Remitly vs Western Union

When it comes to trust and safety, both Remitly and Western Union comply with the highest standards within the financial sector. 

Is Remitly Legit?

Founded in Seattle, Remitly is registered and regulated as a Money Services Business by the U.S. Department of the Treasury. Western Union was also founded in the United States and is regulated by the New York State Department of Financial Services. Both are regulated by the competent authorities in every region in which they operate globally.

Are Western Union Transfers Safe?

Western Union is the oldest and largest money transfer company in the world, with 150 million customers entrusting them with their remittances and transfers. They even have a dedicated page for fraud prevention with their service. While Remitly is relatively young, it is a fast-growing company with 2 million customers.

Remitly vs Western Union on Transparency

Both Remitly and Western Union apply an exchange rate that is weaker than the real mid-market rate (which is a form of a hidden cost). We think this can be somewhat misleading to some users who might not know what an exchange rate margin is, which is why Western Union and Remitly lost some points on their credibility metrics. 

Despite this, Remitly maintains a very low fee schedule. The company has impressively ranked as the cheapest transfer option in over 60% of Monito searches for bank transfers and over 80% for cash transfers.

When it comes to the ease of sending money, Western Union takes the winning spot thanks to its simple and fast sign up process and its user-friendly interface at Western Union Online.

Monito’s impression from our tests on Remitly was that the sign-up process took just a bit longer than Western Union’s process. Transferring money with Western Union was also noticeably straightforward and speedy for newcomers and repeat customers alike.

How Remitly Works

This aside, Remitly's service is powerful and its wide range of products is among the industry’s best. Customers can deposit transfers into their bank account, transfer the money directly into their mobile wallet on their smart device, or have cash delivered to their home address. They can even pick up their money in cash from any of the 140,000 agent locations around the world in Remitly’s network.

Can Western Union Be Done Online?

Western Union has a vast online and physical presence, which allows customers to send and pick up money in cash in 550,000 agent locations, as well as receive funds in a bank account, onto a mobile wallet, or on a prepaid card. You are always able to pay with your debit or credit card. From some locations, you can send money from your bank account via a local bank transfer (such as SOFORT, Trustly or iDEAL). They also offer bill payments as well as money orders.

You can access these many products easily from their well-designed website or mobile app. However, we weren’t impressed with the fact that nearly all of Western Union’s fees were hidden in the exchange rate. The weaker exchange rates that Western Union applies to your transfers were not communicated clearly on the sending page. The design rather seemed to leave customers assuming that a standard exchange rate was applied to the final sending amount.

When compared to international money transfers made by your big high-street bank at home, both Remitly and Western Union offer far cheaper and far quicker services. However, Remitly is usually the cheaper option between the two, no matter the sending country and the recipient country. Based on searches done on the Monito comparison engine, Remitly was the cheapest bank transfer option 60% of the time while Western Union was the cheapest less than 4% of the time.

How Long Does a Remitly Transfer Take?

As previously stated, both services charge an exchange rate margin. However, Remitly charges no commission fee if you choose to use their economy service, which arrives in three business days. Remitly’s Express service, which you pay by card, arrives almost immediately and costs $3.99.

Did Western Union Fees Go Up?

Fees at Western Union vary — they depend on how much money you send, the countries you're sending money to and from, plus the pay-in and pay-out methods you choose. You can use Western Union’s price estimator tool before you send or run a search on Monito’s comparison engine to calculate your Western Union fees. 

For example, paying by credit or debit card is more expensive than paying by bank transfer. Picking up cash is also more expensive than receiving money digitally. On the other hand, Western Union’s rates often improve the more you send. Sending via popular corridors, like US dollars to Canadian dollars, will likely be cheaper than lesser-used currencies like US dollars to Thai baht.

Western Union and Remitly Rates and Fees

Take a look at the table below to get a better picture of how this works:

Based on how customers review Remitly and Western Union, it was clear that Remitly customers seemed more satisfied with their transfers and remittances.

Remitly Reviews

Remitly received a 4.1 out of 5 stars from Trustpilot with very positive reviews. Around 34 thousand customers rated the service four or five out of five stars.

Western Union Reviews

Western Union, on the other hand, received 3.8 out of 5 stars from over 25 thousand reviews on Trustpilot.

Western Union is trusted by a large base of customers, but Remitly has a much larger proportion of its customer base that has been satisfied with the service.