- WorldRemit offers chance for parents of Filipino schoolchildren to have education fees covered if they transfer cash home
- Entrants must send relevant data to a central WorldRemit email address before 30th June to be entered into the contest
- Up to 3 million children in the Philippines have a parent living outside of the country in locations like the US – meaning the pool of potential entrants may be large
Leading online money transfer service WorldRemit has announced that it will pay some lucky winners an amount equivalent to their children’s school fees.
Customers of WorldRemit in the Philippines will be able to enter a contest if they send cash home to cover education for members of their family.
The firm is willing to pay up to 50,000 Philippine pesos to the winners to cover education, which is equivalent to around £750 British pounds or almost $1,000 US dollars.
The move comes as the new academic year in the South East Asian country gets underway next month (June).
In order to enter, customers will need to make the cash transfer using a WorldRemit payment service between the dates of the 1st May and 30th June.
They will also need to send some details, including their name, email address and telephone number to a specific email address. This is backtoschool@worldremit.com.
According to press reports, there are between 1.5 million and 3 million children in the Philippines who have a parent based outside of the country.
Transferring cash online could offer material advantages to these families: often, transaction fees for real-world cash transfers back to the Philippines for those based in the US can cost more than $8 US dollars per transaction compared to the online equivalent.
In total, WorldRemit’s calculations have shown that there is $825 million which could be saved in total if the move to an online-focused remittance services culture was made.
Filipinos living abroad are believed to send home almost $34 billion US dollars per year in remittances.
WorldRemit has around 15,000 cash pick-up points in the country, and it also provides a range of other convenient methods of transfer such as bank transfer, mobile app banking and more.
The global remittances market is huge, and payments are made for all kinds of reasons. However, one of the most common reasons that a person sends money home from abroad is to help out their friends and family – perhaps to help elderly parents, or to support an out of work sibling or friend in an economic downturn. Covering the cost of children’s school fees is another major reason for sending money. By launching this PR-friendly initiative designed to stimulate remittance-sending, WorldRemit is acknowledging the fact that school fees are a major cause of cash transfers in the modern age.
Many providers operate in the remittances space, helping people send money home to loved ones every day. Discover more about the actions of firms like WorldRemit over on our news and magazine pages located here.
