Western Union Quick Pay

[New007]

I'd like to pay for my airline tickets via Western Union Quick Pay. The tickets are around 88,000 Baht. Who knows what the charge by Western Union will be using Quick pay? On their website I could not find any information about the fees. Thanks in advance.

[ubonjoe]

Did find anything on their Thailand website.

Found this on US website but amount has to be USD: https://www.westernunion.com/price-estimator/start?REF_ID=6MRL-DPT1-IQWS-QWGI-VI28-OBCT-EQV3-JLES&8

[Pib]

It's going to be expensive due to the crappy exchange rate Western Union gives. You can go to this Western Union webpage to estimate your fee/sending cost. I did a quick calculation using their web page and it appears a Bt88K payment would cost $2810 @ based on the WU exchange rate of 31.3 baht/USD. Looking at another webpage I see the average Thai bank exchange rate right now is 32.71 baht/USD which means Bt88K would be $2690. So, WU has extracted an indirect fee from you of $120 in exchange rate only. Then there is another fee depending on how you source the payment...another $5 if paying via WU Pay or bank transfer...or $145 if using debit/credit card. Maybe when paying with debit/credit card WU don't do the exchange but the Visa/Mastercard network does and you get the Visa/Mastercard exchange rate (which would be very close the the Thai bank rate) "minus" any foreign transaction fee your card may apply...many cards do apply such a fee which is effectively a lower exchange rate. So, if WU can't use their lower exchange rate to rob you then they rob you via an higher basic fee of $145 on the amount you are sending in this case.

Western Union may be fast and convenient but you can pay dearly for that speed and convenience. Ok, lets say you source the payment from your bank account...then your total direct/indirect fees would be $125 (remember, it's their crappy exchange rate that rapes you).

Edited January 1, 2014 by Pib

[New007]

Did find anything on their Thailand website. Found this on US website but amount has to be USD: https://www.westernunion.com/price-estimator/start?REF_ID=6MRL-DPT1-IQWS-QWGI-VI28-OBCT-EQV3-JLES&8

Tried that but it won't let me choose the Quick Pay option.

[New007]

It's going to be expensive due to the crappy exchange rate Western Union gives. You can go to this Western Union webpage to estimate your fee/sending cost. I did a quick calculation using their web page and it appears a Bt88K payment would cost $2810 @ based on the WU exchange rate of 31.3 baht/USD. Looking at another webpage I see the average Thai bank exchange rate right now is 32.71 baht/USD which means Bt88K would be $2690. So, WU has extracted an indirect fee from you of $120 in exchange rate only. Then there is another fee depending on how you source the payment...another $5 if paying via WU Pay or bank transfer...or $145 if using debit/credit card. Western Union may be fast and convenient but you can pay dearly for that speed and convenience. Ok, lets say you source the payment from your bank account...then your total direct/indirect fees would be $125 (remember, it's their crappy exchange rate that rapes you).

Taking this into account I think it makes sense to go to the airline office in BKK and pay cash. They only accept Credit Cards (not Kbank online credit card) or Western Union Quick pay online. Thx anyway.