Send Money from the USA to Haiti: What It Really Costs in 2026
Getting money to someone in Haiti is often harder than paying for it. Bank accounts are far from universal, much of Port-au-Prince is controlled by armed groups, and the rules on paying transfers out in dollars have changed more than once. Plan how the money will be collected, then compare what it costs.
In Short
Pay from your US bank account or card rather than with cash at a counter, and agree with your family how they will collect before you pick a service. Into a Haitian bank account, Remitly is the one service in our current data with a standing price on $500: about $18.04 all-in, fee and rate margin together.
The way your family collects moves the price. On a $1,000 transfer, the cheapest cash pickup in our latest quotes costs less than the cheapest bank deposit, and the cheapest wallet payout costs less than it.
Current Quotes for Gourdes
Compare Money Transfer Services
Sending 1,000.00 USD → HTG from the US · Estimated typical cost · bank deposit, bank-funded
Showing 3 of 17 services we can price for USD → HTG
Estimates only, not live quotes. "Recipient Gets" is for a bank deposit funded from a bank account, on today's mid-market rate: for a "provider quote", minus the rate markup and fee from that provider's own recent quote; for an estimate, minus the provider's typical markup and fee. Rows are ranked by total cost, the fee plus the rate markup, so a fee charged on top of the amount sent counts against a provider even when its recipient gets more. Real cost varies by corridor, amount, delivery and payment method, and promotions (e.g. new-customer offers can be cheaper). Tap a provider to get its live rate before sending. The dot by each provider shows confidence, and the label says how the figure was grounded: "corridor estimate" is a rate we measured for this exact pair; a currency-code estimate (e.g. "USD estimate") is measured for that source currency but not this destination; "typical estimate" is the provider's general figure across all its corridors; "provider quote" is that provider's own recent quote for this pair, its markup and fee applied to today's mid-market rate exactly as its calculator shows them, and a provider whose quote depends on a payment or delivery choice is left out here and priced on its own calculator. Margins are verified against live provider quotes and the World Bank Remittance Prices database; the date above is the most recent collection. Some “Send money now” buttons are partner links: we may earn a commission if you sign up, at no cost to you, and rows are ranked by cost whatever the link. See how we collect these prices and our advertising disclosure.
Sending from outside the US?
The costs on this page are for sending US dollars. Which service is cheapest to Haiti changes with the country you send from. Compare live rates from:
Counter, Wallet or Bank: Plan the Collection First
Most of the decisions that matter on this route are made in Haiti, not in the app. Settle these with your recipient first:
- Cash pickup
- The traditional way money reaches Haitian families. The recipient brings ID and the reference number to an agent. Collected in cash, $1,000 costs least with MoneyGram at $21.32; Ria Money Transfer at $23.20 and Taptap Send at $23.89 come next. Ask which agents your family can actually reach; that matters more here than a small difference in price.
- MonCash
- Digicel's mobile wallet takes money from abroad through partner transfer companies and reaches people with no bank account. Paid into a wallet, $1,000 is cheapest through Taptap Send at $22.51, with Sendwave at $24.76 and Western Union at $27.22 after it. Money in the wallet can be spent from the phone, so it doesn't depend on a counter being open.
- Bank deposit
- Into an account at Unibank, Sogebank, Capital Bank, BNC or another Haitian bank. It is what the table below prices. Ask whether the account is held in gourdes or in dollars, because that decides which currency the money ends up in.
Agents and branches open and close with conditions on the ground, whatever the transfer service does. For a time-critical transfer, have your recipient confirm that their usual agent is operating that day; money waiting at a closed counter helps no one.
The Deposit Prices We Can Measure
For a bank deposit in gourdes paid from a US bank account, here is what each service costs: the fee plus the margin in the exchange rate, measured against the mid-market USD/HTG rate when it quoted.
| Service | Rate and fee at $1,000 | Cost shape | $200 | $500 | $1,000 | $5,000 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Taptap SendDelivered by bank deposit | 131 HTG$8.39 fee | 1.56% rate + $8.39 | — | — | $23.89 | $86.41 |
| Ria Money TransferDelivered by bank deposit, paid by bank account | 130.76 HTG$9.00 fee | 1.74% rate + $9.00–$40.00 | — | — | $26.24 | $126.30 |
| RemitlyDelivered by bank deposit | 130.76 HTG$14.49 fee | 1.74% rate + $6.49–$54.49 | ≈$9.86 | ≈$18.04 | $31.67 | $140.71 |
From our current data, collected November 5, 2026, for a transfer from the US paid from a bank account and delivered to a bank account. Each rate is the service's margin from that data on the latest mid-market rate, 1 USD = 133.08 HTG on November 6, 2026, so it moves with the market. A dash means the provider has no quote at that amount whose fee and rate we can state. ≈ marks a price between two amounts the provider quoted, where its fee and rate are known to hold. How we collect these prices.
- BOSS Money, MoneyGram, Sendwave, Western Union, Wise and Xoom don’t price a transfer paid from a bank account and delivered to a bank account on this route, only other ways to pay or receive.
- We hold no current quote for this route from Instarem, OFX, Pangea, Paysend, Revolut, WorldRemit and XE.
Every figure is the dollar cost of putting gourdes into a Haitian bank account, and only services we have seen quote gourdes appear. A green cell is the lowest standing price at that amount; a promotional price wears a label and is never coloured.
Size matters on this route. The lowest standing price takes about 2.4% of a $1,000 deposit but about 1.7% of a $5,000 one, because part of every price is a fee that doesn't grow with the amount. Fewer, larger transfers cost less, as long as collecting a larger sum is safe for your family. BOSS Money, MoneyGram, Sendwave, Western Union, Wise and Xoom price Haiti only for other ways of paying or receiving, so they have no row in the deposit table; their own calculators price the way you choose.
