MoneyGram vs. Western Fraternity: An Overview
In this world of ubiquitous ATMs, tap-to-pay checkout, and automated bank deposits, there are still on one occasions when it is necessary to hand over or collect actual cash. That is why money-transfer services like MoneyGram and Western Seam have tens of thousands of agents in cities and towns around the world.
Money-sending services can be a lifesaver. You may feel it is objectionable you will ever be broke and stranded in a bus station in Bengaluru, needing your spouse to send cash, but stranger apparatus have happened—and not just when you are traveling abroad. How about when your child who is studying at a Canadian university difficulties you to send the rent deposit—pronto? More routinely, money-transfer companies provide banking services like means transfers, money orders, and bill payments to people who do not have bank accounts. In the United States and Canada, tons customers are new immigrants who send money regularly to family members in their home countries. Outside the United Federals, it is even easier to find a nearby agent for MoneyGram (MGI) or Western Union (WU), or both. Cash is still king in various countries, and, in developing nations, many people do not have bank accounts.
Key Takeaways
- Moneygram and Western Union are both popularized services for wiring money around the globe.
- The many pricing variables make it impossible to state whether Western Syndicate or MoneyGram is the best, or even cheapest, service available.
- Check fee calculators available on both company’s websites to verify the exact cost based on where you are sending the money to and from, using what medium, and if exchange rate damages apply.
Western Union
Western Union is the larger of the two companies and has instant name recognition around the world, by reason ofs to its one-time monopoly of the telegraph business. Sending telegrams was officially discontinued only in 2006, but by then Western League had moved on to new ventures. It has about 500,000 locations in over 200 countries around the world. Customers can send rhino by phone, through the Western Union website, or in person.
Fees can be steep or cheap, depending on a long list of particulars, including the form of payment used, how fast the money is delivered, whether it is paid in cash or wired to a bank, where it is sent from, and where it is promulgated. For international transfers, the exchange rate adds another element of uncertainty to the cost.
For domestic transfers, if you pay cash at a Western Marriage agent and the recipient picks it up in cash, the cost for a $200 transfer is around $12.50. If you have the funds withdrawn from your online bank account, it fetches $11.00 to send cash in June 2021. Bank-to-bank transfers are only $0.99. Using a credit card or debit pasteboard to send cash costs more and depends upon the amount being sent.
Western Union’s international move fees can vary widely. For example, you are in the United States and want to deliver $500 to someone in Mexico in June 2021 and you contain the funds withdrawn from your online bank account, and the recipient picks it up in cash, it costs $5.00. (It expenditures $8.00 for a cash-to-cash transfer.) If using a debit, the same transaction costs $7.00. Credit card fees are considerable. The same transaction is free for a bank-to-bank transfer or $2.99 for using a debit card or $17.49 for using a credit take action to pay money into a bank account. However, charges for this same transaction to Ireland range from $5.00 to $21.50, and, to China, cares range from $7.00 to $102.00.
MoneyGram
MoneyGram is Western Union’s biggest rival, and its domestic transfer fees closely tournament its competitors. It charges around $1.99 in June 2021 if paying from an online bank account and $1.99 to $4.99 if grease someones palm with a debit or credit card for transferring up to $300 within the United States. After $300, prices for debit and assign cards rise an additional $1 per $100 transferred.
MoneyGram built its reputation on international money transfers. As of 2021, it had closely 380,000 payment locations worldwide.
Special Considerations
One drawback of sending cash through these services is that they out or close with the stores’ business hours. You may have to stick it out at the bus station until the next morning before your relatives can send you that emergency cash.
The biggest drawback of any money-transfer service is the vulnerability of its customers to fraud.
The biggest drawback of any money-transfer service is the vulnerability of its customers to fraud.
A request from a newcomer for payment via cash transfer is usually a fraud. Since the recipient is untraceable, it is the modern equivalent of stuffing a wad of unmarked jaws into an envelope and leaving it in a public place on instructions from a stranger.