How to Send Money to Someone Without a Bank

Why 1.4 billion people still cannot access traditional banking

Roughly 1.4 billion adults worldwide have no relationship with a formal financial institution, according to the World Bank’s Global Findex Database. That number includes day laborers in rural Guatemala, market vendors in Lagos, and caregivers in the Philippines who rely entirely on cash. When you need to send money to someone in that situation, a standard wire transfer simply is not an option; there is no receiving end.

The reasons vary. In many countries, opening a traditional financial relationship requires government-issued identification, proof of address, and a minimum balance that exceeds what many families make in a month. Geographic distance also plays a role: the nearest branch may be hours away by bus. For migrant workers sending wages home, these barriers turn a routine task into an expensive, time-consuming problem.

The good news is that alternatives have expanded significantly over the past decade. Mobile money, cash-agent networks, and digital dollar wallets now cover regions where traditional infrastructure does not reach. Understanding each option (its costs, speed, and limitations) is the first step toward finding the right fit.

What options exist for sending money without traditional banking

Several methods let you move money to someone who has no formal financial relationship. Each comes with tradeoffs in cost, speed, and convenience.

Method	Typical fees	Speed	Recipient needs
Cash pickup (Western Union, MoneyGram)	5-10%	Hours to 1 day	Government ID and a pickup location
Mobile money (M-Pesa, GCash)	2-7%	Minutes	SIM card, feature phone or smartphone
Dollar wallet (Arca)	$0 between wallets	Seconds	Smartphone with the app
Prepaid debit card	$3-5 flat + reload fees	1-3 days (mail)	Mailing address
Informal channels (hawala, friends)	Varies widely	Varies	Trust network

Cash pickup remains the most widely available option. Western Union operates over 600,000 agent locations across more than 200 countries. But convenience comes at a price: a $200 transfer to a cash-pickup point in Central America can cost $10 to $20 in fees and exchange-rate markups combined. Over a year of monthly transfers, that adds up to $120 to $240 lost to costs that never reach the recipient.

Mobile money has reshaped access in sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia. The GSMA State of the Industry Report counts over 1.75 billion registered mobile money wallets globally, processing more than $1.4 trillion annually. Services like M-Pesa let users receive funds with nothing more than a basic phone and a SIM card. However, mobile money corridors are unevenly developed; sending from the US to Kenya via M-Pesa is straightforward, but sending to Bolivia or Myanmar is far more limited.

Digital dollar wallets represent the newest category. With a dollar wallet, both sender and recipient hold digital dollars on their phones. There is no intermediary converting currencies or holding funds in transit. For recipients who have a smartphone but no formal financial relationship, a dollar wallet offers a direct path to receiving and holding value.

Photo by Clay Banks on Unsplash

How to choose the right method for your situation

The best option depends on what the recipient can actually access. Start by asking three questions:

1. Does the recipient have a smartphone? If yes, a dollar wallet is the fastest and cheapest path. You both download the app, and dollars move directly between wallets in seconds.

2. Does the recipient have a feature phone with mobile money? If they are in a country with strong mobile-money infrastructure (Kenya, Tanzania, Ghana, the Philippines), this may be the most practical choice. Check whether your sending service supports that specific corridor.

3. Does the recipient only have access to a physical pickup location? Cash pickup through Western Union or MoneyGram works almost everywhere but costs the most. Use this as a fallback when digital options are not available.

Beyond access, consider frequency. If you send money monthly (as many families supporting relatives abroad do), even small fee differences compound. A family sending $300 per month through a cash-agent network at 7% loses $252 per year in fees alone. Switching to a dollar wallet with low fees puts that money back in the recipient’s hands.

Also consider what the recipient needs to do with the funds. If they need local currency immediately, mobile money or cash pickup may be more practical because conversion happens at the point of receipt. If they want to hold dollars as a store of value, particularly in countries experiencing high inflation, a dollar wallet lets them keep their purchasing power intact until they choose to convert.

A real-world example: sending $200 monthly to family in Latin America

Consider Maria, who works in Miami and sends $200 each month to her mother in rural Honduras. Her mother has a smartphone but no formal financial relationship with any institution.

Before: cash pickup at 7.5% total cost Maria uses a cash-agent service. Each transfer costs about $15 in fees and exchange-rate markup. Her mother takes a 45-minute bus ride to the nearest pickup location, pays bus fare, and waits in line. Total annual cost: $180 in fees plus roughly $60 in travel expenses, totaling $240 that never reaches her mother.

After: dollar wallet at $0 transfer cost Maria downloads Arca and helps her mother do the same over a video call. She adds dollars to her wallet, enters her mother’s wallet address, and sends. Her mother sees the dollars in her wallet within seconds. When she needs local currency, she converts through a local exchange on her own terms. Total annual cost in transfer fees: $0.

That $240 annual difference is not abstract. In Honduras, where the minimum wage is approximately $480 per month, it represents half a month of wages redirected from fees to the family that needs it.

Photo by Christin Hume on Unsplash

This example illustrates how international money transfers work, and where the traditional system extracts the most from the people who can afford it least. Understanding what a remittance actually is helps clarify why these costs persist and what alternatives can change.

Step-by-step: sending dollars to someone without traditional banking access

Here is how to send money to someone who does not have a formal financial relationship, using a dollar wallet as the primary method:

Step 1: Confirm what the recipient can access. Ask whether they have a smartphone, a feature phone with mobile money, or only access to a physical cash-pickup location. This determines your method.

Step 2: Choose a method that matches their situation. For smartphone users, a dollar wallet like Arca offers the fastest, lowest-cost path. For feature-phone users in supported regions, mobile money works well. For recipients with no phone access, cash pickup through an agent network is the fallback.

Step 3: Set up your sending tool. Download the app or visit the provider’s site. Verify your identity if required. Add dollars to your wallet. With Arca, this takes about 30 seconds from your phone.

Step 4: Enter the recipient’s details and send. For a dollar wallet, you need the recipient’s wallet address. For mobile money, you need their phone number. For cash pickup, you need their full legal name and location. Confirm the amount and send.

Step 5: Confirm delivery with the recipient. Ask them to check their wallet balance or visit the pickup point. Verify the full amount arrived. With a dollar wallet, this confirmation happens almost instantly because there is no processing delay.

The entire process, from setup to the recipient holding dollars, can take under five minutes with a dollar wallet. Compare that to the multi-day timeline of traditional wire transfers, and the difference is clear.

Making the right choice for your situation

Sending money to someone without traditional banking access is not the barrier it was a decade ago. Mobile money expanded the playing field. Dollar wallets have pushed it further, removing geography, fees, and processing delays from the equation.

The key is matching the method to the recipient’s reality. Not everyone has a smartphone. Not every country has strong mobile-money infrastructure. But for the growing number of people who do have a phone and an internet connection, a dollar wallet offers something that was previously impossible: the ability to hold and receive dollars without any institutional relationship.

If you send money regularly to family or contacts who lack traditional financial access, Arca gives you a dollar wallet you control, with low fees, no multi-day waits, and no middlemen deciding when or whether your money arrives. Set up takes 30 seconds from your phone.