MoneyGram US: The Ultimate Money Transfer Review

MoneyGram US — the American arm of transfer the global giant MoneyGram International — could be a reliable and competitive choice for your money transfers abroad. While typically not the cheapest option out there, MoneyGram US's online service can more than make up for its steeper prices if you're somebody who's interested in reputability and coverage.

Take a look at our full in-depth review below to learn more about MoneyGram US, and discover when it might make sense for you:

Monito's Independent Review of MoneyGram US

With its roots going all the way back to 1940, MoneyGram US is a money transfer provider with a long history, maintaining a solid record of service over the decades. Originally specializing in money orders, MoneyGram US began a slow move into the world of online money transfer services in the early nineties, eventually becoming the company it is today after going public in 2004.

These days, MoneyGram is headquartered in Dallas, Texas, with offices in Denver, Colorado, as well as in Minneapolis, Minnesota. In addition, because cash pickup and money orders remain an integral part of the company's business, MoneyGram US has multiple locations in each of the 50 states.

Despite a bulk of the company's transaction volume still being offline, MoneyGram US does, however, have a considerable presence in the online money transfer space. Americans using MoneyGram US for online money services have access to a revamped website, available in both English and Spanish, to transfer money to dozens of foreign currencies.

What Monito Likes About MoneyGram US

• Seamless, easy-to-use website;
• Reputable, secure & regulated provider with a long history;
• Access to 47 different currencies.

What Monito Dislikes About MoneyGram US

• Rates & fees are comparatively costly;
• Maximum transfer limit is very low;
• Exchange rates shown on the website could be different from the one's you'll actually end up paying.

MoneyGram US Fees & Exchange Rates

When sending money with MoneyGram US's online transfer service, you will be hit by two separate costs:

1) Base Fees

These will vary considerably depending on how much money you're planning on sending, the currency you're sending to, and the methods that will be used to both pay and receive the money. Take a look at the following tips to help keep the costs down when sending money with MoneyGram US:

• Make a payment using a bank transfer, if the option is available;
• Transfer to a bank account, rather than to a cash pickup;
• If, however, you're sending money to a bank account, consider sending money from a physical location rather than online. Be mindful, however, that fees for this service may vary depending on which location you choose. We therefore recommend that you call your nearest location in advance to confirm;
• If you're using a bank transfer to send money for cash pickup, using the internet will likely be cheaper than sending money from a physical location.

2) Exchange Rate Margins

Over and above the standard fees you'll pay when sending money abroad with MoneyGram US, a hidden margin will be applied to the exchange rate at which you're charged.

In essence, this means that the exchange rate you'll pay will be ever-so-slightly worse than the real exchange (i.e. the one you'd find on Google), with MoneyGram US pocketing this difference on every dollar it converts across.

While this exchange rate margin may appear to be quite small at face value, the costs will stack up very quickly nonetheless . For example, if you were to send some cash to a friend in Mexico, each dollar would buy you 21.2215 Mexican pesos with MoneyGram US (as of 04/09/2020). However, the real USD/MXN exchange rate on the market at that time was actually 21.5893. This means that you'd be coming off second best to MoneyGram US by nearly twenty dollars on every thousand you send to Mexico! (For comparison, this is more than twice as expensive as the cheapest provider between the US and Mexico for this price range, Remitly, which charges only eight dollars for every thousand).

If you're looking for the lowest-cost provider for sending money from the US abroad, try running a test of our comparison engine below to find the best rates for you:

All in all, MoneyGram US offers relatively competitive rates which, for between some countries, are even the cheapest of all. Take a look at the table below to see how MoneyGram US stacks up against other services for bank and debit card transfers to the biggest remittance countries (according to Monito's data as of 07/10/2020 at 5:00 PM +2:00 GMT):

NB: Be aware that both exchange rates and currency exchange fees fluctuate quickly and without notice. Use Monito's comparison engine to get the latest price data for money transfer providers.

How Easy Is It to Send Money With MoneyGram US?

While setting up your money transfer with MoneyGram US used to be much more complicated than it should've been, the service has since progressed in leaps and bounds in this regard!

Today, you can send a money transfer with ease over their website, with MoneyGram US's interface having become highly navigable and straightforward. The website is simple and uncluttered, and includes a succinct and fairly transparent breakdown of the fees. In addition to this, MoneyGram US's website includes useful and easy-to-access option for those who wish to track their money and monitor when it can be received.

MoneyGram US has a simple and accessible homepage that allows customers to easily make transfers abroad, track their money, or navigate the rest of the website.

Signing up to MoneyGram US's online service is also straightforward, with clear and easy to understand instructions and explanations. However, it's worth noting that you'll be required to fill out a number of fields in order to sign up successfully, including your cellphone number, your home/billing address, and your date of birth.

Credibility & Security

Without a doubt, MoneyGram US is among the most secure and reliable players in the money transfer space. An industry giant, MoneyGram has emerged as a recognized and trusted brand across the globe, thanks in no small part to its extensive network of locations that remain unparalleled by its competitors, second only to Western Union.

Aside from being fully authorized and regulated in the United States (where it is licensed in all 50 US states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands, and Guam), MoneyGram US handles billions of dollars in transaction volume every year, with the wider company investing some $50 million on average on an annual basis into their compliance efforts

What's more, MoneyGram International Inc. is a publicly-traded company on the Nasdaq stock market with a 190 million USD market capitalization (in August 2020).

All in all, for the reasons above, MoneyGram US is as secure a provider as any to handle your money transfer!

