Nowadays people all around the world start to use different transferring services because keeping money not only in cash (in a bank account, on the credit card or on the debit card) is more and more widespread.

Money-sending services seem to be not very useful if you don’t need it at work, but sometimes it can be an important solution to your problem. Just imagine that you are in another city and at some moment you realize that money has run out. What to do? Text your friend or your relative and they will send you money by transferring services and save you.

Or if you earn money in another country and you also send some amount to your family – money-sending services are appropriate for you. But which one is the best? Which one should you choose? Let’s compare two of the most famous and comfortable services – MoneyGram vs. Western Union.

The Principle of Work

How MoneyGram works: you just fill in the form what amount of money you want to send, in a what way, the place you send from and send to and just click the button. Western Union works in the same way, but it is still a difference between them.

Fees

They seem to be not important if you send a small amount of money, but if it is $1000 or more, then you may overpay and lose your money.

On both sites, fees depend on the amount, country where you send money and the way you use to do it. You can transfer by cash or by card (credit or debit) or just from your bank account. So let’s look through MoneyGram vs Western Union fees.

Usually, if you pay by cards fees are pretty higher, but they are still different. There are some situations when you can have no fees for transferring – if you send money to the high-traffic countries, but this offer works only on the Western Union.

Using the MoneyGram, you should always be ready to pay extra money for fees. However, in the battle Western Union vs MoneyGram the last one wins – there are lower fees there. For instance, to send money ($1000) to Italy by Western Union costs $5 fees and by MoneyGram – $4,99. It’s only $0,01, but if the transaction is huge it can become a problem.

Western Union vs MoneyGram Rates

It’s also important because in some situations the difference is destructive. And one small tip: before choosing the service and transferring the money you should look at the mid-market rate to make out which one is closer to the standard.

For example, transferring money to euros by these services while the mid-market rate is 1 USD = 0,94 EUR

•    Western Union offers 1 USD = 0,86 EUR;
•    MoneyGram offers 1 USD = 0,91 EUR.

So, as you can see, the difference is really big and that “0,05” is really important.

Speed of Transferring

If you pay the extra money, Western Union will transfer for your amount in a few minutes, but if you chose a cheaper way, then you should wait for 5+ days (it depends on the amount and countries).

But if you use MoneyGram – it takes 2-4 business days to deliver your money (again, if you pay some extra money, they will do everything faster). And because of this speed, you can easily track the MoneyGram transfer if you are worried about the safety.

Places Where You Can Find Them

Sure, it’s not only online services – you can go to their offices and send cash also. However, Western Union has a big advantage – their offices are placed in 200+ countries while the MoneyGram in 190+ ones. It seems to be not a huge difference, but not if you are in those 10 countries.

Conclusion

	MoneyGram	Western Union
How It Works?	Fill the order: what amount of money you want to send, in a what way, the place you send from and send to -> just click the button
Fees	Starts from USD 4.99	Starts from USD 5
Rates	1 USD = 0,91 EUR	1 USD = 0,86 EUR
Speed of Transferring	From minutes to 2-4 business days	From minutes to 5 business days or more
Min./Max. Transfer Amount	From USD 1 to USD 10,000	From USD 1 to USD 5,000
Available Currencies	54	100+
Customer Service	Phone, Email	Phone, Chat, Email, Branch

So, as you can see, in the battle MoneyGram vs Western Union the first one won – it has cheapest fees, lower rates, and faster delivery. It doesn’t mean that the Western Union is worse – it has a good reputation and the name in the world. You can use any of these services and they are both will work perfectly.