If your family lives overseas, staying in contact can be difficult. Especially in countries where prepaid plans are popular, any problems with money or phone minutes can cause a disaster. That’s why Eric Barbier created TransferTo.
TransferTo is a mobile service that allows users to take care of business no matter where they are. “TransferTo offers real-time remittances of mobile airitme, goods and services, and mobile money. We connect financial institutions and mobile operators worldwide. A nephew in Dubai sends mobile money to an aunt in Bangladesh. A mother in Hong Kong pays the tuition of a son studying in the Philippines. A grandson in Miami tops up the prepaid phone of his grandfather in Mexico.”
Partnering with Xoom, PayPal and Western Union, millions of transactions can be made in the form of airtime credits, with both “unbanked and newly banked” customers in developing markets. Partnering with various telcos and carriers around the world has allowed TransferTo to send money securely, and without much regulation, thanks to the inability to be refunded, cashed out, or taxed, or that the service isn’t technically a money transfer service. And since most transfers are between $2 and $15 dollars, no attention is drawn by most major money senders to care about.