በአማርኛ ማንበብ ይፈልጋሉ? ይህን መመሪያ በአማርኛ ያንብቡ።
Sending money home should be the easiest part of your week. For a lot of families it isn’t. The rate moves between the morning and the evening, the fee isn’t clear until the last screen, and nobody tells you when the money will actually land.
This guide walks through sending from the United States to Ethiopia with BlessedRoots - what you need before you start, how to choose the way your family receives the money, what actually determines the rate you are quoted, and what your rights are as a sender under US law.
What you need before you start
- A US bank account, debit card or credit card to pay with.
- A government-issued photo ID. We have to verify who you are before your first transfer. This is federal law for every licensed money transmitter in the United States, not a BlessedRoots policy.
- Your recipient’s full name exactly as it appears on their Ethiopian bank account or telebirr registration.
- Their bank name and account number, or their telebirr phone number.
The most common reason a transfer is delayed is a recipient name that does not match the receiving account. Check the spelling against their ID or a bank statement rather than from memory.
Sending in four steps
- Create your account. Email and phone number, a few minutes. The first time, you will complete identity verification.
- Add how you will pay. Link a bank account, debit card or credit card.
- Enter the transfer. Choose Ethiopia, enter the amount, and choose how your recipient will receive the money. Before you confirm, you will see the exchange rate, the fee, and the exact amount in birr your recipient will get. Read that screen. It is the disclosure the law requires us to give you, and the birr figure on it is the number that matters.
- Confirm and track. You can follow the status in real time, and your recipient is notified.
Bank deposit or telebirr?
There are two ways for your family to receive the money, and they are priced differently.
- Ethiopian bank account - the money is deposited into an account at any of the 33 banks we support. This suits larger amounts and recipients who already bank.
- telebirr - the money arrives in your recipient’s telebirr mobile wallet. This suits recipients without a bank account, or who live away from a branch town.
The two carry different exchange rates. The app shows both side by side before you choose, so compare the final birr amount rather than the headline rate.
How long it takes
Many transfers are delivered within minutes. How long yours takes depends on the payout method you chose, the receiving bank’s own processing, and whether the transfer is selected for a routine compliance review.
Before you pay, the app shows you the date your money will be available. That date is a disclosure we are required to make and to stand behind - it is not an estimate we can quietly revise.
What slows a transfer down
- A recipient name that does not match the receiving account.
- A first transfer, while identity verification finishes.
- Downtime or scheduled maintenance at the receiving bank.
- Public holidays in Ethiopia or the United States.
What decides the rate and the fee you see
Ethiopia moved to a market-determined exchange rate in 2024, so the birr rate now moves with market conditions rather than being set administratively. Our rate follows the market and refreshes continuously. The rate you see at nine in the morning may not be the rate at nine in the evening.
- The rate is locked when you confirm the transfer, not when you open the app.
- Bank and telebirr payouts are priced differently, so compare the birr figure, not the rate.
Fees vary by transaction type and by how you pay. Both the fee and the rate are shown before you confirm. If any service cannot tell you the total cost before you pay, that is the service to walk away from.
Your rights when you send money abroad
Money transfers sent from the United States are regulated by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau under the Remittance Transfer Rule. Whoever you send with, you have these rights:
- A disclosure before you pay showing the exchange rate, all fees and taxes, the amount your recipient will receive, and the date it will be available.
- 30 minutes to cancel at no charge after you pay - unless the money has already been picked up or deposited into the recipient’s account.
Staying safe from remittance scams
Remittance fraud targets diaspora families specifically, and it often borrows the name of a real, licensed company to do it.
- We will never ask for your password, your full card number, or a one-time code by phone, WhatsApp or Telegram.
- We will never ask you to send a transfer in order to unlock, verify or release another transfer. That request is always a scam.
- Send only through the app or through blessedroots.com. If someone offers you a better rate through a personal account, you have no protection and no way to recover the money.
- Check that you are on blessedroots.com before entering any details.
If something feels wrong, stop and contact support@blessedroots.com.
Getting help
Support is available by phone, email and chat at support@blessedroots.com.
Nyota Financial LLC, doing business as BlessedRoots, is a registered Money Services Business with FinCEN (#31000302682897) and is authorized to operate as an MSB in Maryland under NMLS ID 2707227. Exchange rates and fees change; see the app for a live quote before you send. Fees vary based on type of transaction. Terms and conditions apply.