Western Union vs. Ria Money Transfer - Which one is cheaper in the UK?

Need to send money overseas from the UK? Perhaps you’re paying for a hotel for an upcoming trip, or buying something from an online retailer abroad. Or you might simply be sending money to a family member in another country.

There are a number of online money transfer services out there, providing a cheaper alternative to banks. But which is the best? And perhaps most importantly, which is the cheapest?

In this guide, we’ll be pitting two popular options against each other - Western Union and Ria Money Transfer. We’ll compare their fees and exchange rates, so that you can choose the most cost-effective option for your transfer.

We’ll also throw in a third option - Wise. You can send money worldwide with Wise for low fees and the mid-market exchange rate. It could work out cheaper than some providers, especially compared to using your bank.

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But for now, let’s get back to Western Union vs. Ria Money Transfer. We’ll start with a little background information on each company.

Western Union vs. Ria Money Transfer - an overview

Before we look at costs, it can be useful to know a little about each company.

Western Union (WU) is one of the big names in international money transfer. It’s a US-based company with roots dating back to 1861, when it was called the Western Union Telegraph Company.¹

WU operates in over 200 countries and territories,¹ and is known for its global network of agents. These agents allow the service to offer convenient services like cash pickup, which is useful if you’re sending to someone who doesn’t have a bank account.

Western Union also offers lots of other delivery and payment methods, including bank accounts, cards and mobile wallets. This gives you lots of different ways to both send and receive money between countries.

Ria Money Transfer is another US-based transfer specialist, owned by Euronet Worldwide, Inc. It’s much younger than Western Union, as Ria only started life in 1987 with one small store based in New York.²

It also has a network of over 500,000 locations in 160 countries, offering a similar range of delivery and payment methods to its rival - including cash pickup in some countries.²

Both Western Union and Ria Money Transfer have their own dedicated mobile apps, so you can send and track international payments on the move.

Western Union vs. Ria Money Transfer - fees and costs

Whenever you send money overseas, there will nearly always be some fees involved. But these can vary considerably between providers.

Banks tend to be the most expensive, but online money transfer services also charge some fees. There’s usually only one you need to worry about, which is the upfront transfer fee.

However, there may also be ‘hidden’ fees, such as markups on the exchange rate. So even if a provider offers no fees, this doesn’t necessarily mean it’s free to send money abroad. We’ll look at this in more detail later.

For now, let’s take a look at how much both Western Union and Ria Money Transfer charge in upfront transfer fees.

Western Union fees

Western Union’s transfer fees vary depending on a few key factors:³

• The destination - the country or territory where you’re sending the transfer
• The amount you’re sending
• The transfer speed - how quickly you want the money to arrive.
• Your choice of payment and delivery methods.

The good news is that you can check the transfer fee before you send. Go to the Send Money page of the Western Union website (or use the Western union app) and select your receiver’s country.

Then, you can enter the details of the transfer such as the amount and destination, and check the fee. You’ll also be able to see the live exchange rate, the amount your recipient will get and the estimated delivery time.

In many cases, there’s no transfer fee to pay. And Western Union also runs special offers from time to time. For example, at the time of writing, the provider is offering new customers their first transfer with a £0 fee.³

Ria Money Transfer fees

Now onto Ria Money Transfer, to see how much it charges for international transfers. It’s pretty similar to Western Union, as the provider’s fees vary based on factors such as:⁴

• Payment and delivery methods
• The country you’re sending from and to
• The transfer amount.

Just like with WU, you can easily check the fee in advance on the Ria home page. Simply enter the amount you want to send and the country you’re sending to, and you’ll be able to see the fee and exchange rate. Plus, how much the recipient will get on the other end.

Ria Money Transfer also offers a fee-free initial transfer for new customers, on transfers of £50 or more made on the app or website.⁵ Any transfers made after that will be likely to incur fees.

Western Union vs. Ria Money Transfer exchange rates compared

Alongside the upfront fee, it’s also important to check the exchange rate you’re being offered for your transfer. This can make more difference to the overall cost than you may think.

Some providers add a margin or mark-up to what is known as the mid-market or interbank rate. This is considered to be one of the fairest rates you can get. By building in this margin, banks and other transfer providers are able to make money from the transaction.

Unfortunately though, it makes the transfer more expensive for you. This is because more money is lost in currency conversion, and less of your cash reaches your recipient on the other end.

Both Western Union and Ria Money Transfer are likely to add a margin to the mid-market rate. We’ll show you how this could affect your transfer next.

A quick price comparison - WU vs. Ria vs. Wise

To give you an idea of how much the exchange rate can affect the cost of an overseas transfer, let’s run through a quick example.

Let’s imagine you want to send £500 to a friend in France (EUR). Here’s how much your recipient will receive with Western Union, Ria and an alternative such as Wise - with both fees and exchange rates taken into account.

For the sake of this example, we’ve assumed you’re a new customer with WU and Ria, so have factored the promotional offer of a fee-free initial transfer.

Correct at time of researching - 24-May-2023

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So, as you can see, that exchange rate makes all the difference. Even though Western Union and Ria Money Transfer charge no fees (assuming you’re taking advantage of the new customer promo offer) in this example, Wise still comes out on top because of its better exchange rate.

This means that less money is lost in currency conversion, and your recipient gets more on the other end.

This is why it always pays to look closely at the exchange rate and compare a range of alternatives before hitting ‘send’ on that transfer.

So, which is cheaper - Western Union or Ria Money Transfer?

In many ways, Western Union and Ria Money Transfer are very similar. They have new customer no-fee promotions and competitive fees (especially compared to banks). And in the example we looked at earlier, they offer similar exchange rates too.

So when it comes to cost, there isn’t much to choose between them. But when you look beyond the new customer offer, it’s likely that Western Union will turn out to be just a little cheaper for some transfers.

For the example above, Western Union charges no fees even for existing customers,⁸ while Ria Money Transfer would charge a whopping £8 to send the money.⁷

This could make WU the cheaper option if you’re planning to send regular transfers. Although of course, it all depends on where you’re sending to, the amount and your preferred payment and delivery methods.

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But ultimately, both providers can be beaten by Wise, which offers a winning combination of low, transparent fees and mid-market exchange rates. So make sure you shop around and compare rates as well as fees before selecting a provider.

Please see Terms of Use for your region or visit Wise Fees & Pricing for the most up to date pricing and fee information.

Hopefully after reading this guide, you’ll have a better idea of how much it costs to send a transfer with Western Union and Ria Money Transfer. This includes those all-important exchange rates.

With both providers, it’s good to know that you can check fees and rates upfront, by using fee checker tools online or via a mobile app.

Sources used:

Sources last checked on date: 24-May-2023