{"id":162,"date":"2020-12-04T15:48:39","date_gmt":"2020-12-04T15:48:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/patrickcarpen.com\/compare\/?page_id=162"},"modified":"2020-12-04T16:18:31","modified_gmt":"2020-12-04T16:18:31","slug":"western-union-a-limited-and-poor-money-transfer-option","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/patrickcarpen.com\/compare\/internet-payment-systems-and-processors\/western-union\/western-union-a-limited-and-poor-money-transfer-option\/","title":{"rendered":"Western Union – A Limited and Poor Money Transfer Option"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

First Published: 4th of December, 2020<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last updated: December 4, 2020 at 16:18 pm<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Western Union: A Poor Money Transfer Option<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

After several personal experiences with Western Union, I’ve decided to rate the service as one of the poorest in the industry and one you might want to avoid unless you don’t have a choice. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Western Union: Parasitic Exchange Rates<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

First of all, to put it bluntly, Western Union robs you on the exchange rate. For example, if the exchange rate is 1 US dollar to 5.9 Brazilian reais, they will convert it as 1 US dollars to 5.2 Brazilian reais when sending money to Brazil<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Western Union: High Transfer Fees<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

But that’s not all, Western Union fees are a cut above the average. For example, if you are sending 50 US dollars to the United States<\/a>, you might end up paying about 20 US dollars in transfer fees alone. You do save by sending large amounts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Western Union: Limited Transfer Amounts<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Western Union does have limit on how much you can send from country<\/a> to country<\/a>. For transfers that will be picked up at a Western Union office, for example, the limit for sending to Brazil <\/a>is 10,000 Brazilian reais per month – which is equal to about 2000 US dollars. For transfers to a Brazilian bank from Guyana<\/a>, South America, I was told that 3000 to 5000 US dollars per day was allowed. However, it does get complicated and this brings us to….<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Western Union: Poor Customer Service<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I could go on and on about poor the poor customer service of Western Union. Here are some examples. On one occasion, my delivery agent for Brazilian Products in Guyana <\/a>decided to test the possibility of sending money collected from customers in Guyana <\/a>to me in Brazil<\/a>. Upon going into the Western Office in Guyana<\/a>, he was told that the maximum amount that could be transferred per day was 10,000 Brazilian reais. Because the Western Union “system was down” that day, he had to return the next day, and when attempting to send 10,000 Brazilian reais, he was told that in fact the maximum amount he could have sent was 6900 Brazilian reais.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Having no choice, the agent went ahead and sent that – because I needed to the money to pay for products which were being exported to Guyana<\/a>. Right after completing the transaction, the Western Union agent at the office told the guy that she made a mistake and that in fact he could transfer 10,000 Brazilian reais that day. He called me and asked if to send the remaining 3,100 reais, but I told him not to do it because that would incur an additional transfer fee about 100 USD.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But it doesn’t stop there. At that time, I was living in Campo Verde, a small city in the state of Mato Grosso, Brazil<\/a>. So I went to visit the Western Union office in the city. They informed me that they do not have all that money on hand and that I would have to “check back another time.” I went to the other Western Union Office in the city and I was told the same thing. They didn’t give me a definite day to return, just “check back another time.” I checked back for several days until I got frustrated because the WU offices never had enough money to pay out. I was told I had to go to the capital city, Cuiaba, which was 100 miles away, to uplift the remittance. I did.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Upon reaching the office in Cuiaba, I was told that my middle name had to be included on the receiver’s statement. The sender had only given my first and last name. For that alone, my agent in Guyana <\/a>had to go all the way back to the Western Union office and had the name change, even though I had the Money Transfer Control Number and a screenshot of the sender’s receipt. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But all of that is small potatoes compared to what Western Union was about to do next. I decided to investigate the possibility of having money wired into Brazilian Bank Account through Western Union. I called the Western Union office in Guyana <\/a>long distance and was asked them if that were possible. They said “yes” and upon inquiring, I was told that the daily limit was 3000 to 5000 US dollars. My agent in Guyana <\/a>also went in to the office and was told the same thing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I asked my agent to verify that Western Union was certain that they could execute the bank wire transfer because we had sales amounting to about 3000 USD and we were pressed for time. He went in to the Western Union office and they assured him that the transfer could be done. They also gave him a list of things he needed to bring:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Name of Brazilian Bank<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Full name of receiver.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Branch Number of Bank<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Type of account and account number of Bank<\/p>\n\n\n\n

CPF (Brazilian Identification)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brazilian cell phone number of receiver. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I supplied all of this to my agent and, after collecting some more sales money, my agent decided to go to the Western Union office to do the transfer on the 4th of December, 2020. I don’t know if it was a surprise or not, but after waiting in line for about 30 minutes and presenting all the required information, he was told that they transfer could not be done. Why? Because he needed to bring proof of income to show how he acquired the money. Bear in mind that the agent acquires the money by delivering products ordered by Guyanese <\/a>residents from my website: www.brazilianproductsgy.com.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The agent tried to explain this to the staff at the Western Union office and even went as far as showing the website and WhatsApp conversations, but he or she just acted blunt and said they needed to see the man’s bank statement. Bear in mind that they agent does not deposit sales money into his back account. He sends them to me directly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Having no choice, my delivery agent had to revert to the old fashion way of sending the money: depositing it into my local bank account which I would then withdraw in Brazil <\/a>and then deposit it into my Brazilian bank account manually. Bear in mind that I can only withdraw 1000 USD every forty eight hours using my ATM card in Brazil<\/a>, and it is for this reason I was looking for faster ways of getting the money transferred.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Based on these experiences, I would rate the Western Union Money Transfer Service as a very poor service and only suitable for those who don’t have a choice or are in desperate need.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Need to find the right money transfer service? Click here to compare them.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

First Published: 4th of December, 2020 Western Union: A Poor Money Transfer Option After several personal experiences with Western Union, I’ve decided to rate the service as one of the Continue Reading →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":137,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,8,5,10,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-162","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","category-brazil","category-guyana","category-online-payment-processors","category-personal-experiences","category-western-union"],"yoast_head":"\nWestern Union - A Limited and Poor Money Transfer Option - Compare<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"How does Western Union measure up to the competition for international money transfer? 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