I want to use Western Union to send some cash to my GF in Thailand. I've used them before to send money straight into a bank account but this time I just want to send cash so she'll have to pick it up at a WU agent location. On the WU site it mentions that "Fees at agent locations may differ from online fees."

Does anyone know roughly how much the fee is and is it on top of the online fee, or instead of?

The fees referred to are the ones you pay as a sender.

"Online" is obvious, the agent fees are those charged at a shop such as a local store or travel agent where you fill in a form to make the transfer.

As far as I know there no fees when someone picks up their money at an agent location overseas.

Brilliantly explained. Thanks.

DON'T USE Western Union you can see thier fee's on their web site but I can tell last year I sent money form OZ to here cost me nearly 20% in fees !!!!

In my experience, the real money hit come in the exchange rate, which they don't often explain to you. This happens in many International money exchanges, not just western union.

Meaning you get a very negative hit when they change the currency, and it's often difficult to get rate ahead of time.

It's not easy to avoid this, it can be done, but it's tricky to set up.

Yes I know the exchange rate is poor but for small amounts (£100 or less), I don't mind taking a small hit, and I besides don't use them that often.

I'd rather use them than my bank who really screw me with their foreign transfer charges (£20, £25 per transaction). I'm planning on getting a prepaid credit card soon - I think they offer the best value and are really convenient.

I dont know if the service is available in the UK, but in the US I use Money-gram, here they have much, much lower fees.

Thai Post uses Western Union. Their fees are usually reasonable.