Deciphering the Problems of Sending Money to Cuba

The United States has tight restrictions in place when it comes to any business transactions or travel from the U.S. to Cuba, but despite the current trade embargoes, it still is not impossible to send money to Cuba.

It’s difficult to figure out how much money is moved into into Cuba on a yearly basis, but many independent groups say between 490 million to one billion is shifted into Cuba in one year. As low as that figure may appear, it is a lot given the fact that only people with relatives may wire money at a $300 limit per transaction. U.S. citizens can, however, wire money every three months for up to $1,200.00 a year.

Although U.S. officials are alert to the illegal ways to wire money to Cuba, most often they look the other way. During George Bush’s time in office had the most profound affect over the last few years, but even still they were ineffective in slowing the money trafficking from the U.S. to Cuba.

So now the U.S. is led by President Obama, whose administration looks to the U.S. relationship with Cuba. It is unclear how this will affect money transfer services in the future, but at the least we know it can only get easier in with every passing day.

Don’t be mistaken though, despite the rules on sending money into Cuba, the easiest way is still by exporting the funds using the internet. Besides that, senders may also use different services which are not in association with U.S. banks, so they are restricted by any of the U.S. embargoes.

Even despite the sanctions, people needing to wire money to Cuba have the same options other nations do. And the popularity of the internet is making it even easier to wire money, considering Cuba’s Government lacks the means to monitor all the transactions.

Most likely, the trade embargoes imposed by the U.S. are deciding factor as to why the Cuban government faces such difficulty when it comes to tracking money flow into Cuba. This poses a difficult situation because if the sanctions are withdrawn, money transfers would be completely legal and the Cuban Government would be able to use the technology needed to trace all money transfers into Cuba.

Regardless of which direction this industry heads, one thing is clear; people will keep sending money to Cuba. It’s getting less complex for Americans to wire money to Cuba these days, and someday the trade embargoes will even be lifted. When that time comes money-flow into Cuba will grow notably, in addition Cuba will discover an increase in business dollars. Until then, the internet remains the most favorable way to send money.