Western Union money transfer

[retiredbanker]

Hi all.
Just a quick question. What are the fees that you guys are paying to send via WU usa? Is sending to pagofacil wallet cheaper than to a bank account?

Interested to see what you guys are paying.

WU fees are posted on their website and I consider the fee as a cost of living here. Cash pick-ups or direct deposits to a bank account are the options I use. They offer discounts at times. Their service has been excellent, in my opinion.

 

[pmacay]

I've been using Western Union exclusively for over a year as it offers the best rate compared with Wise or Xoom, even factoring in the fee. I also loaded a promotional code finder from https://capitaloneshopping.com/ which has saved me a lot on my last 3 transfers ($225 USA!). I'm using Chrome on a Windoze PC. The last few transfer rates were $80 to transfer $2,000 USA from my USA bank to Argentina Santander, the money gets converted to pesos. Using the Capital Shopping promo finder, it saved me $75 on each transfer, so it was only a WU $5.00 fee. The Capital promo code can be annoying as it pops up a lot when you're on a website to buy things, but it's worth the annoyance for how much it has saved me on Western Union.

 

[steveinbsas]

When I wanted to transfer a larger amount to myself, the system prevented it because of my expired US passport. I had no problem transferring $500.

I have paid the WU transfer fee for years. I've started using my VISA debit card for local purchases.

I have been using WU since 2019. I recently was asked to provide a declaracion jurada for the recipient (me), but I don't think I was ever asked for my US passport number, with the possible exception when I first opened the account. I only remember providing my DNI. All of my transfers to myself here been $700 or less and WU has never informed me of any limit on the amount that I can send to myself in a single transfer.

 

[SlowWalker]

I've been using Western Union exclusively for over a year as it offers the best rate compared with Wise or Xoom, even factoring in the fee. I also loaded a promotional code finder from https://capitaloneshopping.com/ which has saved me a lot on my last 3 transfers ($225 USA!). I'm using Chrome on a Windoze PC. The last few transfer rates were $80 to transfer $2,000 USA from my USA bank to Argentina Santander, the money gets converted to pesos. Using the Capital Shopping promo finder, it saved me $75 on each transfer, so it was only a WU $5.00 fee. The Capital promo code can be annoying as it pops up a lot when you're on a website to buy things, but it's worth the annoyance for how much it has saved me on Western Union.

The fee for me to receive wires at Santander is $0.
So the cost is just what your US bank charges you.
Even before, Santander was $5-10. A US bank charging $70-75 for a wire seems excessive. I would expect $0, or $15-25

 

[pmacay]

The fee for me to receive wires at Santander is $0.
So the cost is just what your US bank charges you.
Even before, Santander was $5-10. A US bank charging $70-75 for a wire seems excessive. I would expect $0, or $15-25

Thanks for this tip! I heard there was a Santander fee to receive USA $$ into your Santander USA account. I looked into my USA CitiBank and a wire transfer to Argentina in USA dollars was only $25, which I thought reasonable. However when I input my Santander information into CitiBank it only asked for the bank's routing number, it didn't ask for my individual account number. When I went to Santander's website, it was about 4 pages of "legalize" which was very hard to interpret, but it sounded like the money goes to Santander's home account, and then you have to request the money from them to be deposited into your Santander account. I wanted to go to a local Santander branch and talk with someone to understand exactly what needs to happen, but I've just been putting it off.

 

[SlowWalker]

Thanks for this tip! I heard there was a Santander fee to receive USA $$ into your Santander USA account. I looked into my USA CitiBank and a wire transfer to Argentina in USA dollars was only $25, which I thought reasonable. However when I input my Santander information into CitiBank it only asked for the bank's routing number, it didn't ask for my individual account number. When I went to Santander's website, it was about 4 pages of "legalize" which was very hard to interpret, but it sounded like the money goes to Santander's home account, and then you have to request the money from them to be deposited into your Santander account. I wanted to go to a local Santander branch and talk with someone to understand exactly what needs to happen, but I've just been putting it off.

Depending on the transfer method you will need a routing, SWIFT, BIC, etc code. and your account number.
I need to use my account number as well to transfer.

Once Santander receives the funds, you will receive an email. You need to login and go to one of the menu options, its just a declaration of the source of funds with proof ie, bank statement from original account that it is also in your name. I typically include the transfer receipt as well (A07 is personal account abroad). You also indicate which account to deposit it to (Pesos or USD), select USD. And then it gets released to your account.

From there you can convert to Pesos, but the rate is poor. These dollars will be considered MEP. You can perform transfer to broker, such as Balanz, and then transfer at a better MEP rate, and then a 1% commission, then instant transfer pesos back to your Santander account.

I think the central bank made the banks eliminate fees for receiving wire transfers, but I could be wrong.

 

[LuckyLuke]

Howdy Y'all,

Anybody getting a discrepancy with the rate the Mastercard website is reporting on their foreign exchange rate page vs what's actually being charged to your Mastercard statement?

I haven't been tracking it closely, but I'm now finding constant discrepancies on previous charges. Examples below:

Citicard charge:



Mastercard rate:


Citi charged me at $1,397.77, while Mastercard claims $1469.00. A difference of $71.23.


Citicard charge:



Mastercard rate:



Citi charged me at $1338.14 while Mastercard claims $1403. A difference of $64.86.

I'm not sure when this discrepancy started happening, I would have to continue going back. It's the first time I've noticed such a thing.

 

[carride]

Howdy Y'all,

Anybody getting a discrepancy with the rate the Mastercard website is reporting on their foreign exchange rate page vs what's actually being charged to your Mastercard statement?

I have not looked in quite a while. I recall Mastercard changes the rate at 4pm. Compared to Visa who does at midnight. So for a morning purchase, as you show in both examples, compare to what the Mastercard calculator shows for the day before.

 

[SlowWalker]

I have not looked in quite a while. I recall Mastercard changes the rate at 4pm. Compared to Visa who does at midnight. So for a morning purchase, as you show in both examples, compare to what the Mastercard calculator shows for the day before.

In this case, I wonder if it has more to do with one of those purchases March 2, was a Monday, and the January 11 was a Sunday. The rate of Sunday might actually get settled on Monday.
Maybe try Jan 12, and see what the rate was then (or if Markets were closed for holidays, the next open day).

 

[jlynch]

Howdy Y'all,

Anybody getting a discrepancy with the rate the Mastercard website is reporting on their foreign exchange rate page vs what's actually being charged to your Mastercard statement?

I haven't been tracking it closely, but I'm now finding constant discrepancies on previous charges. Examples below:

Citicard charge:

View attachment 10817

Mastercard rate:
View attachment 10818

Citi charged me at $1,397.77, while Mastercard claims $1469.00. A difference of $71.23.


Citicard charge:

View attachment 10819

Mastercard rate:



Citi charged me at $1338.14 while Mastercard claims $1403. A difference of $64.86.

I'm not sure when this discrepancy started happening, I would have to continue going back. It's the first time I've noticed such a thing.

https://www.mastercard.com/ar/es/personal/get-support/currency-exchange-rate-converter.html

1/0.0007468 = 1339.0466 which adds up with what Citi charged you

View attachment 10821

or go back to Friday the 27th Feb

1/0.0007436 = 1344.8
37648/1344.8 = 27.995 USD - which is rounded up value of what is on your statment.