50% of US Senders Use Mobile Wallets for Cross- Border Remittances

Cross-border transactions are picking up steam, especially amid the pandemic.

As many as 32% of cross-border remittances are sent to friends and family in need. Nearly 41 million U.S. consumers sent money abroad in the last 12 months, and more than half have increased the frequency of those transactions and the amount of money that they sent.

In The Digital Currency Shift: The Cross Border Remittances Report, done in tandem with PYMNTS and Stellar Development Foundation, we surveyed more than 2,000 consumers sending money across borders. We found that consumers sending remittances have often met significant and highly variable fees. In a bid to embrace cheaper options, 24% of those consumers are using cryptos to send money internationally.

Drilling down into the type of P2P payments made within the last 12 months, more than 44% of individuals who live in the U.S. have made such payments, surpassed by the nearly 60% of millennials and bridge millennials who have done so. For specifically cross-border money flows, a total of 16% of all consumers have made those payments.

The average fee percentage to do so tops 6%.

And the wait can be long: The average period of time the recipient had to wait to receive and access the funds stood at about four days.

Technology is making inroads to streamlining and quickening those transactions, as roughly 50% of people sending money across borders have wielded mobile devices to do so.