How to transfer money from Russia to Armenia?
Continuation of the story about Armenia, which in 2022 became the center of attraction for many Russians. Armenia attracts with quite ample opportunities for using the ruble. Some withdraw the ruble for the purpose of its further conversion into foreign currency, while others, on the contrary, open accounts in Armenia in order to transfer salaries from abroad to Russia.
Most recently, the Central Bank expanded limit to withdraw money to friendly countries up to 50,000 USD or equivalent in another currency. The limit from the Central Bank of the Russian Federation, set on payment systems at the moment is $ 5,000 per month or the equivalent in another foreign currency.
It is not known how the limits from the Central Bank will change in the near future. It all depends on exchange rate fluctuations, the import/export ratio and further adventures of the Russian Federation in world geopolitics, but it can be said for sure that the limits do not affect the ruble in any way, and that the possibility of transferring funds to Armenia, if it dies, will be the last one.
The most popular types of money transfers from Russia to Armenia:
through payment systems
Bank transaction
transfer via e-wallet
Payment systems
Unistream
Unibank, which was mentioned in the previous post, is directly related to the Unistream transfer system, which is popular in the Russian Federation.
Transfer of funds through Unistream can be received both on a card and in cash at a bank branch. The transfer fee is 2.5%.
Since Unistream automatically converts any sent currency into rubles, it will be quite expensive to transfer USD, EUR currencies, since double conversion is inevitable. In this sense, it is cheaper to transfer EUR USD via SWIFT.
Through Unistream it is more profitable to transfer the ruble and convert it into cash. The exchange rate of EUR/RUB, USD/RUB within the system is quite good. Having received cash in Armenia in EUR or USD, it will be more profitable to exchange them in a street exchanger, and buy, for example, Dram (AMD) at a more favorable rate than you would get by transferring through Unistream.
There are banks in Armenia (for example, Ineco) that allow you to transfer cash from Unistream to your account. You can send cash or non-cash rubles through Unistream, in exchange for cash EUR and USD, and then, through the bank application, credit this money to your account without commission. Is this operation a violation? 79 decree? – unknown.
How to transfer via Unistream?
we come to the office with cash, or we make a transfer to Armenia online through unistream.ru using a bank card.
get payment code
we go to the beneficiary bank in Armenia with the payment code and passport, or we are waiting for the money in the application.
Bank transfer
It implies that you have an open account in a bank in Armenia, in this case, there are relatively many opportunities for transfer:
Transfer to the card by phone number:
Until recently, from the Sberbank application, it was possible to transfer money to Evocabank, Converse bank, Inecobank and ID bank cards by phone number, but at the moment only ArmEconomBank, AraratBank and Tellcell Wallet remain, the rest of the banks have suspended cooperation.
Translation by SPFS
It attracts by the fact that it does not depend on SWIFT. The transfer is carried out through an alternative to SWIFT from the Central Bank of the Russian Federation. Theoretically, a transfer can also be made from a sanctioned bank, if its Armenian partner banks do not mind. In order to make a transfer, you need to find in the personal account of the Internet of the recipient bank the details for an interbank transfer in rubles.
Transfer via SWIFT
Transfers via SWIFT are not suitable for banks under sanctions, in this case it is better to use the SPSF.
In the personal account of the Armenian online bank of the beneficiary, find the current details for the SWIFT transfer of the beneficiary’s bank and the correspondent bank. Many banks in Armenia cooperate with the Bank of Georgia, which, for unknown reasons, rejects transfers from the Russian Federation. It is better to look for other correspondent banks. SWIFT from Tinkov costs $15 and so far goes without problems.
IDPay
IDPay is a system of transfers from any card of a Russian bank to any card of an Armenian bank and vice versa. The fee is 0.5% for an IDBamk bank cardholder and 0.9% for a cardholder of any other bank. IDpay converts the transfer currency to AMD. It is strongly not recommended to transfer the ruble from the Russian Federation through IDPay to receive the ruble in Armenia, losses up to 15% are the same with USD and EUR. The most optimal option in terms of speed and cost is the transfer of RUB to AMD.
How to make a transfer through IDPay?
download IDPay
we pass verification
bind the map of the Russian Federation
connect the RA card
Transfer via electronic wallets
Armenia has its own QIWI and Yandex money. Most popular wallet IDdram, From IDBank. Any currency is converted into AMD, at the rate of IDBank (not the cheapest bank in terms of exchange rates). The fastest and cheapest way to transfer RUB to AMD. You can transfer up to 500,000 AMD per month without commission, up to 3,000,000 AMD – 0.5%, more than 3,000,000 AMD – 1%
You can replenish your wallet from cards of Russian partner banks as well as with QIWI, commission – 1% and Yandex Money – 3%.
There is an alternative besides Idram Tellcell Walletwhich cooperates with all member banks of the ArCa system.
Tips
Select as few intermediaries as possible in the transfer chain
Avoid double conversion, send the request to the beneficiary’s bank. For example, when making a bank transfer in rubles to a ruble account in Ardshin Bank, a double conversion of RUB-AMD-RUB occurs.
In the case of a large transfer amount, have documents proving the legality of the origin of funds. Any bank in Armenia can request them and freeze the account in their absence.
Other posts:
How to open a bank account in Armenia for a Russian citizen in 2022? | Compare Banks
