The Western Union branch on West Avenue in Quezon City is nearest to my place, so one morning a few weeks ago, I went there to get a remittance from a friend in the US who asked me to buy Swarovski stuff for her hobby.
I was in a hurry, so I asked Western Union to give me the remittance in pesos. The girl at the counter said their exchange rate was P39.30 to a dollar!
I was outraged. I said, “That’s too much!” I just came back from Bank of the Philippine Islands and Banco De Oro and they were converting at P40.40 to P40.30. That’s an almost one-peso difference. Aren’t they satisfied with the huge remittance fees they charge?As with most Western Union outlets, this one was shoulder-to-shoulder with a moneychanger booth. The moneychanger was offering a P40.20 exchange rate.
“Ok, just give me the remittance in dollars please,” I said, wondering about the intelligence of the owner.
“Sorry ma’am, but we don’t have dollar bills available,” the girl said.
I guess I judged too soon. The owner was indeed intelligent -– and greedy, preying on Filipinos’ vulnerabilities.
There are many choices out there, don’t be a victim to opportunists out there. I claimed my remittance in another outlet, where the moneychanger affiliate gave me an exchange rate that was even better than BDO’s.
(Readers across the globe shared their experiences with cutting the cost of remittances in this blog post. Check it out.)
May 5th, 2008 at 6:54 pm
It is indeed true that with the recession fears coming true the OFWs are surely going to feel the pinch. Given the fact that nearly 13% of the country’s GDP is comprised of the remittance sent by the OFWs in the US we can not deny that a weaker American economy is a worry for us too. It’s time the problem is taken seriously because not only have the prices of essential commodities gone up the value of the dollar is also depreciating.
April 22nd, 2008 at 2:47 pm
What I know (as per my experience), hindi lang WU ang gumagawa ng haw-shao na ito, even some Phil. Comm’l. Banks (esp. those who has branches in the provinces). Let’s say the remitter from abroad wanted to deliver his/her remittance in USdollar to its beneficiary(ies). The beneficiary(ies) will then collect the money to a designated branch at sasabihin they don’t have cash dollar (sic) in their vaults, kung meron man they will offer you a loose change (for all we know loose bills the exchange rate is lower than a 100 dollar bill). So the poor beneficiary(ies) has no options but to swallow the bitter pill.
Jerome
April 21st, 2008 at 7:15 pm
erwyn, sigh. i hope people know better than to fall for it. i was hoping it’s not a Western Union-wide thing…
April 21st, 2008 at 7:15 pm
nina, aba dapat lang kuripot no?!! and it really pays to shop around for the best rates. thanks for the input!
April 21st, 2008 at 7:14 pm
budget travel philippines, good luck on your happy meals. earnings from adsense good enough?
April 18th, 2008 at 3:19 pm
it is the same at Western Union Virac (Catanduanes) Branch. they wouldn’t give you dollars, only in peso in much lower exchange rate than a bank.
April 18th, 2008 at 1:12 pm
Hi Salve, I send money almost monthly but different amounts depending on the need. I always send it through the remittance centers but only those affiliated with EPCI (now BDO). Sa iba kasi may bawas pag dumating sa Pinas. Not sure how much yong bawas pero dun sa isang napagtanungan ko, the Pinoy cashier was honest enough to tell me na pag yong bank ko hindi yong affiliated bank nila, the money will be deducted P100+. Yong experience naman ng brother ko dun sa isang remittance center, nabawasan sya ng $30 kasi $ ang pinadala nya. Hindi ko nga alam bakit may deduction pero dun naman sa pinagpapadalhan ko kahit sa ibang bank buo pa rin - at least yon ang experience ko nung may acct pa ako sa BPI and Metrobank.
Alam mo may tendency akong maging magastos pero kapag ang pera ko eh napupunta dun sa mga unnecessary charges na yan, kuripot ako!
April 18th, 2008 at 10:13 am
oh no, i just released the hold on my adsense earnings to be sent to western union. i’m either planning to get it in QC or makati…it’s not much but a peso difference in exchange rate can buy me a few happy meals
maybe i start to inquire about the exchange rates per branch
April 18th, 2008 at 8:54 am
renz, i got a little lost in the details, but did you make a formal complaint?
April 18th, 2008 at 8:52 am
nina, thats the thing. their conversion rate, at least the branch i went to, was outrageous! do you guys send home regularly?
April 18th, 2008 at 8:51 am
Ria, yes but not all branches. I don’t think they use the same exchange rate and i would guess they treat WU as a separate business segment.
oh and thanks for pointing out the exchange rates on credit card transactions. i realize how lazy i am in tracking dollar charges on my credit card. now that you pointed this out, i should pay more attention
April 18th, 2008 at 8:46 am
jtdc, another western union outlet near quiapo church, of all places. very nice service too.
April 17th, 2008 at 4:02 pm
hello, I think its timely also for me to share my horrible experienced with Greedy Western union remittance center here in Al-Jouf KSA, last week one of my friend in malaysia sent a small amount of money for me through CIMB to Western Union KSA, so I’d used their tracking system in the internet and it has a positive results “ready for pick-up by the receiver”! but, I was surprised when i was about to claim my money, the ENJAZ teller told me that the my money isn’t in their system yet, so i come back and fall in line again for 6 times and again i got same answer with the teller, “not in their system, and after those horrible experienced i made a decission to return the to the sender in malaysia, and they got the money with a huge cut in it. maybe my control# is just a hoax contrl# created by western union representative in malaysia branch!
April 17th, 2008 at 2:50 pm
Hi Salve, I’m great but a bit busy lately. Don’t worry I still read every entry and comment.
I never send money through Western Union. It’s true you receive money in minutes but if I send it to BDO the beneficiary will also receive the money in 24 hours. Unless it’s extremely an emergency - matter of life and death - why use Western Union?
I also heard that Western Union sometimes change the conversion rate when you collect the money - to their favor of course
April 17th, 2008 at 1:43 pm
Do they have a uniform rate for all Western Union branches? I know that some banks like BDO transact Western Union also. How do they work out exchange rates then?
All I know is that Western Union has the highest fees when it comes to remittances.
By the way this P1 difference against the bank rates are the same with credit cards for overseas charges. Citibank pa nga charges almost P2 more than actual exchange rate during your transaction.
April 17th, 2008 at 11:01 am
Hi, I’m just curious where did you remitted to which gives better rate than of BDO? Thanks much.