Unlocking the Power of  Xoom: Exploring its Most Important Services

1. Introduction

Xoom is an easy and hassle-free way to send money. According to the report, Xoom is the much better option for mainly three reasons. First, Xoom accepts Visa cards, which are widely used and accepted by merchants. Xoom also requires all individuals who sign up to use their complete name, address, and periodically verify their valid Visa card. Based on this, it is much more secure to use Xoom. The second reason to select Xoom is that it allows associates to receive payments by sending a PowerPoint presentation, and the money itself will be sent to their contact. Last but not least, Xoom provides a large limit of sending up to $2999 within 24 hours with a 4% fee, compared to the Mastercard that will be charged. With a PowerPoint presentation of about $3000, the regular charge on $62,000 is only 0.917%. With the expansion of online banking and the app, it does make sense that the use of this way of sending money has increased, benefiting people who are in need of using this kind of service. The depth of the service Xoom offers, as well as the benefits of using Xoom, will be explored and discussed in the future paragraphs.

1.1 Overview of Xoom

With 24/7 availability and meaningful support in both English and Spanish, Xoom is a time-effective way to handle your money when you need it.

The money that you send can be received through a number of different channels: bank deposit, cash pick-up, or, in certain countries, delivery to the recipient’s home. Xoom now also offers mobile phone reload services for many countries, the ability to pay international bills, and the option to request higher limits on your account to allow for larger transactions – all with minimal fees and the highest ratings in customer satisfaction.

Xoom was started in 2001 as a service for people in the United States to send money to family members living abroad. Our main focus began with Latin America and now has grown to offer services to over 30 countries worldwide. With Xoom, transactions can be started and finished in just a few simple steps – you will set up your transfer, review and submit it, then track the progress until it is complete.

Xoom is a fast and secure way to send money, pay bills, and reload phones for your loved ones in other countries. We also offer instant deposits to a few banks in the countries that we support, and most money transfers are deposited in minutes to many banks. Credit card deposits to a personal account are another service that is available. Because we use 128-bit encryption, the same physical security as a bank, and money-back guarantees, you can be sure that your transaction will be safe, fast, and convenient.

1.2 Benefits of Xoom Services

The provision of many areas of sending the money is another big benefit of using Xoom services. Apart from the international bank wire that was initially in use for many years, there has been an introduction of services like the money sending online from your bank, PayPal transfer among others. This has made it possible for many people to enjoy the benefits of using the Xoom services. With the online and mobile phone money sending options, users are provided with an opportunity to send money while at the comfort of their houses. This is very convenient because one does not have to make long queues in the banks writing money transfer forms and waiting for a long time for the transaction to be completed.

Thirdly, the customer service offered by Xoom is exceptional; a good demonstration that the developers of this system understand the essence of customer relations to the success of the business. Users can contact the Xoom Corporation team through phone calls, emails, or even use social media platforms. This is a very important aspect of the Xoom services to many people, especially those who are new in the system and might need guidance in some areas.

Additionally, the Xoom portal is built using the latest technology, meaning it is fast when it comes to accessing the services. This is very important to users who most often require the money urgently. The efficiency of Xoom portal means that money can be sent and the recipient receives it in a couple of minutes. The speed in accessing services, applying for money sending, and the actual money sending process are much faster compared to the traditional services. All that a client is required to do is to create an account, provide the necessary identifications, and link the account either to a bank or a credit card.

2. Xoom Money Transfer

You then select the money transfer delivery method – the options available to you will depend on where the money is going to, but it is always fast and reliable. There is clear information about how long the transfer might take with each available method – for example, the fastest so far (Instant Bank Deposit) is marked as taking less than an hour.

First of all, you say where the person you are sending money to lives. Then you say how much you want to send and in what currency. As you enter the amount, the system calculates the fee – showing this and the amount of money being transferred. At this stage, you also need to say how you will pay the money to Xoom – this is the first point at which the service helps to integrate your bank account details to store and remember them so that future transactions are quicker.

As soon as you land on the home page, you will see a “Send Money” button. This is your starting point for making a transfer to another person. Once you click the button, you are off on a clear step-by-step process to make your transfer. Essentially, you can follow a process – or experience a service journey – starting in this way of aiming at sending money in a few clicks, which provides an outstanding user experience.

2.1 How to Send Money with Xoom

A user has two options to send money with Xoom, either by using a credit or debit card or a bank account. The first step is to provide information about the recipient. This involves entering the country where the recipient is situated. The amount to be sent is then entered and it should not exceed or be less than the stated limits. One should also select the delivery option. It can be direct to the recipient’s bank account, for cash pick up, mobile phone reload or home delivery where applicable. The next step involves the sender keying in his or her information. One must have an account with Xoom in order to send money using this option. The recipient’s information is then verified by the sender before the transfer can be initiated. The sender should ensure that the names of the recipient as they appear in their official identification documents are used. Xoom allows a sender to put a nickname for the recipient. This saves time in case the sender sends money to the same recipient. For the sender’s information, one can also choose to put a nickname for easy referral in subsequent money transfer transactions. The sender should confirm the transaction information. This includes cross-checking the recipient’s details, the amount of money to be sent, the exchange rate, and the transaction fee that the sender has to pay. The total amount of money that the recipient will receive is also calculated and indicated on the screen. Initiating the payment completes the process. An email is sent to the sender to confirm the start of the money transfer. This email has the transaction number that the sender should use in case of any inquiries. The recipient also receives an email to inform him or her that the money transfer has been initiated. For transactions using bank accounts, the sender’s information must be confirmed first by providing a state-issued identification information. The sender needs to fill in the information as it appears in the identification document of choice. Xoom then guides the sender on the steps to confirm the bank account.

2.2 Receiving Money with Xoom

The recipient typically gets a confirmation email with the funds’ status. The email will have a link directing the recipient to Xoom’s website. The recipient will then have to go through the steps of signing into his or her account. First-time recipients will have to create an account with Xoom using the email at which they received the confirmation. After signing into the Xoom account, the recipient will have to provide information that Xoom requires in order to facilitate the transfer to the recipient. For example, the recipient may have to give the details of a bank account to which the funds should be transferred. Recipients may have to provide other information, depending on the laws and regulations of the country in which the recipient is situated. Again, Xoom may have to verify the recipient’s identity before it transfers the funds. The website promises that the recipient will be notified once the transfer is completed. Notifications in each step in the process provides a confidence-boost to the recipient, as he or she will always know where in the process the money is. The email notification service provides another plus to users in that they do not have to always be checking the status of their money by repeatedly logging into their accounts on the website. Also, at any stage in the process, the recipient may encounter difficulties. For example, after the sender initiates the transfer, the sender has the option of canceling the transfer as long as the transfer is shown as “in progress” and the sender has not been charged any fees yet. As a result, the recipient should be notified as soon as possible once the sender cancels the request. However, Xoom warns that the recipient will not be notified if the sender’s request to cancel the transfer is made after the transfer is complete and the recipient is in the process of receiving the money. Xoom seems to have good customer support because the website gives the recipient a help line’s phone number to call if they encounter problems after the recipient has selected the option to cancel the money or if a recipient believes that the sender has initiated a fraudulent practice. Therefore, it is not just about the online functions of the service but also a backup provision for necessary human assistance.

2.3 Xoom’s Competitive Exchange Rates

One of the biggest advantages of using Xoom to send money abroad is that Xoom offers competitive exchange rates compared to banks, and many customers say that in fact, Xoom offers the best possible exchange rates. How is Xoom able to offer such good rates? Well, instead of making profit on the exchange rate markup like banks do, Xoom makes profit by charging a small transfer fee. This fee is shown to you upfront before you complete your money transfer, which makes it easy to see what your transfer will cost. There is another reason that Xoom’s rates are so good. Unlike banks, Xoom offers a “Locked-in” rate, which means that the rate you see and agree to when you submit your transfer will be the rate used to convert your money, regardless of whether the rate goes up or down after you have signed in, up to the completed transaction. This provides peace of mind to customers and is definitely worth bearing in mind for those who are transferring larger amounts of money abroad. Equally, for those operating on a tight schedule, the fact that most transfers with Xoom are completed very quickly compared to banks (usually in minutes) provides an added incentive too.

