Yahoo launches Net global money transfer service

Web giant Yahoo has launched an online payment service allowing users to send money to family and friends in 182 countries.

The ‘Yahoo Paydirect International’ service, ‘‘revolutionises current Internet person-to-person payment methods,’’ said Yahoo Paydirect general manager Dickson Chu. ‘‘Foreign born nationals living and working in the US who need to send money home can make their money go even further, with rates well below many other money transfer methods.’’ The new service will allow users to obtain cash through some 800,000 automatic teller machines (ATMs) around the world through the cirrus network. After a sender makes an initial remittance, most likely over the Web, a Paydirect card is sent to the recipient to allow withdrawal in local currency. Yahoo said recipients worldwide will not need a paydirect account, Internet access or even a local bank account to obtain their funds. Instead of using the card, recipients can also collect funds at any of the 60,000 Moneygram International Money Transfer locations worldwide. The service is slightly different from Ebay’s payment business called Paypal. PTI