Western Union Fees

I drew out a couple of hundred bucks from my BPI $ account to send to me sister in Florida. Went to Western Union to send it. I was told that I would be charged a fee to send it and I replied, that I assumed that there would be a fee to do that. I was than told that there was also a fee to convert it form USDs to Picos. I ask why because I'm sending USDs and that was the money that is used in Florida, USA. I was than informed that there was also a fee to convert it form Picos BACK to USDs once it arrives in the USA. WTF!! Western Union. I figured out that Western Union was nothing more that a ripoff money scam. I put the USD's back in BPI and sent a USA check to her using FilPost and it only cost me a small postage stamp. O there was a ripoff exchange rate at both ends also. I think, Western Union is owned by a banker. Might be the reason behind my post about the ATM fees. You think?

 

So now you pray that the check will arrive in Florida before Christmas?
And that your sister's address in Florida still exists by the time it gets there (I'll help you pray for that one).

 

No need to pray. She got the check in 8 days and it took her another 15 days for her to deposit it. I guess rapping it in cardboard helped.

 

In the more modern banks you do not need to deposit the actual check any more. For future reference you can send a photocopy of the check and she can deposit it.
Electronic checks basics and benefits - QuickBooks Payments

 

Have to agree with you - just analyse conversion rates and fees for sending money to another country and WU must be very low on the list for value. Either they have created a monstrosity of an organisation that is very costly to operate AND/OR they are making VERY BIG bucks. I don't know why people use them other than in the case of no alternative. I think most people (the vast majority) don't have enough financial sense and it is that on which big organisations prey.

 

For UK remitters: The results of an analysis I did on 8th Sept 2017 showed that KabayanRemit (who have just increased fees by 50% but are still competitive) and BCRemit are both costing in fees about 0.5% of the total amount sent. Transferwise is charging about 1% BUT because they offer a constantly updated market currency rate, at the time I looked I could have brought this down to 0.6% compared with the two other Companies by taking account of the preferential rate. In fact, keeping an eye on the market and using Transferwise when the currency has just shot up, could be a very sound policy. This is why I am surprised when people write about ATMs taking 2.5% of their hard-earned cash and other very costly methods of currency exchange and sending. I am not talking about wiring your own currency to another bank abroad in the SAME currency, because I can do that for 0.009% but once it is in another country in your currency, it still may be expensive to exchange for the local currency. However, I would try that except I don't think any Philippine bank would want to open a GBP account and I would have to return to the UK just to visit my bank in person to set it up. But for those who use the USD, I would look into setting up an international transfer system BEFORE you leave your home country or setting one up if you return home for a vacation.

 

Transferwise is great for me. I switched to it from PayPal and western union.

 

I've never sent money from the PI, but that sure sounds odd that they would have to convert it twice. I've only sent money on-line and in person from Korea (US military base) and it shows up in USD for the wife to pick up. They actually ask if you want it picked up in USD or peso. I think that would be worth going on-line to WU and make an inquiry to what their policies are. If you can pick up USD in Dumaguete it would make sense that you could send USD without a conversion.

Using WU is a pain, especially when they deny the transaction and you have to go through all the BS to prove why you are sending $$...usually happens every 1-2 years for me. I have a friend who happens to have the same name as someone WU barred from sending and even after many hours on the phone trying to prove he is not that person he is SOL and has to have his wife send money.

Shawn

 

I never had a problem sending from Australia to my Wife here in the Philippines, ever.

However, 4 years ago I was sending money over the counter filling in Western Union Forms at an Agency and paying a $14.00 AUD Fee to send. The option of sending from a Card or Online Banking was not an option for me back then...

I just went to the AU WU Page (and xe . com to compare the exchange rates) and had a quick play to see what would happen;

If I sent $100.00 AUD to the US as USD (using the Online Banking option) to the recipient as Cash Pick up (see attached pic) the fee is $5.00 AUD

So in effect I would be sending $100.00 AUD (which according to xe . com = $80.57 USD)
Western Union which states the recipient will receive $77.41 USD

So looks like WU pockets approximately $3.16 USD ($3.92 AUD) to do the conversion from AUD to USD.

Total cost including the Fee to me is $105.00 AUD

Still not too bad and one rate I would be happy with now it appears to be cheaper than before to send via WU.

This is the WU AU Page (below link) maybe you can go in and play around using PH WU / US WU Pages and see how it works for you guys?

Send Money Internationally | Western Union

 

Had the same experience when in the States the last time in July of this year---WU could give no explanation for the "exceeds limit" message (I had sent less than 300usd for the month preceeding) and after four days of BS, they said it was the Philippine govt restrictions on my transactions. Absurd!