RIAMoneyTransfer.com: Not quite there yet…read more I live in NY and my wife and I were trying to send money to the Dominican Republic which we already do monthly via Xoom.com but lately their fees (as well as USD to DOP exchange rate) are just not competitive. Like any company that's grown enough and captured ample marketshare, service and value go down. So we figured we'd give Riamoneytransfer.com a try. In short, you get what you pay for (or don't pay for in the case of these smaller players like Ria) and in our case we were never able to complete even our first transfer. Here's a summary; 1. The whole signup, initial bank verification process took four days. Waaaayyy too long. 2. Once we had verified our bank account using Ria's verification process (two micro deposits to our bank account), our first transfer failed. We received an email from their security dept. asking we call them. 3. OK, we called and the young man in Ria's security department asked all the usual questions to identify us. Then started asking what we were going to use the money for and when was the last time we traveled etc. Another poster mentioned it seemed really invasive and personal and I agree. Especially, "What are you going to use the money for?" HELLO? Of course there's all the US anti-money laundering laws now in effect but with other transfer services it was always about verifying the sender and recipients are legitimate (e.g., the Identity of person, whether they were a US Citizen/legal resident, whether they were the owners of the bank accounts etc.), not what you were going to spend your money on. The conversation had the feel of the guy we were talking to making it up as he went along. 4. The representative wasn't even aware of their own bank verification process using the two micro deposits. I tried to explain that they already verified my bank account but it was no use, he just didn't get it. Maybe a trainee or someone new but if so, that alone is telling about their internal processes that they would let loose someone who wasn't fully versed on their own internal processed. 5. In the end, he said I could send him a copy of my photo ID, passport with stamp of the last time I traveled to the Dominican Republic (not sure how this verifies a bank account-especially for people who don't travel), picture of my first-born, a bunch of other stuff etc! At this point I had serious concerns about Ria from this conversation as well as from other reviews on the internet that essentially said the same thing. Alternately, he said I could try to find a Ria storefront and bring in cash. He said if I brought cash into one of their physical locations he said it wouldn't be a problem. While I think that's a nice convenience, I'm not going to travel to Washington Heights, NY NY to visit one of their storefronts and then go walking with a bunch of cash etc. so I declined and will probably just stay with Xoom.com for now. ***The takeaways....? **** While Ria may offer slightly lower rate than Xoom there's a reason for it. They're not on the same playing field yet. Service-wise and sophistication of their transfer process seems to lag the other players such as Xoom or Western Union by a considerable margin. Everything I experience indicated the transfer would take [at best], days. Xoom (and I assume, WU) does it in minutes. There's clearly a big difference in the infrastructure Ria has in place vs.the other guys which probably accounts for the lower rates (it makes sense, lower infrastructure/overhead costs = lower rates). In the end, I don't have enough trust in Ria from the experience to make the switch. They're still trying to find their footing and the whole experience made me feel like so many decisions are done ad hoc and the processes still manual. Once they get themselves established and their processes smoother, maybe, but not today. BTW, while I mentioned Western Union in this post, I can't really vouch for their service as I've never used them. Their rates are WAY higher however as they've been around forever I assume they've got things down too. Hope this review helps.

Extremely poor experience with Ria customer service. I was trying to translate for my brother who…read moredoesn't speak English, but the agent refused to help, kept insisting he had to call himself, and ended up yelling and hanging up on me. Completely unprofessional and frustrating.

Pros: - Great employees with a commitment to innovation and…read moreservice to clients. - Great global financial services company with a very well geographically diversified executive board and board of directors. Such diversification truly shows how the company walks the talk on it's commitment to diversity. You don't see as much diversity at the other Swiss banks. - Very good, bright and hardworking CEO Brady Dougan who comes from a very good and modest upbringing. He truly cares about the company, its clients and its people. - Top culture is to be innovative and international. A plus especially when comparing to the other Swiss banks. - They are innovative in their solutions and have a lot of bright people working for them to offer such solutions especially when looking at Investment Banking and premium ultra high net worth wealth management. - They often give employment opportunities to the hardworking bright "underdog" and will help the person to grow. Negatives: - As this is a big firm, there can be people at the lower of the totem pole that does not always fit into the real CS culture. But nothing in life is 100% perfect. - Since it is the 2nd biggest Swiss bank by assets, people always think the other bigger Swiss bank is better and thus CS could face doubts as the less better of the two. Bigger doesn't always mean better. CS did not have to rely on government support and honest tax payer's money thanks to excellent Risk Management and executive board with Brady leading the team.

This is the best company you can work for. Gives you a lot of freedom and you can be very…read moreentrepreneurial. Great people work there. Sometimes a little political, but I guess that is true for any large multinational firm.