3. Xoom Bill Pay

First of all, we will discuss what is the way to pay a bill using Xoom. Bill payments are initiated by adding a biller. Once a biller is added, bill pay becomes just another type of transaction. If a list of billers is not displayed in the biller section, navigate to the “Manage Billers” screen and lookup by category or by entering a keyword. Once the biller is selected, a new online authorization process pop-up will be displayed. A payment account must be connected that lists a physical address with a zip code in the US. Separately, the address for the biller will also require entry on the screen. These easy steps enable the user to securely and effortlessly set up their power company, cell phone service, and even their pet insurance payments for one-time or recurring payment using the same screens and steps. When a biller is added, users can select the biller, then the date and amount to pay, and finally the source of the funds. Xoom provides many major businesses and companies. These include AT&T, Verizon, Pacific Gas and Electric Company, Duke Energy, and Xfinity. Additionally, Xoom not only supports bill pay for national billers but regional and local billers can be added as well. For example, customers living in the Tampa, Florida area could use Xoom to pay their City of Tampa utility bills. As a heads up, national billers are added first by selecting the biller, and then the user has the option to enter the biller account associated with the user’s account for that biller. For regional or local billers, it is recommended to lookup and add the biller by category or keyword because these options will display a short list of billers for the selected category and will significantly aid in locating the desired biller.

3.1 Paying Bills with Xoom

Bill payment with Xoom is quick and easy. First, you will need to log in to your account. Then, you must select the ‘Pay Bills with Xoom’ option. Following this, you will need to select the country in which the recipient of the payment resides. After this, you will need to select the type of the bill that you are paying. You can pay utility bills such as electricity and gas or you may choose any of the institutions that are listed. You are then required to enter the amount to be paid and the due date of the bill. Similarly, one would provide some details about the bill, for example the account number. In all these, Xoom provides very simple steps to follow and in most cases, one would only need to select options from a list. As you progress the process, there are points during which you would need to have some information from your bill. However, the details required are mostly quite general and would be relayed on most of the bills, which have a biller’s name and, for example, an account number. After confirming that the bill details are accurate, you would verify the payment and after this, the amount is sent and the recipient can collect the money as may be instructed. This is simple as sending the bill payment online; however, through the application one can send money very fast from a mobile phone and this is even data and time stamped for reference.

3.2 Supported Billers and Countries

One thing to point out in terms of differences from some of the other services discussed in this book is that there is a separate list for the countries and the billers. A biller here is who the company or person is that you want to send the money to. Essentially, when you go in to set up payment of a bill, you tell the system who the biller is and you have to match that to the list that the Xoom service provides. This makes sense because there are probably more billers than countries and so on. For billers, United States, only the US, I wanted to just show that there is a little bit of a distraction between the names of the countries and the names of the billers in the list. There is a separate entry so that I can select only billers that are in the United States and only billers that are in Guatemala. I would pick whichever one of these actually matches the list that is provided in the service. So that is a little bit of a quirk that I wanted to show you there in terms of how the interface works and what the requirements are for your actual billers and the countries that they are in. So this, it can make it a little bit more complex when you are trying to set up a bill that you want to pay. Because of course you have to satisfy all the different requirements for what the bill actually is. On payments and transfers, which, as I mentioned earlier, are the main focus of this book, pretty much you need to be either in the target country or you need to be somebody that is in the United States and you can send money to someone in specific other countries. So it is a little bit different in terms of who can initiate the payment. If it is a bill that you are just trying to pay somebody, I guess I would categorize that more as a standard payment to someone than it would be under the category of a bill payment.