Service & Coverage

True to its reputability and stature, the scope of MoneyGram's service in the US is very impressive indeed. Aside from allowing you to exchange the USD for as many as 47 different foreign currencies from hundreds of locations across the country, MoneyGram US also offers the following services:

• Bill payments: Available in nearly all agent locations across the US and Puerto Rico, this service allows you to pay your or your relatives’ bills using the standard selection of online or in-person payment methods.
• Money orders: The original service offered by MoneyGram, the prepaid cash certificates known as money orders represent only a small share of the company's modern revenues. MoneyGram is one of the three major issuers of money orders in the US, alongside the US Postal Service (USPS) and Western Union.
• Mobile top-up: Interestingly, another service available to you at MoneyGram US allows you to top up prepaid cellphones from over 350 mobile carriers in more than 100 countries across the globe. This is a particularly useful option to have if you or your relatives live abroad and wish to easily stay in touch.

Take a look at the locations across major cities in the US in which you can find MoneyGram Services that offer all of the major services:

Customer Satisfaction

Having polished up many aspects of its customer relations and broader services over the past few years, MoneyGram US, by and large, enjoys very good reviews from its customers in the US.

On both the App Store and Google Play Store, for example, tens of thousands of customers have scored MoneyGram US's mobile app with a high ranking — 4.8 and 4.5 stars out of 5 respectively. Similarly, on the customer review site TrustPilot, customers of MoneyGram US have indicated a broad satisfaction with the company's service, with the average ranking being 4.1 stars out of 5.

Also worthy of note is that MoneyGram US very frequently responds to negative reviews written by customers. This very likely indicates a genuine willingness to accommodate feedback and help its users.

Take a look at the frequently-mentioned pros and cons that are mentioned about MoneyGram US, according to its customers:

Positive

• Friendly and helpful telephonic assistance;
• Easy to use the web and mobile apps.

Negative

• Reports of accounts being locked or closed inexplicably;
• Claims that money transfers are expensive;
• Reports of slow email response when an issue is raised.

Customer Support

When it comes to supporting its customers, MoneyGram US appears to be very easy-to-reach by all available metrics. The website homepage, for example, provides users with a 'Help' function in the top right of the interface, which easily allows you to access live chat, a fairly detailed FAQ, as well as a contact form which will help you get in touch with MoneyGram US assistants via email.

In addition, customers by and large tend to report a highly responsive team who are ready and able to provide sound feedback and help, as needed.

How Transparent Is MoneyGram US?

While MoneyGram US appears to present its fees and exchange rates in a relatively transparent manner, as a customer, you will, in fact, be left in the dark about the exact amount that you'll end up paying in exchange rate margin fees until the very point of transferring money. This is because the exchange rates that MoneyGram US will quote you will only be estimates based on variable exchange rates, rather than the actual exchange rate at which you'll be charged.

While not fully transparent, this aside, MoneyGram US does provide a fair level of explanation for the fees it charges. Furthermore, it the company is honest enough to refer to the final cost of the transfer as being the "Estimated Total Cost" rather than merely the total cost.

For these reasons, while MoneyGram US would certainly have a lot of work to do to brush up on its overall transparency, all things considered, the service will ultimately give you a fair sense of how much you'll likely end up paying for your transfer.

MoneyGram US: The Mobile App

In addition to a simple and easy-to-access website, MoneyGram US also offers a mobile app that will allow you to make your money transfers abroad.

Much like the web app, the mobile app's interface consists of a simple design that allows you to make use of the very same range of features services, including bill payments. By allowing you to interact with simple prompts, the app guides you effortlessly through the process of sending money abroad. What's more, we found that the design and the "flow" of the app makes intuitive sense while also being appealing to the eye.

A notable feature of MoneyGram US's mobile app is that it lets you easily send recurring transfers on a weekly or a monthly basis using a nifty automatic feature. This is especially useful if you're sending money regularly to family or friends who live across the border.

MoneyGram US's mobile app is available on both iOS and Android devices. Built in is a bevy of online services, including the option track the status of your transfers using push notifications.

The MoneyGram US app has been praised by customers on both App Store and on Google Play Store, where it has been downloaded over two million times and received 4.8 and 4.5 out of 5 stars respectively.

Transfer Limits

Despite its all-round quality and reliability of service, one aspect of MoneyGram US's money transfers that we found to be sorely lacking are the maximum limits the company places on the amount being sent.

This amount can vary substantially from country to country, with the absolute maximum you'll be allowed to transfer being 10,000 USD. Some countries, however, have limits as low as 2,500 USD per transfer, which can leave MoneyGram US's service as a considerable letdown for those who wish to remit larger sums of money to their home countries.

Take a look at the table below to get a better idea of what your transfer limit would be when sending to the following countries:

Is MoneyGram US Right for You?

Without a doubt, MoneyGram US is a solid service for your money transfers, and is certainly worthy of your consideration if you both don't mind paying a bit extra for the security of a longstanding transfer provider, and are sending under the transfer limits.

As such, we recommend that you use MoneyGram US for your next online money transfer only if the amount you'd like to send is within their boundaries, and/or if you value credibility and reliability of service over lower costs.

If this sounds like you, we believe that it's still worth being mindful of how much you may end up paying for MoneyGram US's service. As we explained above, the company charges fees and exchange rates can sometimes leave it uncompetitive in the face of the many lower-cost options out there — some of which charge no base fees whatsoever on their service and only a small exchange rate margin. Using these providers, which include upstart fintechs such as TransferWise and InstaReM, if you were to send 5,000 USD to Mexico, more than 1,300 MXN more would arrive across the border than if you were to use MoneyGram US for the same transfer!

Furthermore, these providers impose much higher maximum amounts on their international money transfers, leaving you significantly less constrained in how much you can send abroad.

Take a look at the three selected providers below, InstaReM, TransferWise, and Remitly, to get a better sense of which low-cost alternatives you'd have at your disposal on your next transfer abroad: