How to send money from the United States to Ghana

About this route

World Bank estimates put the money sent from the United States to Ghana at about 1.1 billion US dollars in 2021, around 25% of the total estimated for Ghana. In the same estimates the United States is the biggest sender to Ghana. The figures are modelled estimates, based on migrant numbers and incomes (World Bank data, method note).

Before you start

• Your ID. Expect the provider to ask you to prove who you are before your first transfer. Have a government-issued photo ID and your address ready, and use your name exactly as it appears on the ID.
• Your recipient’s details. For a mobile wallet: their full name and the phone number of the wallet. For a bank deposit: their full name exactly as the bank holds it, the name of the bank and their account number, copied from their bank. For cash pickup: their full name as the provider asks for it (usually as on their ID) and a phone number if the provider asks for one.
• Their ID. The Bank of Ghana says the Ghana Card is the sole identification document for financial transactions at the institutions it regulates, from Dec 1, 2025 (Bank of Ghana notice on the Ghana Card). Its guidance note on the Ghana Card lists some exceptions (Bank of Ghana guidance note on the Ghana Card). No page we read says what a cash pickup needs, so ask the provider what your recipient should bring.
• How you will pay. Providers take a bank account, a debit card or a credit card, and not every provider takes all three. Paying in cash carries a federal tax, described below. The quote can change with the way you pay, so read it for the one you will use.
• Time. A first transfer, or a large one, can be held while the provider runs extra checks. Do not leave it to the day the money is needed.

Step by step

1. 1

   Decide how your recipient will receive the money

   A mobile wallet if they use one, a bank deposit if they have an account, cash pickup if they need cash the same day. Not every provider offers all three, and the price can differ between them.

2. 2

   Compare what your recipient gets

   Enter the amount in the comparator to send money from the United States to Ghana and read two numbers: what your recipient receives and when. Do not judge a provider by its fee alone. Our prices are estimates built from public pages. Check the final price on the provider’s own screen before you pay.

3. 3

   Check the company, then who pays out

   Look the company up in the US registers listed under “Check the company and know your rights” below before you create an account. Then ask the provider which international money transfer operator (IMTO) is behind the transfer and which bank or payment company pays your recipient in Ghana. Look the operator up on the Bank of Ghana’s list of registered IMTOs and the payment company on its list of licensed payment service providers.

4. 4

   Create the account and verify your identity

   Expect to give your name, address and date of birth and to upload your ID. Some providers also ask for a selfie. Use the name that is on the ID.

5. 5

   Enter the recipient’s details

   Type the name and the wallet number or account number slowly, then read them back against what your recipient sent you. If you paste the number, check that no space came with it.

6. 6

   Read the quote on the last screen, then pay

   Before you pay, many providers have to show you the exchange rate, the fees and taxes, and the amount your recipient will receive. In some cases the amounts can be estimates, so ask whether the quote is final. If the amount is clearly lower than in step 2, ask why before you pay. Our figures are estimates, so a small gap is normal.

7. 7

   Keep the confirmation and tell your recipient

   After you pay, you receive information from the provider: when the money will be available, your right to cancel, how to get help if errors are made and how to complain. Send the reference number to your recipient and keep this information until the money has arrived.

What it really costs

The price of a transfer usually has two parts. The fee is shown on the quote. The exchange-rate margin is not: it is the gap between the mid-market rate (the rate with no margin added) and the rate the provider gives you. No fee does not mean no margin, and a provider with a fee can keep a small one. Compare the amount your recipient receives.

Example with 300 US$, from our estimates of Nov 14, 2026. At the mid-market rate of Nov 13, 2026, 300 US$ is worth 3,516.39 GHS. After fees and the exchange-rate margin, the 13 providers compared would deliver:

From the most to the least favourable estimate the gap is 177.46 GHS, about 15 US$ at the mid-market rate. On our estimates, that is roughly what the choice of provider is worth on this transfer. The provider shows the final price.

To check a quote you already have, use the true cost checker. To see the mid-market rate, use the currency converter.

Paying in cash adds a tax. Since Jan 1, 2026, a 1% federal tax applies when you hand the provider cash, a money order, a cashier’s check or a similar physical instrument. You owe it, and the provider is required to collect it from certain senders. The IRS has proposed the detailed rules (IRS announcement). Our estimates do not add it.

How the money can arrive

These are the ways to receive that our comparison lists for this route, with the number of providers that offer each and the fastest and slowest delivery time they publish.

Figures from our comparison (the delivery times providers publish). Confirm on the provider’s site.

• Mobile money. Some providers pay into a mobile wallet in Ghana. Ask the provider which wallets it pays into, and check that your recipient has an active wallet with one of them. A wallet can have limits that we could not check on an official page: ask your recipient to check theirs before you send a large amount.
• Bank deposit. The money is paid into the account you typed. The Bank of Ghana’s guidelines say an operator must settle inward transfers in local currency, the cedi, through a local settlement account (Bank of Ghana guidelines). They do not state in which currency your recipient is paid out, so ask the provider. How long it takes depends on the provider and on the banks involved.
• Cash pickup. Your recipient collects at an agent location, usually with the reference you send them and an ID. The guidelines list over-the-counter cash payouts among the ways a money transfer operator can pay (Bank of Ghana guidelines): ask the provider which ID it accepts and whether a limit applies.

Check the company and know your rights

A money transfer company in the United States usually has to register with the Treasury Department, and it can also hold state licences. Before your first transfer:

• Use FinCEN’s MSB registrant search. With few exceptions a money services business must register with the Treasury. Look up the company behind the brand: a business that is only an agent of another one does not have to register. A listing is not an approval: FinCEN says it does not approve or endorse any business, that you should not trust a company only because it is listed, and that not every registrant appears in the search (FinCEN: MSB registrant search).
• Check state licences on NMLS Consumer Access. This free search covers state-licensed companies, money services businesses among them (NMLS Consumer Access). A company missing from it may be licensed in a state that does not use NMLS, so check your state’s financial regulator too (NMLS: frequently asked questions).
• No trace, ask. If neither search finds the company, ask it for its legal name and registration details before you send anything.

Federal rules give you three protections on an electronic transfer abroad (CFPB: send money abroad with more confidence):

• A price you can read before you pay. Many providers have to show the exchange rate, the fees and taxes and the amount your recipient will receive. The CFPB’s sample form adds that the recipient may receive less because of fees charged by the recipient’s bank and foreign taxes. For most transfers the amounts must be exact; in some cases they can be estimates.
• Thirty minutes to cancel. If you ask within 30 minutes of paying, the provider can identify the transfer and the money has not been picked up or deposited, you get everything back, fees included, within three business days. Some providers give more time, and your receipt should state the period (CFPB: can I cancel?, the rule, 12 CFR 1005.34).
• Errors put right. If the money does not arrive by the date you were given, or the wrong amount arrives, tell the provider within 180 days of that date. It has 90 days to investigate, and you may be able to get a refund or have the money sent again. A mistake that came from an account number you typed wrongly can fall outside this, and some banks and credit unions are exempt from the error protections (CFPB: reporting a mistake).

If a problem is not put right, your receipt lists who to contact, and you can go further:

• The provider first. The receipt has to list the provider’s phone number and website, the CFPB’s and, in some cases, a state regulator’s, for questions or complaints.
• Then the CFPB. You can submit a complaint about money transfers online. The CFPB forwards it to the company and works to get you a response, generally within 15 days (CFPB: submit a complaint).

On the Ghanaian side, the Bank of Ghana registers the international money transfer operators (IMTOs) for money sent into Ghana. In this guide, an “operator” is an IMTO:

• Look for the operator on the Bank of Ghana list. The Bank publishes a list of registered IMTOs and says it will update it. It also publishes a separate list of licensed payment service providers. A brand name is often not the registered company, so search the legal name. If you do not find it, ask the provider which operator is behind the transfer (Bank of Ghana: registered IMTOs, licensed payment service providers).
• Know what the Bank of Ghana says. Its guidelines say an operator must provide accurate, timely and complete information on fees, charges and exchange rates; they do not say in what form or when. An operator’s contract with its agent (a bank, a payment service provider or another regulated institution approved by the Bank of Ghana to pay out for it) must prohibit charging your recipient any fee other than the ones agreed with you at the start. An agent must issue an electronic receipt for every transaction (Bank of Ghana guidelines).
• Take a missing name seriously. In June 2025 the Bank published a notice cautioning against money transfer organisations it says operate without its approval. If the operator behind your transfer is not on the list, ask before you send (Bank of Ghana notice on unapproved money transfer organisations).
• If a complaint is not settled. The Bank’s 2017 recourse guidelines for financial service providers set this route. These guidelines speak of the consumers of regulated providers; they do not say whether a sender abroad can use them. A consumer may complain first to the provider concerned. The provider must acknowledge the complaint within five days and resolve it within 20 working days, or up to 10 more if it tells the consumer in advance. A provider must not charge a consumer for handling a complaint (Bank of Ghana: recourse guidelines).
• Appealing to the Bank. A consumer who gets no answer, or disagrees, may appeal to the Bank of Ghana: within 20 working days of being told the decision or, with no answer, once 20 working days have passed since the complaint (30 if the provider took more time). The Bank then has 20 working days to decide (recourse guidelines). The Bank’s complaints page lists how to reach it, but it speaks of complaints against banks (complaints page).
• Who answers first for money sent into Ghana. The Bank’s 2023 guidelines for the payment companies that pay out inward remittances make the paying company the first level of complaint, and its 2025 guidelines make the operator the second level. Both documents refer to the 2017 recourse guidelines, but we found nothing that spells out how the paying company, the operator and an appeal to the Bank of Ghana follow one another (Bank of Ghana: 2023 guidelines, 2025 guidelines).

Mistakes to avoid

• Comparing the fee only. The amount your recipient receives is the number that counts.
• A name or number that does not match. A number that is valid but belongs to someone else can be paid out to that person, and a refund is not guaranteed when the number was the one you typed.
• Trusting a listing. Fraudsters tell people a business is “approved” by FinCEN because it appears in the registrant search. FinCEN approves no one. FinCEN advises researching any business and making sure it is legitimate before sending it funds.
• Skipping the operator check. A US registration does not tell you who pays your recipient in Ghana. Ask which operator is behind the transfer and which bank or company pays out, then look the operator up on the Bank of Ghana’s list.
• Waiting to cancel. The right to cancel usually lasts 30 minutes after you pay, and only if the provider can identify the transfer and the money has not been picked up or deposited.

Questions

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Around this route

• Compare United States → Ghana
• Send money to Ghana
• Send money from the United States to West Africa
• Method
• True cost checker
• Currency converter
• Yearly transfer savings