Cheapest way to send money to philippines this xmas

Western Union (until 21st December)

No fees and WU is even giving you the interbank rate as well!

At this very moment that rate is 66.5623656 PHP to the pound.

This simply cannot be beaten by anyone in the UK or in the Philippines.

So that means that if you are in the Philippines at the moment, and have a UK based ATM card, It is cheaper to send yourself money from your UK current account via Western Union, than it is to use an ATM.

- > An excellent way to bypass the 200 Peso ATM fee charged for using a UK based ATM card.

- > And to bypass the UK bank FX cut.

- > And to bypass the UK bank's fee for using a foreign ATM

Potentially saving 6% in fees.

Is there any special link for this?

Here's the breakdown I just got at 15:10 today

That's not the interbank. Where does it say about adopting interbank rate?

Thanks in advance for your help as I'll be sending quite a bit asap

Strange,

Yesterday I got:

Copied directly from the Western Union confirmation e-mail I received yesterday afternoon.

Can't get much better than that!

There is no special link, Micawber, just www.westernunion.co.uk

Here is the quote I just got (after logging in) for a £100 send...

Your Receiver will pick up approximately 6656,24 Philippine Peso (PHP)
Conversion Rate: 1 United Kingdom Pound(£) = 66,5623656 Philippine Peso (PHP)

Strange Micawber

I have just checked, now:

Try again, there are no tricks or special links, that is the Westernunion.co.uk website.

Sorry guys.
I'll try again later.

I don't seem to be able to reduce the number of 'senior moments' I'm having.

Better luck to me later

We have taken the "better the devil you know" kind of route, with Moneygram. Seems like it is one of the more expensive alternatives. We got an exchange rate of 64.99 plus the customary standing charge of £9.90 for a 6000php transfer.

I recall trying Western Union about a year ago but had problems. I must have another go at it.

Currently online...

Western Union:



MoneyGram:


Western Union charge £89.77

MoneyGram charge £99.22 (this includes a £6.90 charge.

You say you paid a £9.90 charge?

When you sent money with MoneyGram take care, if you send over £100 so you get charged £9.90 rather than £6.90.

So sending tuppence less might save you three quid!!

Interesting. Yes, £9.90. I will check this when I go to the Isle of Man post office next. It could be Isle of Man markup though. Things are often more expensive here. For example, in the pound shop everything is £1.20.

Or maybe the online charge is cheaper?

With Western Union, can the recipient collect in cash, or do they need a bank account to receive?

Yes, the recipient can collect in cash, valid ID needs to be shown...

Well, for whatever reasons, it took some time a some additional ID's ect but we got it done.
Actually, lady luck smiled upon us with a better rate

I'm not going to say I've had lots of problems with WU, but I've had enough to cause be to be very cautious with them.

I quite like simple operations to to remain just that and not to get too complicated with unecessary procedures. Sometimes WU are annoyingly unecessary

And will that be before, after or coincident with Gangnam style getting one billion views on Youtube?

Western Union offer a MONEY IN MINUTES service, very similar to Moneygram but Moneygram is generally cheaper. Both services are expensive though and not covered by the Financial Service Compensation Scheme (FSCS) but both are authorised by the FSA as 'Payment Institutions' so your money should be pretty safe as FSA regulations require the money to be 'ring-fenced'.

Because of Typhoon Bopha, Western Union is currently charging no fees on moneys sent to the Philippines and is providing an Interbank exchange rate as well (it normally 'loads' this rate to earn even more money for itself) But this special offer ends tomorrow (21 December)

If you are comfortable with the idea of doing it online, you can send money online to the Philippines by visiting the website of Qwarta Padala. I came across that site when I was looking for cheaper ways of sending money to the Philippines. The prevailing exchange rate that they provide is good and the service fee that they charge is fixed at only P200.00 (4.70 USD). Creating an account was free. Pay it a visit who knows it might provide you what you might need for I also use Western Union before but this is way cheaper.

Western Union direct into a bank account is no fee.

Well then sorry if I responded to the post to offer some help. I don't know you either so I don't trust you either. Who the hell are you anyway? Well don't bother to answer. DON'T CARE ANYWAY!!!