Turned into gourdes, each $10 a transfer costs you is about 1,300 gourdes your family never sees, at 133.1 to the dollar on November 6, 2026.
Price your own amount and payout method in a service's calculator:
Gourdes, Dollars and Circular 114
Haiti runs on two currencies. The gourde is legal tender, but rents, school fees and imported goods are often priced in US dollars, and about two-thirds of the money held in Haitian banks was in foreign currency in 2024, by the central bank's own count. The dollar itself traded at 133.1 gourdes, mid-market, on November 6, 2026, the day of our last reading.
That makes the payout currency a real question, and the answer isn't always yours to choose. Under Circular 114-3 of the Banque de la République d'Haïti, in force since September 2022 in place of a 2020 version, banks and transfer houses must pay international transfers in gourdes. Dollars can go only into the recipient's US dollar savings account, and a transfer house can't credit $1,000 or more to one. In 2024 the central bank's governor said it was reviewing Circular 114. What your family can collect today depends on those rules and on each service's payout partner, so ask before you promise anyone dollars.
Haitians also count in an informal “Haitian dollar” worth five gourdes, a habit left from the old fixed link to the US dollar. A price of “twenty dollars” in a Port-au-Prince market may well mean 100 gourdes, not twenty US dollars. When your family tells you what something costs, ask which dollar they mean.
When Port-au-Prince Is Hard to Reach
Armed groups control most of Port-au-Prince: UN reporting put it at up to 90% of the capital in March 2026, and more than 1.4 million Haitians had been displaced by late 2025, by the International Organization for Migration's count. That reaches money transfers in plain, practical ways. Agents in contested neighborhoods close without warning, and a relative who has fled may now be collecting far from home.
- Keep a second collection point in mind. Ask your family which agents they can reach safely, not just which is nearest.
- Use the wallet where it fits. Money in MonCash can be spent from a phone without carrying cash across town.
- Weigh the size of each pickup. A larger transfer costs less per dollar, but several smaller pickups can be safer than carrying one large sum home.
None of this has stopped the money. Haitians abroad sent home more than $4 billion through formal channels in 2024, by the central bank's figures, and World Bank data put remittances at about 17% of the economy that year.
Before You Send to Haiti: Questions
What is the cheapest way to send money from the US to Haiti?
A money transfer app paid from your US bank account or card, priced for the way your family will actually collect. For a bank deposit, our latest quotes put Remitly lowest on $500, at about $18.04; no other service we track prices that deposit. For $1,000, MoneyGram has the lowest standing price for cash pickup and Taptap Send the lowest for a mobile wallet.
Can my family collect US dollars in Haiti?
Not always. Under the central bank's Circular 114-3, in force since September 2022, banks and transfer houses must pay international transfers in gourdes. Dollars can only be credited to the recipient's US dollar savings account, and a transfer house can't credit $1,000 or more that way. In 2024 the central bank said it was reviewing the rule. What your family can collect depends on the rules in force and on the service's payout partner, so ask before you promise dollars.
Can I send money to MonCash?
MonCash, Digicel's mobile wallet, takes money from abroad through partner transfer companies, and it reaches people who have no bank account. Our latest data has wallet prices to Haiti from Taptap Send, Sendwave, Western Union, Ria Money Transfer and Remitly. The name on the transfer should match the name registered on the wallet.
What is a Haitian dollar?
An informal counting unit worth five gourdes, left over from the old fixed link between the gourde and the US dollar. It appears on no banknote, but prices in markets are often quoted in it, so a figure in "dollars" may mean Haitian dollars rather than US ones. Ask which is meant.
What if my family's usual pickup point is closed?
Ask the service whether the transfer can be collected at another agent in its network, and which ones are open. For anything urgent, have your recipient confirm their agent is operating before you send, or send to a wallet if they have one.
Is there a US tax on sending money to Haiti?
Only if you hand over cash, a money order, a cashier's check or a similar paper instrument to pay for it. Since January 1, 2026, those payments have carried a 1% federal excise tax; a transfer funded from a US bank account or charged to a US debit or credit card carries none.
Key Takeaways
- Remitly holds the only standing price we have on a $500 deposit in gourdes, about $18.04.
- Plan the collection first: cash pickup, MonCash and a bank deposit are priced differently, and not every agent is reachable.
- Whether your family can collect US dollars depends on the central bank's rules and the payout partner. Ask first.
- A price in “dollars” may be in Haitian dollars of five gourdes. Confirm the unit.
- The 1% US remittance tax reaches only transfers paid in cash or with paper such as a money order; a transfer paid from a US bank account or card owes none of it.
Compare Before Your Next Transfer to Haiti
Find out how many gourdes each service delivers on the amount you plan to send, after its fee and margin.
Related Calculators & Guides
Every fee on an international transfer, from the exchange-rate markup to card, cash pickup and bank wire charges, and how to see the real price.
How to send money from the US to Colombia in 2026: the main services compared, Nequi & Daviplata wallets, Efecty cash, real COP rates, and the new remittance tax.
Live mid-market US dollar to Haitian gourde rate.
Price a Ria transfer to Haiti on your own amount.
Sources & References
- Banque de la République d’Haïti
- Banque de la République d’Haïti: Circulaire 114-3 (2022)
- VOA: Haiti money exchanges close in protest at central bank regulation (2020)
- Le Nouvelliste: Governor Ronald Gabriel reports on central bank projects (2024)
- Le Relief Haïti: Dual currency circulation in Haiti, an analysis by the BRH
- UN News: Haiti (2026)
- World Bank: Remittance Prices Worldwide
- IRS: Excise taxes
Provider pricing and exchange rates are set by the companies named and can change. Figures in this guide are checked against these official sources. Always confirm the live rate before you transact.