The Consumer Council of Norway (Forbrukerrådet) has added a new service to its calculators for price comparisons, this time aimed at helping immigrants in Norway find the most reasonable means of sending money home.
The calculators, found on the the council’s Finansportalen website (external link), are meant to help consumers compare offers in the Norwegian market for banking services, credit cards, insurance, investment and, now, international money transfers. “The goal is to boost competition,” Elisabeth Realfsen of Finanportalen.no told newspaper Aftenposten.
Many immigrants in Norway routinely send money to their families or others in their home countries, but transfer and currency conversion fees can eat up much of the amount sent, reports Aftenposten.
The Consumer Council has thus set up a service, on the urging of government minister Erik Solheim, that compares fees for specific countries, to help users find the best rates. All market players featured in the calculator are determined to be “legal and secure” suppliers of money transfer services.
Not all countries are covered, but the council has selected 25 believed to be those most often targeted as recipients of money transfers from residents of Norway: Afghanistan, Brazil, Bosnia-Hercegovina, Chile, the Palestinian areas, Eritrea, Ethiopia, the Philippines, India, Iraq, China, Kosovo, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Morocco, Pakistan, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Turkey and Vietnam.
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