Sacombank becomes the first bank in Việt Nam to offer instant money transfer to overseas Visa cards. — Photo courtesy of the bank

HCM CITY — Sacombank has tied up with Visa to offer Visa Direct Outbound, which allows customers to transfer money from their debit cards to an overseas card, making it the first bank in Việt Nam to offer this service.

It aims to meet the needs of individuals seeking international money transfer for purposes such as studying abroad, settlement, medical treatment, family allowances, and others.

Sacombank’s Visa debit cardholders can transfer money to any Visa card issued by banks in the following 44 countries and territories: Andorra, Austria, Brunei Darussalam, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Fiji, Finland, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macau, China, Malaysia, Maldives, Malta, Mongolia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, San Marino, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey, and the UK.

It can be used with nine foreign currencies: USD, AUD, CHF, EUR, GBP, JPY, NZD, SGD, and THB.

They can transfer up to US$8,000 a month depending on the purpose of the transfer (without a limit on the number of transfers), with transfer fees being a mere VNĐ250,000 ($11).

Sacombank was also the first bank in the country to offer inward transfer from abroad through Visa debit cards via MoneyGram. The service is easy, quick and free of charge.

Once the remitter fills in the recipient's information and Sacombank Visa debit card number, the cardholder will receive the money in their card account without having to do anything for authentication and at a competitive exchange rate.

According to statistics from Visa, there are 5.3 million Vietnamese people living and working in 130 countries and territories around the world. Another 190,000 study abroad and need to receive monthly allowances from their family in Việt Nam.

The number of people who need to go abroad for medical treatment is also on the rise.

Vietnamese spent $2 billion on overseas medical services in 2018. — VNS