Zelle India: Why It's Not Available, and How To Save Money With Alternatives

If you're a Zelle user, you probably know that it's one of the best ways to send and receive money right from your smartphone. But if you've ever tried to use Zelle to send money across the world to India, you'll probably have quickly run into some difficulty.

This is because, sadly, Zelle is only available in the US and doesn't work in India. If you want to transfer your money to India, you'll need to pick a Zelle alternative instead for transferring to India, such as Remitly for cash pick-up or XE for bank-to-bank transfers.

In this short guide, we look at why Zelle doesn't work in India in the first place. Then, we'll delve into the best Zelle alternatives to help you make the best money transfer choices.

Why Isn't Zelle Available in India?

As we saw above, Zelle is not available in India, and the app is currently only available to US residents. —

To use the Zelle app in the first place (let alone send and receive money via online banking), both the sender and the recipient must have US bank accounts. And while you will be able to use Zelle in India if you're an American in that country, you won't be able to transfer money via Zelle to an India-based bank.

So why exactly doesn't Zelle work in India?

In a nutshell, Zelle transfers to India aren't possible because foreign exchange is a hugely complex market, with many rules, regulations, and industry standards that companies are obligated to follow. Over and above this, the profit margins tend to be very tight and competitive.

Simply put, this leads to many mobile payments apps avoiding international transfers altogether. It saves them a lot of time, money, and stress! Zelle isn't the only app to avoid foreign exchange for this reason: Venmo and Square Cash do the same. And those mobile payments apps that do get involved in foreign exchange usually charge exorbitant fees to cover the costs (e.g. Paypal).

Zelle Alternatives for Transfers to India

The good news is that if you're a Zelle user who'd like to send money abroad, you'll have plenty of options to choose from to send your money overseas instead. In summary, here are the main two:

1. Transfer via a digital provider: Many international money transfer providers offer low fees, fast transfers, and a great user experience to suit your needs. The best are XE and Wise for bank transfers and Remitly for cash pick-ups. However, pricing and exchange rates vary constantly, so compare providers on Monito to find the best deal every time.
2. Send an international bank wire: US banks such as Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Citibank, and others charge very high fees and poor exchange rates because they transfer over SWIFT. We therefore don't recommend them for transferring money abroad for most people. You can learn more about bank charges for international transfers here.

We go over both of these options in detail below:

Option 1 — Digital Providers

Digital international transfer providers are online platforms that have grown in popularity in recent years as a low-cost, savvy, and safe way to send money across borders. If you're a Zelle user, we think switching over to a digital provider is a natural choice for a number of reasons:

• Savviness: The user-friendly, seamless experience is usually slick and similar to Zelle in terms of accessibility and convenience.
• Cost: They're (by far) the cheapest way to send money to India, usually costing between 0.5% and 2% in total fees.
• Speed: Money usually arrives overseas in a matter of hours or, at most, around one to two days depending on the provider.

To learn more about digital providers and how they differ from banks, take a look at our bank vs digital provider comparison.

In the end, the digital provider that's best for you will depend on factors such as 1) which country you're sending to, 2) how much you're sending, and 3) how your recipient will receive their funds. According to millions of searches on Monito's real-time comparison engine, here are the three best digital providers for transfers from the US to bank accounts abroad:

XE — Great for Bank Transfers

One of the oldest and most reliable money transfer platforms on the globe, XE Money Transfer has been a world leader in international money transfers (including money transfers from the US to India) since 1993. It's also one of the fastest ways to send money to India compared to other similar providers on Monito's comparison platform.

Transfer cost (US to India): 1.8% on average

Transfer time: Minutes.

More info: See our XE review, or visit their website.

Wise — Another Excellent Option

One of the most popular and widely-used money transfer services out there, London-based Wise has built a solid reputation on fast, affordable bank transfers over its user-friendly web and mobile platforms.

Transfer cost (US to India): 0.6% on average

Transfer time: 1-2 business days.

More info: See our Wise review, or visit their website.

Remitly — Great for Cash Pick-Up

A world leader in low-cost international cash pickup transfers, Remitly often offers the cheapest (although seldom the fastest) money transfers to India from the United States.

Transfer cost (US to India): 2.2% on average.

Transfer time: 2-3 business days.

More info: See our Remitly review, or visit their website.

Option 2 — Banks and PayPal

The second (and generally the far worse) alternative to using Zelle for transferring money to India is to use your bank or PayPal.

Not only is using your bank or PayPal the slower and less convenient to transfer abroad, but going this route also comes with high hidden fees, as both your bank and PayPal will typically give you a poor exchange rate on top of the standard service fees for India-bound transfers.

For example, our research revealed that sending $1,000 from the US to a Eurozone country with Wells Fargo would cost $30 in service fees and $50 in exchange rate margin fees. Together, these fees amount to around 8% of the amount transferred, which is about 10 times more than the cheapest available service compared on Monito's comparison engine for the same transfer. And given PayPal's similarly high exchange rate margins, the story isn't very different with them either.

But it doesn't stop there. When sending money to India with your bank, your funds will go over SWIFT, meaning third-party banks (called correspondent banks) can potentially charge additional fees (called correspondent bank fees) that can further reduce the amount that arrives in your beneficiary's account.

This makes banks a costly way to send money abroad — and finding a cheap solution is as crucial as ever.

As we explored above, by offering bank-beating exchange rates, very low fees, and a top-notch user experience, digital providers are fortunately doing what Zelle does within the US, but internationally! And depending on where you're sending money to, providers such as XE, Wise, and Remitly will probably be your best choice. See the table below to understand why:

In summary, if there were one thing to take away from this article, here's what it'd be:

You cannot use Zelle to transfer to India. This means you'll need to find alternatives. Banks (and PayPal) charge high service fees and exchange rates, making them a poor choice for most. Digital providers, on the other hand, are by far the cheapest, fastest, and savviest options, making them the best Zelle alternative transfers to India.

Get started now by comparing your options below: —