Western Union review

The listed transfer fee is fee free on the first online transfer to a bank account or mobile wallet. Other sends are priced separately, so the exchange rate does more of the work. Across money transfer services the median rate margin is 0.53%.

A cash pickup can be ready in minutes, which is the fast route. A bank account payout is slower and can take up to a few business days, so plan around that if the recipient is not waiting in person. Payouts are offered as bank, cash pickup and wallet.

You pick the payout when you send, and bank, cash pickup and wallet are all available. A bank account payout can take up to a few business days, while a cash pickup can be ready in minutes, so tell the recipient which route to expect before you send.

Support runs on help centre and email, so a help centre and email are the listed routes. A stalled transfer therefore means a written answer rather than a call, so keep your transfer reference to hand and describe the problem in as much detail as you can.

The service runs through Western Union International Bank GmbH, based in the US and trading since 1851. A business that old has had time to build an agent network, which is why a cash pickup can be ready in minutes. If a payment is late, help centre and email is where you raise it.

Skrill prices a bank transfer at no fee with card funding adding a percentage, and Paysera is free in euros to SEPA users with a per transfer charge to other countries. The fee-free send here is an online transfer to a bank account or mobile wallet, and cash pickup is the quicker route.

Monthly fees are not the deciding factor: the median monthly fee across money transfer services is €0 and the upper quartile is €0. What you pay is the transfer fee and the rate, and the median transfer fee across these services is 0.53%.