba Speedcash service.
Why I Used Samba Speedcash?
Main reason I opted for Speedcash is the convenience that I had to send money being an account holder in Samba. I needed to visit the speedcash branch only once to get my beneficiaries registered and then I had a liberty to send money directly from Samba Online banking account through just a few clicks without going out in scorching sun and drive to the speedcash branch and wait in slow moving long queues.
Second reason I opted for Samba speedcash was exchange rate competitiveness. Though the difference between the exchange rate when compared for different money transfer services is just minimal; yet it makes a big difference if you are sending larger amounts. Speedcash offers quite good rates when transferring money to Pakistan.
How was my experience using Speedcash Service?
For getting my beneficiaries registered, I had to visit the branch. There are many speedcash centers available in different cities of Saudi Arabia. I visited the branch nearest to my residence in Rawda district in Jeddah city. Well the branch location is quite convenient and traffic on the way was just normal and the branch has ample parking space outside. Branch operates with a good token system so you don’t have to worry about people pushing others to reach forward in the queues. You just need to take the token for customer service desk and wait sitting on the waiting area with chilled AC.
I was able to get my number called/displayed after waiting about 20 minutes. Customer service representative was a decent guy who luckily could understand English as well as I was not able to communicate in Arabic. Forms for beneficiary addition were already filled by me stating all necessary details of the beneficiaries. He just verified by taking my Iqama and then did the necessary data updates to get my beneficiaries registered. Beneficiaries got added without any problems and I could see the beneficiaries in my samba account by logging it online.
The best thing that I had was that I was able to transfer money online from my account very conveniently and safely. Money transferred to my account in Pakistani bank got remitted within 2 days. However, this happy scenario lasted only for a few months for me and then I was no more able to transfer money directly !!
Unable to Send Money online through Speedcash to Pakistan
Due to some policy changes, direct fund transfer online using speedcash got barred for Pakistan. I had no clue what are the reasons but when I approached speedcash branch, I was informed that you need to visit speedcash branch each and every time from now onwards and get an approval and only then you can proceed to the transfer counter in the branch and send money.
So, now I have to visit the branch every time, get a token for customer service counter; ask them for an approval for the beneficiary to whom I have to transfer money and then they ask me to wait for some time till they get approval. Once approval is received by them (for me it took around 15 minutes), they will ask you to proceed to the money transfer counter from where you can avail the service. Since I maintain account in Samba, I didn’t need to take the cash with me and simply they send the money by debiting my account balance.
Refer to my other post where I explained about Various Options to Send Money from Saudi Arabia to Pakistan.