Exchanging money with friend or family member is easy when they live near you, but if they’re traveling or live several hours away you may need to transfer money to their account. Every company handles transfers differently and it can be hard to pick which one to use, but to help you narrow down your options here are the top places for you to use to transfer funds fast.
Western Union
Western Union has been a reliable way to send money across the United States and internationally for decades. To transfer funds, you can visit Western Union and send the money to another branch for pick up—additionally, you can transfer money online or through your phone easily. The service is extremely reliable and if you're curious about fees, you can use Western Union’s estimator to determine the price to send money to your destination.
PayPal
PayPal has been used by independent artists for quite a while to process payments for their work, but you can also easily transfer money to family and friends using this company. The fees are 2.9% plus $0.30 per transaction, but you can bypass this fee by sending money domestically from one bank account to another or through your PayPal balance. You can find a full list of fees on PayPal’s website. While it usually takes a few days for you to transfer money, you have to option to pay extra to have your transfer instantly sent and received.
Xoom
Xoom is perfect if you want to send money internationally because it sends money to 53 countries. It has over 14 years of experience transferring funds all over the world and sends billions of dollars each year. The fees are dependent on the country you want to send money to and the amount you want to send; you can find a fee and exchange rate calculator on Xoom.
Walmart
If you’re sending money within the United States, Walmart is a great choice because money transfers are incredibly easy and cheap—the form you receive from customer service will take you less than 10 minutes to complete. With Walmart, you can send money to any other branch in the United States. The store also allows you to purchase MoneyGrams to send money to over 190 countries. The fees vary based on how much you’re sending, but you can send up to $900 for $9.60 or less.
MoneyGram
MoneyGram is a company that has over 40,000 locations in the United States alone—additionally, it’s expanding to include countries like Brazil, France, Mexico, and more. Even if you don’t live near a MoneyGram location, you can use the website to transfer funds electronically. You don’t even need to make an account to send money online, which sets it apart from sites like PayPal. The fees are based on how much money you’re sending and the country you’re sending it to, but the site has a useful estimation tool you can use to determine prices.
