Have you ever needed to send money overseas in a hurry?

A missionary with an emergency, a family your church supports in trouble, a pastor with an urgent need for funds....? Sometimes, bank transfers take too long and cash transfers cost too much!

Ikobo is an American company that has developed a good system for instant money transfer to almost any country in the world. We have used Ikobo to send urgent funds overseas direct from a UK bank account and found the Ikobo system to be secure and reliable.

In short, Ikobo works by sending your recipient a Visa card, which you (and only you) can top up with funds from a UK bank source over the internet at any time. The recipient can draw the funds as cash from any "Visa International" ATM or use the card to pay for goods, like a credit card.

Although this seems an unlikely way of sending money to many third world countries, there are now Visa terminals in most cities through any of the major international banks. The Ikobo site will give you a list of all countries where their cards can be used. Have a look - you might be surprised!

In common with all money-sending companies today, there are rigorous financial checks to go through when you open an account with Ikobo, but in our view these measures are worth the trouble in order to have access to such a simple and efficient way to get urgent funds to where they are needed instantly.

Click on the Ikobo logo to visit their site and find out more.