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Have you ever attempted to send money to Brazil but found yourself hesitant because of the ridiculously high price? Or even worse, have you tried to wire to someone who doesn’t even have access to a financial institution to obtain the cash?

If you absolutely needed to send money to Brazil today, you’d only have a select few options. Luckily, the money transfer industry will change greatly over the next couple of years.

If you still need to send cash to Brazil, you can use a bank’s wire system. For international transfers banks created the SWIFT system, which has been around since the mid-seventies after seven international banks needed to transport money and decided to create a system that would allow people to transfer money all around the world.

One downside however is that both parties must have bank accounts – the sender in the country they’re transferring the cash from and the receiver in the receiving country. If one of them is not in their native country it will be difficult since they most likely will not have a bank account in a foreign country.

Another system does not require a bank account, you simply send money in the name of the other, and give the person who’s meant to get the money a code which allows them to get the money. Though a great way to send money, it was once the primary most popular way for terrorists to wire money internationally. But since September 11th, efforts have been made to tighten security, so now both members in the transfer are required to present some form of identification.

With the growing popularity of cell phones all over the world, things will be changing left and right causing the world of sending money wirelessly to change dramatically. Many wireless companies are now letting their customers transfer funds from mobile to mobile.

Soon, if you want to send money to Brazil, all you must do is input the amount and the phone number you want the money sent to and in a blink the money is there. Some pre-paid wireless phones already have a similar system in place so that you can add minutes to your pre-paid cell from anywhere in the world. The only difference is the way the recipient goes about collecting the money.

The groundwork has already been laid for mobile-to-mobile transfers, all that’s left is to make the process completely viable from an international standpoint.

Today it’s already possible to use your phone to buy things, and some banks have even started using a credit card that’s an actual part of your cell phone. Although it’s only available on the iPhone, it’s a sign of things to come and soon enough wiring money to Brazil will be as easy as pressing the green send button on your Blackberry.

The United States has tight restrictions in place when it comes to any business transactions or travel from the U.S. to Cuba, but even with that, it still is not impossible to export money to Cuba.

It’s difficult to determine how much money is transferred into Cuba on a yearly basis, but many independent groups project between 490 million to one billion is shifted into Cuba in one year. But don’t let that number fool you, it is a lot given the fact that only people with relatives may send money at a $300 limit per transaction. U.S. citizens can, however, transfer funds every three months for up to $1,200.00 a year.

Although U.S. officials know of the illegal ways to wire money to Cuba, most often they look the other way. During George Bush’s tenure had the most profound affect over the last few years, but even still they were powerless to slowing the money trafficking from the U.S. to Cuba.

So now the U.S. is led by President Obama, whose administration wishes to the U.S. relationship with Cuba. It is yet to be been determined how this will affect money transfer services in the future, but at the least we know it can only get easier in coming years.

Don’t be mistaken though, despite the rules on sending money into Cuba, the easiest way remains by transferring online. Besides that, senders also have the option of using different services which are not connected with U.S. banks, so they are are not required to follow any of the U.S. embargoes.

Even despite the sanctions, people needing to wire money to Cuba have the same options other nations do. And the expanding internet is making it even easier to wire funds, considering Cuba’s Government lacks the resources to track all the transactions.

Most likely, the trade embargoes placed by the U.S. are deciding factor as to why the Cuban government has such a hard time when it comes to tracking money flow. This creates a difficult situation because if the sanctions are withdrawn, money transfers would be completely legal and the Cuban Government would be able to use the technology needed to track all money transfers into Cuba.

Whichever direction the industry heads, one thing is clear; people will not cease sending money to Cuba. It’s getting less complex for Americans to wire money to Cuba these days, and someday the trade embargoes will even be banned. When that day comes money-flow into Cuba will expand significantly, in addition Cuba will discover a big build up of business dollars. Until then, the internet remains the best way to send money.