Sending money to Malaysia from Singapore: a Revoluter's perspective

Complaints Analyst Jamuna Rajarathnam came to Singapore from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in 2015, to work. She joined Revolut in 2021 after seeing a job posting on LinkedIn.

Pre-COVID, Jamuna would visit her family at least once a month, more often if she could. "COVID has changed everything," she shares. "For those like me, who visit their family occasionally, we are unable to do that for now. I also have to accept that I might not be home for important family events and that we have to have a plan in place in case of any unforeseen circumstances and emergencies."

Without her family around her, Jamuna went through her pregnancy alone with her partner. "As long as travel does not resume, my babies will grow up meeting their extended family virtually. Never in my wildest dream did I imagine things to be like this."

A great initiative

Jamuna shares that pre-COVID, many Malaysians would directly exchange money when they went home instead of sending it via bank transfers, to save on fees. With COVID, Malaysian expats now have to rely on money transfer services and incur transfer fees, which can really add up.

"Revolut waiving fees during this period will help ease the burden and encourage people to try out new platforms, which may have faster processing time compared to traditional platforms," she says.

"Having used other bank platforms for money transfers, I know that sometimes you need to go through a lengthy process to set up a payee account. That was not the case with Revolut. It went through smoothly the first time around and funds were received almost instantly.

This is also helpful for online purchases too. Many smaller retailers rely on bank transfers as a mode of payment and I can now easily pay for services or goods I purchase from Malaysia without any trouble."

From now to 10 August 2021, Revolut is waiving fees on remittances to Malaysia in support of expatriates with families and loved ones back home. After 10 August, Revolut's transfer fees are 0.3%, pegged at the minimum of S$0.30 and capped at the maximum of S$9.

A fair usage fee of 0.5% may apply for Standard and Premium customers who exceed their monthly FX limits of S$5,000 and S$15,000 respectively. Metal customers enjoy unlimited FX and international transfers. In all cases, any fee will be shown to you in the app before you make an exchange.

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