Most advice about remittances is written for the sender. This is for the person at the Ghanaian end — the one who has to give the right details, pick the right channel, and explain why the money has not arrived.

If you are the one sending: sending money to Ghana.

Give the sender exactly this

For mobile money — the channel most transfers now use:

  • Your registered MoMo number, digit for digit
  • The network (MTN, Telecel, AirtelTigo)
  • The name exactly as it is registered on the wallet

For a bank account:

  • Account name, as the bank has it
  • Account number
  • Bank name and branch
  • The SWIFT code for an international transfer

For cash pickup:

  • Your full name exactly as it appears on your Ghana Card
  • The reference number, from the sender
  • The city

The name is what breaks transfers

The most common failed transfer is a name mismatch. A middle name the sender included that is not on your Ghana Card, a maiden name, an initial where the ID has the full name — any of these will stop a payout.

Send the sender a photograph of how your name appears on your Ghana Card and tell them to copy it character for character. Do not type it from memory.

Which channel to ask for

Speed Where it lands Best for
Mobile money Minutes Your wallet Almost everything
Bank transfer Hours to days Your account Large amounts
Cash pickup Minutes An agent counter No wallet, no account

Ask for mobile money unless the amount is large. It is fastest, it usually carries the best delivered rate, and it needs nothing but your phone number.

Cash pickup is the fallback when you have neither a wallet nor an account, and it is the one that requires the ID to match perfectly.

— Mobile money — Opening a bank account

The limits that stop money arriving

This catches people constantly, and the transfer simply fails rather than explaining itself.

A fully verified mobile money wallet holds up to ₵50,000, with daily transaction limits around ₵50,000.

Two consequences:

  • A transfer that would push your balance over the limit fails. Spend down or cash out before a large one arrives.
  • A part-verified wallet has much lower limits. If you registered with minimal KYC, upgrade it at an agent with your Ghana Card before you need the headroom.

For anything larger, ask the sender to use a bank account, or to split it across days.

Tell the sender to compare the delivered amount

The fee is the part everyone looks at and it is rarely where the money goes. The exchange rate is.

Ask them for one number: how many cedis will actually land. A service advertising “no fees” and a poor rate frequently delivers less than one charging a visible fee at a fair rate. Comparing on the fee alone is how the margin stays hidden.

— Inflation and the cedi

Is it taxed?

Money sent to you from abroad by family is not income, and receiving it is not a taxable event. The E-Levy that used to apply to electronic transfers was repealed in April 2025 and no longer exists, whatever older articles say.

Network transaction fees still apply. Those are charged by the telco, not the government.

What is different: money you receive as payment for work is income whether it came from Accra or abroad, and belongs on a tax return.

— Freelancing in Ghana — Income tax and PAYE

When it has not arrived

Work through this in order before assuming the worst:

  1. Get the reference number from the sender, and the exact name and number they sent to.
  2. Check the wallet limit. A balance cap is the commonest silent failure.
  3. Check the name matches your ID, character for character.
  4. Ask the sender to check with their service. They hold the transaction, not you, and only they can trace or recall it.
  5. Give it the working day. Bank transfers cross time zones and correspondent banks; a Friday transfer can land on Monday.

Scams aimed at the receiving end

  • “I sent it by mistake, send it back.” They did not. Reversed or fraudulent credits get clawed back, and the money you send in return is gone.
  • Someone asking you to receive money and pass it on for a cut. That is money laundering, the account is yours, and the consequences are yours.
  • A “release fee” to unlock a larger transfer. There is no larger transfer.
  • A last-minute change of number, supposedly from the sender. Confirm by voice on a number you already had — never by replying to the message that asked.

— Mobile money fraud — Online fraud in Ghana

If money arrives regularly

Set it up once and stop losing money to it:

  • Fully verify your wallet so the limits are not the constraint
  • Agree one channel with the sender and stop switching
  • Keep records if any of it relates to property, land or a business — the paper trail is what settles a dispute later
  • Be extremely careful with money sent for land. — Buying land in Ghana

— Sending money to Ghana — Sending money out of Ghana — Money sent home to Ghana, in numbers