Moneygram Money Transfer

Money Transfer options in the past 10 years have exploded as technology and competition have driven new ways to send money fast.  The best options are for those who send money online, taking advantage of new money transfer options and competition that have helped drive costs down and make it easier than ever – especially if you're sending money regularly.

Send Money Options – MoneyGram

A long time player in the money transfer market with capable offerings in both money transfer and bill payments and money orders.  New online offerings now allow users to send money online with cash payout at agent locations – moneygram is following in the steps of Western Union in this area as both move to protect their long standing positions in money transfer (especially hyper competitive markets of users sending money to the philippines, india, and mexico). 

This is an established money transfer company who offers both retail and online capabilities.  If you send money domestically, chances are you're familiar with moneygram – which has seen greater visibility since expanding their relationship with WalMart to offer their services. 

• Over 200,000 locations!  2nd only to Western Union

• Money typically arrives in minutes – money transfer locations throughout the United States is available for cash pickup.

Money Transfer Costs

MoneyGram does offer a convenient Cost estimator on their website, that allows for pricing for agent location or online money transfers to any of MoneyGram's worldwide locations.  It's easy to use and we found it a lot faster to navigate and compare prices than Western Union's.  

MoneyGram Facts and Company Background

MoneyGram International provides money transfer services, money orders, and bill payment services to consumers. Another segment of MoneyGram International provides financial institutions with payment processing services, primarily of official check outsourcing services and money orders for sale to their customers.

The major global corporate competitor of MoneyGram is Western Union.

On August 3, 2009 MoneyGram International, Inc. signed an agreement with Affinity Global Services [1], a Dallas, TX provider of wireless payments technology, to allow for money to be transferred via mobile devices. "In developing economies, there are more people with mobile phones than traditional bank accounts. We see a tremendous opportunity to better serve these consumers by delivering MoneyGram remittances in compelling new formats such as mobile technology," said Anthony Ryan, MoneyGram president and CEO, in a press statement.

Final Thoughts – Transfer Money Alternatives

While competition is almost always a good thing, there seems to be a trend with the big 2 money transfer companies remaining in the large footprint / high cost cash pickup model while their smaller competitors offer more flexibility, convenience, and significantly lower fee's.  Its hard to go wrong with services like moneygram or western union if your focus is on reputation and reliability – if its a one time emergency transfer these make a lot of sense.  They also offers some great tools for bill payment and other financial services.  But if you are a frequent sender to international markets, its worth considering the capable and flexible options offered by the competition.