As a UK charity making a high-value international payment, bank transfer provides a more secure and appropriate method, as it avoids the need to share or store card details and reduces the risk of fraud.
It also ensures the full value of the funds is received for the patient’s treatment, without card processing fees, foreign transaction charges or potential payment limits that can arise with card providers.
In addition, card payments of this size may be declined or delayed due to fraud prevention checks, whereas bank transfers offer a reliable, traceable and widely accepted method for settling international medical invoices.
Wire transfers are also generally considered a safer method of payment than cheques due to their higher level of security, traceability, and reliability. Unlike cheques, which are physical documents that can be lost, stolen, forged, or altered, wire transfers are conducted electronically between verified bank accounts and typically require secure authentication through banking systems. Wire transfers also provide a clear audit trail, including transaction references, timestamps, and account details, making payments easier to track and verify. In addition, wire transfers are usually processed quickly and, once completed, are difficult to reverse, which provides greater certainty that funds have been successfully transferred. In contrast, cheques can be cancelled, forged, or returned due to insufficient funds, creating uncertainty and increasing the risk of fraud or non-payment. Furthermore, cheques often take several days to clear, during which time the payment may still fail. For these reasons, wire transfers are widely regarded as a more secure and reliable method of payment than paying by cheque.
