Tranferring money from Russia to USA

[visaveteran1 33]

I know this has been discussed before but what's the best/cheapest way to transfer money from Russia to the USA?

Since my wife's son is here now, she's rented her flat. A friend in Russia is handling getting the rent money and sending it here. For the moment it looks like Western Union is the only simple way. I seem to remember folks discussing another money transfer company that was cheaper.

Anyway, if someone has a better way, please let me know.

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

I know this has been discussed before but what's the best/cheapest way to transfer money from Russia to the USA?

Since my wife's son is here now, she's rented her flat. A friend in Russia is handling getting the rent money and sending it here. For the moment it looks like Western Union is the only simple way. I seem to remember folks discussing another money transfer company that was cheaper.

Anyway, if someone has a better way, please let me know.

Money gram is cheaper. The best is if she has an account over there with a debit card here. Give the tenant some deposit slips and tell them which bank to deposit the rent check and then take it from an ATM here. We do that for Sergey (in reverse)

[1HappyGuy 45]

I would assume that charges for Western Union are the same whether from the USA or from another country. I use their 48 hour delivery service and it is pretty cheap. I just sent $600 for a cost of $19. The 48 hour service has not been a problem since we usually end up spending the first 24 notifying the party at the other end.

[james&olya 1,121]

I would assume that charges for Western Union are the same whether from the USA or from another country. I use their 48 hour delivery service and it is pretty cheap. I just sent $600 for a cost of $19. The 48 hour service has not been a problem since we usually end up spending the first 24 notifying the party at the other end.

MoneyGram 10 minute service for $600 costs $10! Plus there are locations everywhere, even at Wal-marts!

[Amy_and_Victor 159]

MoneyGram 10 minute service for $600 costs $10! Plus there are locations everywhere, even at Wal-marts!

How it could cost just $10?! I just checked it on the MoneyGram site: https://www.moneygram.com/wps/portal/moneygramonline/home/estimator?LC=ru-RU

From: Russia

To: USA

10 minutes service

Amount: $600

Fee: $32

What I did not right?

I use their 48 hour delivery service and it is pretty cheap.

Where did you find it in Russia? I could see here only fixed fees and no 48 hours delivery, and they're definitely more than $19 for $600.

[it's Victor from Russia]

Edited September 30, 2011 by Amy_and_Victor

[1HappyGuy 45]

I can not answer your questions about sending money from Russia by Western Union. Here is a link for information in Russian. They might be able to provide you with answers about using the delayed service (48 hour).

http://www.westernunion.ru/WUCOMWEB/staticMid.do?method=load&countryCode=RU&languageCode=ru&pagename=HomePage

It maybe that Western Union does not offer the delayed service or it is called something else. I hope this helps. I don't know if it matters but I have a Western Union gold card because I have sent so much money over the years.

[AmyWrites 593]

Moneygram. Western Union is more expensive.

[Amy_and_Victor 159]

1HappyGuy, unfortunately Russian site of Western Union doesn't tell anything about delayed service. And when I used WU few times bank clercs also didn't tell about any possibilities of using delayed service, they offered me only momental service. So, I guess, delayed service with low fees doesn't work for payments from Russia.

[elya 17]

depositing the cash and then doing a wire transfer from a bank account in Russia to a bank account in the U.S. is by far the cheapest route, if the friend facilitating getting the rent can do this.

[visaveteran1 33]

My wife and her son are handling the rental for obvious reasons. Long term I'll look into Gary's plan. For now, I'll look into MoneyGram. Every dollar counts.

I did hear them say, but did not verify, that it was cheaper sending money from Russia to the US then vice versus, using WU.

Thanks for the advice.

[james&olya 1,121]

How it could cost just $10?! I just checked it on the MoneyGram site: https://www.moneygram.com/wps/portal/moneygramonline/home/estimator?LC=ru-RU

From: Russia

To: USA

10 minutes service

Amount: $600

Fee: $32

What I did not right?

[it's Victor from Russia]

That was what I was paying multiple times from my local walmart moneygram sevice. It may be more from the on-line service.