Complete Guide for Transferring Money from Western Union to Maya account in the Philippines

Western Union¹ is a global provider of payments to bank and mobile money accounts, and for cash collection. If Maya² is your preferred wallet here in the Philippines, read to learn all about receiving international transfers from Western Union to your Maya account.

How to Send Money from Western Union to Maya

Your sender can transfer money to be deposited in your Maya wallet, from many countries around the world⁴. For this to work, the sender and the recipient both need to meet certain eligibility requirements - but payments can be pretty quick and convenient where they’re available. Let’s look at how it works.

Western Union to Maya Transfer: Eligibility

Here are a few important things to consider if you’re going to get a Western Union to Maya transfer:

• Your sender must be in a country which supports Western Union - most countries are covered
• You must have at least an Upgraded Maya account to receive a payment⁵
• Your payment can not exceed your monthly limits

Western Union to Maya transfer limits depend on the combined use of your Maya wallet⁶. There’s a monthly limit which applies to all transfers you’ve made within that month. To receive payments you must have an Upgraded account - or you may want to go even further and get a Super User or Ultimate User account. In either case, accounts have maximum receiving limits, which means that your Western Union payment must fall below this, and not exceed the cumulative limit for that month.

To upgrade your account you can apply online or in app, and upload proof of address and ID, as well as a video selfie. You may need to also add some extra information about how you use your account.

Western Union to Maya Transfer: Step-by-Step Guide

Your sender will be able to make a Western Union to Maya payment online, in app or in person, depending on where they are in the world. All they’ll usually need to do is enter mobile wallet as the payment method, and select Maya as their preferred wallet. They can then give your name and phone number so the money can be delivered.

Once the payment is confirmed, the sender is given a 10-digit Money Transfer Control Number (MTCN) which they need to pass to you. Then, to receive your Western Union to Maya payment, take the following steps⁷:

1. Open your Maya app and tap Add Money
2. Select Western Union and follow prompts to enter your MTCN
3. Tap Receive and you’ll then get in-app and SMS confirmation of the payment

Western Union to Maya Transfer Time

How long it takes for you to receive your Western Union to Maya payment might vary depending on how the sender arranges the transfer. If they’re paying online or in app with a card, the transfer could be extremely quick. It’s also quick to receive a payment when the sender pays in person in cash. If they use their bank to fund the transaction it may take a little longer before it’s available to you.

Western Union to Maya Charges

A Western Union to Maya transfer could come with a couple of fees, which may mean that either you, the sender - or both of you - are responsible for some costs.

Western Union to Maya Transfer Fee

When you arrange a Western Union to Maya payment there may be a sending fee to pay. This will usually be covered by the person who arranges the payment. Western Union fees are variable, so the costs at this stage can depend on the value of the transfer, how the sender wants to pay and where they are. In addition, there may be an extra fee in the exchange rate used if the payment needs to be converted from a foreign currency to PHP to be deposited to Maya. We’ll look at this in a moment.

For the recipient of a Maya transfer, there could be a receive fee which is known as a convenience fee. You’ll usually find that it’s free to receive money to Maya up to a set limit - 8,000 PHP per month for standard accounts. If you receive more than this in total, through Western Union or other means, you might find there’s a fee of up to 2% to pay.

Western Union Conversion Rate

The other important cost when thinking about a Western Union to Maya payment may be trickier to spot. That’s because there are often extra costs added into the exchange rate the sender gets to convert their home currency to PHP to be deposited to Maya. This fee is known as an exchange rate markup.

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