Haiti is one of the countries in the Americas where remittances matter most. According to the World Bank, in recent years they have amounted to roughly a fifth of the country’s entire economy. For many families they are not extra money: they pay for food, school and rent.
Quick answer According to the latest World Bank figure (2023), sending money to Haiti costs on average 4.7% of the amount, about $9.40 for every $200. It’s cheaper than it was a few years ago, but still on the expensive side for Latin America and the Caribbean, and the cost you feel most isn’t the fee, it’s the exchange rate into gourdes.
What it costs and how that has changed
The World Bank measures the average cost of sending the equivalent of $200, adding the fee and the exchange-rate margin. For Haiti, the series looks like this:
- 2016: 7.6%
- 2017: 7.94%
- 2018: 6.43%
- 2019: 5.43%
- 2020: 6.32%
- 2021: 3.99%
- 2022: 5.27%
- 2023: 4.7%
The trend is downward, but uneven. And 4.7% is still almost double the cost of sending to Mexico or Colombia. You can compare it with the other 17 countries in our table of what it costs to send money to each country.
Gourdes or dollars: the choice that moves the most money
Many providers let your family collect in US dollars or in gourdes. If they collect in gourdes, the provider applies its own exchange rate, and that is usually where most of the cost hides, even when the fee is zero.
Before you send, compare one number: how many gourdes arrive with each provider for the same amount of dollars. That is the real comparison. Our remittance cost calculator does the math for two providers side by side.
Cash, bank account or mobile wallet
There are three common ways to receive money in Haiti:
- Cash pickup at an agent. It’s the most widespread, but it depends on the agent being open and safe to reach, which has changed a lot in parts of Port-au-Prince in recent years.
- Bank deposit, useful if your relative already has an account.
- Mobile wallet, such as MonCash, which lets people receive on their phone without traveling. Check which providers send to it and what it costs to withdraw the money afterwards.
Always ask your relative what is safest and closest for them. The cheapest option on paper is no good if collecting it means crossing a dangerous area.
How not to lose money
- Compare the amount that arrives, not the advertised fee.
- Send slightly larger amounts less often: the fixed fee weighs less.
- Pay from a bank account or debit card if the provider allows it; a credit card may be treated as a cash advance, with interest from day one.
- Be wary of informal middlemen promising much better rates than everyone else: if something goes wrong, there is no one to complain to.
If you send cash from the US
Since 2026 there is a 1% federal tax on remittances paid in cash or cash equivalents. If you pay from a bank account or with a debit card, it generally doesn’t apply. We cover it in detail in our guide to that tax.
Related articles
Official sources
To check what this guide explains, these are the official references. If a rule changes, the official version always prevails.
- CFPB: what is a remittance transfer and what are my rights: required disclosures, 30 minutes to cancel and 180 days to report errors.
- World Bank: average cost of sending remittances to each country (percentage of a $200 transfer)