3.3 Convenience and Security of Xoom Bill Pay

Xoom offers a variety of payment methods that give the users convenience, flexibility, and security. First, paying with Xoom will save you a lot of time and there is no need to fill in the same payment information again and again. With just a few clicks, the user can complete a transaction. That is because Xoom offers “Fast-Connect” which can automatically recognize the already known billers. Second, the user can choose to pay the bills by credit card to earn rewards. Xoom accepts all the major credit cards, including Visa, MasterCard, American Express, and Discover. Some credit cards offer reward points for cardholders, such as air miles, hotel points, or cashback on purchases. Most importantly, making payments through a credit card is also a good way to avoid late fees. Third, as for security, the user can feel safe about the payment. Transactions with Xoom are secured by the industry-leading data encryption and Xoom’s fraud monitoring system. It is also guaranteed that the payments arrive quickly and the user will get an email confirmation shortly after the payment is submitted. Last but not least, besides one-time payment, Xoom also supports the schedule payment option. If there is a day that the user is too busy to remember the bills, the user can schedule the payment on Xoom by setting the payment date and recurrence. For instance, select “pay today” or specify a future payment date, and the user can also choose to set the payment to be once or a recurring event. Overall, Xoom has become a smarter and secure choice for paying the bills.

3.4 Managing Recurring Payments

This is a small area of the Xoom Bill Pay service that can save you a lot of time and trouble. Almost every biller that you might want to pay through Xoom supports automatic payments (Recurring Payments), now including all US-based billers and others like the ones offered in countries such as India, El Salvador, and Guatemala. You can set Recurring Payments up for a new regular payment by selecting ‘Make it recurring’ when sending your money, and it will automatically set the new payment up after you have authorized the first one. Or for a biller that you have paid once in the past, you can find the biller in the ‘Biller’ section of your account and select ‘Manage’ under ‘Current Recurring Payments’ to set up a new Recurring Payment. When I have got the payment date and amount, Recurring Payment options are set to display this first without you needing to do anything, but be aware that for some payments I have had to make sure that I could change the date or amount of the payment before the option came up to show how to make it a Recurring Payment. Once a Recurring Payment has been set up, it will be included under the relevant biller in the ‘Biller’ section of your account, along with confirmation of the start and end dates for the regular payments and the payment amount. You can also choose to cancel the Recurring Payment at any time through the same section.

4. Xoom Mobile Reload

It is often a hassle to wait in physical stores and load up mobile without sufficient time. With Xoom, you can effortlessly top-up your prepaid mobile instantly and charge your device anytime and anywhere you like. Xoom offers mobile reload services to countries by major mobile operators such as Celcom Airtime, Maxis Hotlink Reload, and U Mobile. When you log in to your Xoom account, look for “Mobile Reload” under the “Send Reload” category and follow a few simple steps to top-up your prepaid mobile. Firstly, enter the mobile number you want to top up (looks like even though we can send reload, we do receive info that our mobile is reloaded and then we receive a code to write to open our phone line). Then, choose your mobile operator and select the reload amount. The screen will automatically display the reload amount, then followed by service fee details. Next, you need to confirm whether the mobile number is correct and click “Send” for payment. There are various reload amounts available, and the selection may differ depending on your mobile operator. The fees charged for each reload choice are different, too. However, mobile reload offers and fees charged inside Xoom are quite transparent, so you will always have a clear picture about the available choices and related services. It is important to notice that Xoom works closely with mobile operators to ensure that the mobile reload services are convenient, secure, and reliable. Also, it has a friendly customer service to assist on anything and can be reached by either calling them at 1-877-815-1531 or emailing them at mobile@xoom.com. So, if you should encounter any problems, don’t hesitate to seek help from them in order to get a worry-free mobile reload experience with Xoom.

