Western Union money transfer

[gonzalob54]

I similarly get a really high transfer fee. Around $45 USD to do a $600 transfer. But a friend of mine just said his fee is $15. I've tried all the variables (payment source, destination, etc)
Does anyone know of a way to get the better transfer fee?

Use Remitly.

 

[IamWaldo]

I tried today first time Wise, it went really quick and the money was there in a few hours.
Fee was low and the biggest bonus is you can use the actual exchange rate, so you are not waiting for 2-3 days before WU updates it.

 

[Frank2000]

I tried today first time Wise, it went really quick and the money was there in a few hours.
Fee was low and the biggest bonus is you can use the actual exchange rate, so you are not waiting for 2-3 days before WU updates it.

It says: "We could not send to this account as we are unable to recognise the bank of the recipient." I sent WISE a message, Let's see if they can solve the issue. The exchange rate today is the same as WU by the way.

 

[IamWaldo]

i transfered to BNA, no issues; no verification required.

 

[pmacay]

Use Remitly.

I've tried Remitly and Western Union always has a better rate, even when factoring in the $60 fee.

 

[retiredbanker]

I've tried Remitly and Western Union always has a better rate, even when factoring in the $60 fee.

WU has been reliable and PROMPT. I get cash (cash pick up) in less than 2 minutes if I send money. Their fee is just a cost of doing business.

 

[pmacay]

A friend did mention Wise to me before but I never followed up, I just created an account there and tried to transfer $2k USA, Wise had a better exchange rate and lower fee then Western Union. Thanks so much for the suggestion, I'll try Wise the next time I need to transfer money.

I tried today first time Wise, it went really quick and the money was there in a few hours.
Fee was low and the biggest bonus is you can use the actual exchange rate, so you are not waiting for 2-3 days before WU updates it.

 

[pmacay]

WU has been reliable and PROMPT. I get cash (cash pick up) in less than 2 minutes if I send money. Their fee is just a cost of doing business.

I do bank to bank transfers with Western Union, for some reason it rejected my debit card when I tried to use it for a speedier transfer or lower fee. It always says 0-8 business days to transfer and it varies a lot, sometimes it takes 8 days but the last two transfers I did took 2 days to transfer from USA CitiBank to ARG Santander. I prefer to have it deposited directly into my account so I don't have to deal with going to the office, waiting, and not having to carry a lot of cash out the door. However, my next transfer I'm going to try Wise as it looks like a better rate, but we all know Argentina, things change here daily!

 

[Frank2000]

I tired wise today. Exchange rate was 1337 vs WU 1357. It is still a little better than WU once we add the fees. It says the receiver's bank will get it in couple hours. So it is not a bad alternative to WU. I have not tried remitly yet. But it shows exchange rate of 1345 and the fee is only $5. But this is a special rate for first timers. The rates for repeat customers will be lower but I am not sure how much lower. I did read mixed reviews about remitly.

 

[pmacay]

I made my first Wise transfer today, I did have to supply a bank statement with my name on it because the USA Citibank checking account is a joint account with my husband. They said it could take 1 business day to approve, but it was approved in less than 10 minutes. WU still had a better rate, but the fee for Wise was only $29.82 which gave an end rate of $1,314. WU's rate would have been $1,307.7 with the $55 transfer fee. Wise also said the transfer should only take 2 hours, where WU takes 2-8 days to get to my Santander account. Looks like a great option!