Do Not Use Western Union

[SteveInBostonI130 3,471]

This is a comment/rant and not a question.   Western Union is profiteering from the crisis.

 

My wife asked me to help send money to family friends that evacuated to Germany from Ukraine.  They cannot access their Ukrainian bank account and cannot open a new account in Germany, at least not for the near future (they need to get ID's, a place to stay and residency documents).  My wife kept mentioning to use Western Union because that's what her friends recommended, and probably because it's well known.

 

I saw that WU is offering Zero fees for money to Ukraine.   However, it's a trap for 2 reasons.  First, the Zero fee is when transferring to UAH.  But refugees and evacuees will need the currency of the country they have migrated to, which would be PLZ or CZK or Euros.  When I selected Euros to Germany (where my wife's friends ended up), WU charges a fee.

 

The second and more insidious trap is the exchange rate.   When I selected to transfer $1000 US, their exchange rate was 822 Euros.   This rate is basically a 10% surcharge of the bank exchange rate of 916 Euros.

 

For comparison, the same amount ($1000 US) sent via Moneygram would result in 898 Euros to the recipient.

 

/rant:

 

At this time, when people are vulnerable and in need of emergency help, Western Union is cashing in on the surge of money transfer activities.

 

/rant over

 

For those of you that need to send money, use Moneygram.  Or do what we ended up doing:  the person my wife's friends are staying with is someone they already knew who lives in Germany.  We got their friend's German bank account information and sent 910 Euros via Wise (an online banking/money transfer service).  I am sure a similar exchange rate would be available via wire transfers from your US bank to the recipient's bank.

 

[JeanneAdil 6,581]

I filed a complaint about the exchange rate years ago

i would look up the daily rate and then drive just 2 miles to send out money and it was always shorted 

i sent proof of this (a print out of the rate as posted and my western union receipt to show what they the exchange rate they allowed  consumer.affairs@ag.tn.gov

they cheated me out of money everytime 

Edited March 12, 2022 by JeanneAdil

[Corp668 16]

Does anyone know of a service that is currently working to send money to Russia?

 

PayPal does not work, Western Union does not work, and Moneygram just stopped offering service to Russia it seems.  So what are people using?

[randy32 165]

23 minutes ago, Corp668 said:

Does anyone know of a service that is currently working to send money to Russia?

 

PayPal does not work, Western Union does not work, and Moneygram just stopped offering service to Russia it seems.  So what are people using?

FYI you are asking a question that implies you are going to do exactly what they US and Europe are trying to block.

Send money to Russia.

Might sound small but this of hundreds of people sending small amounts and it adds up.

 

FYI there are some countries that count remittances as part of their GDP.

 

Sorry but I would provide a suggestion much less an answer to this question.

[TBoneTX 45,598]

1 hour ago, randy32 said:

what they US and Europe are trying to block.

Just throwing this out there:  legitimate reasons include child support, loan payments, payments to support owned property, etc.

[HiltonHead 3]

I have started using RIA, $0 fees and she gets it in USD

[randy32 165]

On 3/13/2022 at 12:33 AM, TBoneTX said:

Just throwing this out there:  legitimate reasons include child support, loan payments, payments to support owned property, etc.

While legitimate, the problem is it will mostly end up being used for the wrong purpose.

 

Also part of the purpose of the sanctions is add pressure to Russia on all sides regardless of what the say about not hurting Russian citizens.

There is really no good way to apply it to just one group of people

 

[TBoneTX 45,598]

Russians who have been naturalized as U.S. citizens might have investments and obligations in Russia.

[Dashinka 24,635]

19 hours ago, randy32 said:

While legitimate, the problem is it will mostly end up being used for the wrong purpose.

 

Also part of the purpose of the sanctions is add pressure to Russia on all sides regardless of what the say about not hurting Russian citizens.

There is really no good way to apply it to just one group of people

 

The sanctions are supposed to hurt the super-rich and supposedly stoke some sort of regime change in Russia which will not happen.  There are still those here in the US and around the world that have everyday working family members in Russia that are not part of the government there, or in support of the actions by Putin yet they are being persecuted by the actions of the US led sanctions.  

[slavaskii 886]

1 hour ago, Dashinka said:

The sanctions are supposed to hurt the super-rich and supposedly stoke some sort of regime change in Russia which will not happen.  There are still those here in the US and around the world that have everyday working family members in Russia that are not part of the government there, or in support of the actions by Putin yet they are being persecuted by the actions of the US led sanctions.  

Precisely. That's the same argument as saying nobody should leave Belarus/Russia because the West is clearly trying to make it difficult for them to do so. And what shall they do there, be arrested? Or worse? 

 

If the goal is to make the Russian economy implode, then it needs to happen all at once and quickly. No more of this cow-towing for months as Russia carves up more and more of Ukraine. Then, it can be reversed. If the goal is to make the people 'rise up', then my goodness, are we lost.

[JeanneAdil 6,581]

Sanctions !!!!  never have worked and never will work

the US government tried sanctions in '29 (which banned the manufacture, transportation and sale of intoxicating liquors) 

and what happened ? a black market made many richer beyond expectations

 

same will happen now  -a black market 

rich will get richer and the average will pay the price and be the ones who are hurt 

[millefleur 5,047]

8 minutes ago, JeanneAdil said:

Sanctions !!!!  never have worked and never will work

And they won't implement sanctions that actually matter, like Germany cutting off the gas supply, because it would simultaneously implode Germany's economy. Sanctions always have blowback.

 

10 minutes ago, JeanneAdil said:

same will happen now  -a black market 

It's already happening and it's happening in Ukraine too. They're running out of everyday household items and their economy is getting hit by this, which causes criminality and looting in Ukraine to keep rising in the middle of a war.

 

What the US should actually fear is maybe people moving away from USD towards other currencies, because people will still exist and want to buy/sell things. If they can't get USD, they'll just move on to something else that facilitates trade. This can happen at the small scale but also on the big scale, let's see what happens with global energy markets...China would be very happy to see the rise of the yuan and decline of the dollar.

[JeanneAdil 6,581]

21 minutes ago, millefleur said:

And they won't implement sanctions that actually matter, like Germany cutting off the gas supply, because it would simultaneously implode Germany's economy. Sanctions always have blowback.

 

It's already happening and it's happening in Ukraine too. They're running out of everyday household items and their economy is getting hit by this, which causes criminality and looting in Ukraine to keep rising in the middle of a war.

 

What the US should actually fear is maybe people moving away from USD towards other currencies, because people will still exist and want to buy/sell things. If they can't get USD, they'll just move on to something else that facilitates trade. This can happen at the small scale but also on the big scale, let's see what happens with global energy markets...China would be very happy to see the rise of the yuan and decline of the dollar.

listening to news -China is the winner 

doing business with US and with Russia-that country can't loose

 

Stopping food and medicine to any country (friend or foe) is just inhumane

[TBoneTX 45,598]

1 hour ago, millefleur said:

it's happening in Ukraine too. They're running out of everyday household items

Adding a sort of smile here:  Maybe all the folks here who hoarded toilet paper during the coronavirus can send some of it over.

[Mike20090622 45]

WesternUnion will work until March 21, just need send by cash pickups, I just tried to send 100$ and picked up by my fiancé today and I will send 2000$ shortly but the rubles rate dropped to 105 today