4.1 Top-Up Your Mobile Phone with Xoom

It is important to utilize secure services when topping up mobile phones, especially when recharging a phone number overseas. Regardless of the recipient country, Xoom allows customers to readily top-up mobile phones using the service without compromising security and safety. This makes the mobile reload with Xoom a viable choice for many, especially since the instructions are straightforward and the process is easy to complete. First and foremost, users have to select the specific country to which they would like to top-up a mobile phone. As mentioned before, the significant amount of countries that Xoom is associated with comfortably facilitates international mobile reloads. After selecting the country, users then have to select the type of mobile phone that they are topping up. Essentially, individuals have to choose whether they are topping up a mobile phone or a prepaid mobile broadband service. It is important to make sure that the correct options are chosen so as to avoid any errors in the process; errors may include crediting the wrong mobile phone account and such mishaps may be hard to rectify. Once the recipient country and type of phone have been chosen, individuals have to enter the actual phone number. Users have to ensure that the correct mobile number is entered since any mistakes could result in the wrong phone being topped up, this is especially important if the phone number has to be manually typed in instead of copied and pasted. Subsequently, individuals are required to enter the value of the credit that they would like to purchase; other options may include choosing from certain denominations. After verifying the mobile phone, the process can be completed by selecting a payment method, reviewing and confirming the details that have been entered and finally submitting the top-up request. The option to save the mobile number for future top-ups is also provided for quicker transactions. As always, individuals have to proceed with caution when saving sensitive information and understand the risks that may be associated; it may be wiser to spare the extra minute or so to enter the information each time. By following these easy steps, mobile phones can be readily topped-up with Xoom in a matter of minutes.

4.2 Available Mobile Operators and Countries

In contrast to the previous services and irrespective of the mobile operators concerned, Xoom service offers international mobile recharge services to a total of over 60 countries worldwide. Some of the common countries that use Xoom mobile phone recharge service include India, Jamaica, Mexico, Philippines, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Haiti, Nigeria, Trinidad and Tobago. When considering a service for your domestic or international mobile recharge, it is important to determine the costs incurred by the providers for sending money. Normally, the costs associated with sending a mobile recharge to a friend or family member are higher when sending from a credit card, in comparison to sending from a bank. Also, different providers apply different costs for their services, hence the need to understand the terms of different services as offered by different mobile recharge services. In addition, the recipients of the mobile recharges could also be charged receiving fees for the services. However, by using the Xoom mobile recharge services, users can send hassle-free mobile recharges to international numbers and recharge to friends and family within the United States. The most important fact when using the mobile recharge services offered by Xoom is that its mobile reload services are flexible in terms of cost since the provider offers mobile recharge services based on their terms and conditions. Also, Xoom service offers security for the mobile recharge services by offering instant updates on the progress of a mobile recharge sent until the friends or relatives’ prepaid mobile phones are loaded. By providing this unique mobile recharge service that is instant and secure, users can be able to safely send a mobile recharge to friends and family internationally without worries about the safety of the transaction on mobile reload on their relatives’ prepaid phones.

4.3 Instant and Reliable Mobile Recharge with Xoom

By using Xoom, a verified PayPal service, mobile recharging becomes more reliable and lets you enjoy some valuable moments of using your mobile phone especially when traveling. Xoom offers mobile reload services in many countries that the mobile operators in the list do not provide. However, quick and instant mobile top-up through Xoom is only provided in certain countries. As listed down in the ‘Xoom Mobile Reload’ interface, there are several operators providing instant mobile recharging through Xoom in a few countries such as Movistar in El Salvador and Tigo in Honduras and the recharging of such mobile operators through Xoom is an instant process. The successful recharging of the mobile phone with Xoom will lead to about two to three messages sent by the mobile operator for update purposes, for example notification of recharged amount and the new credit in the mobile. When using Xoom Mobile Reload, there are different choices of payment methods like bank account, credit card and debit card for the sending of mobile credit to the supported countries. However, a verification process is compulsory if the selection is to use a credit card and upon the successful verification of the credit card, the credit card can be used for future purposes such as mobile recharging. Also, only one payment method can be kept active at any time. Finally, Xoom offers a 24 hours and 7 days customer service through phone call and emails in case of any problems encountered and Xoom will provide full cooperation in resolving the issues to make sure the customers have an enjoyable and satisfying time with their mobile recharging service.