If you're looking for new ways to send money back home to India, there is a new service offered by Citibank that will help. It is called Citi Online Remit, and its function is to allow Non-resident Indians, or NRIs, to easily transfer money online to India using a U.S. checking or savings account. Learning a little more about this service could make your life easier when it comes to remitting money to India.

Citibank already has a program called Global Transaction Services, and Citi Online Remit is based on that. It is meant to provide a secure and convenient way for former residents now in the U.S. to transfer money online to India to family, and was specially formulated for sending money to India only. Features that make it safe include Online Identity Verification, secure account authentication, and the ability to track IP addresses anywhere in the world. Since many people refuse to make transactions online due to security issues, additional safety measures are sure to increase people's trust in the ability to transfer money online to India.

Convenience comes in with the online tracking system, allowing those who send funds to watch the process their money undergoes on the way to India. They can watch every step of the way, ensuring that if does not show up on time to the correct recipients, it can be corrected quickly. Another helpful feature is constant email alerts to let Citi Online Remit users know when the foreign exchange rates change. Currently, one U.S. dollar is equal to 48.314 Rupee. Since the exchange rate should affect how much money you send, keeping up-to-date on it at all times is certainly useful.

Right now Citi Online Remit is only available to Indians living in the U.S., though eventually the platform will be used to the benefit of those living in other countries, as well. Online and telephone customer service are available at all hours of everyday for current users, which is just another helpful feature that many other money sending companies do not have.

If you are interested in setting up future recurring transactions, you can do so using Citi Online Remit. However, if you are still leery of online transactions and want to wait to make sure this type of service is secure, there is another option to send remittance more than once. The prepaid debit card is always an option, and like the Citi Online Remit service, you can pay from your U.S. checking account, though using your credit card is also permitted. With this method, you never have to use a computer if you do not want to. You can have the prepaid debit card sent to your recipient, add funds by telephone, and even give your family the PIN code by phone as well.

Another option offered to Indians by this bank is the Citi Rupee Checking Account, which allows Indian citizens in the U.S. to keep a checking account in their home country of India. This way, you can transfer large amounts of money to family in India quickly, and nominate a family member to run the account while you are away from India. This is convenient if you need to send a lot of money home, like to pay your family's rent, but if you want to send smaller recurring amounts and need to use a credit card, Citi Online Remit or a prepaid debit card is still your best choice.

If you do not trust the Internet when it comes to sending funds back home to India, you have options, like the prepaid debit card. However, if you are fine with the process involved when you transfer money online to India, you have even more choices. The Citi Online Remit service is just the latest in the myriad ways to send money to India, and surely other banks will soon follow in its footsteps to make remittance easier.