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Wiring money—Getting bailed out of trouble in 10 minutes flat

Wiring cash is a last-ditch, need-bail-money sort of thing because for every dollar your understanding uncle wires you, he flushes 10 to 35 cents down the toilet

There are Western Union offices throughout Europe—sometimes doubleing as tobacconists, as this one in Italy.
There are Western Union offices throughout Europe—sometimes doubling as tobacconists, as this one in Italy.

That's right. These famed money wiring services—Western Union and MoneyGram—charge rates that would make your local low-level Mafia loan shark proud. Even the usurious rates of a credit card cash advance are better than this.

Still, for when you need a big chunk of change in a big hurry—say you got mugged (rare in Europe) and your moneybelt was stolen with all your cash, traveler's checks, and credit cards—wiring money can save the day. Just find the nearest local office (usually a representative, could be a travel agent, change bureau, or even the corner bar) for whichever service your benefactor is going to use, bring a photo ID, and wait for the cash to come rolling in.

Also, a little birdie told me that it’s the only way to send money to the offshore travel agents who can book you tickets and buy visas to visit Cuba, but that has nothing to do with Europe so we'll save it for another time and another Web site.

Resources for wiring money

 

Western Union

(www.westernunion.com) - The old standy of Western Union is a bit costlier than using MoneyGram (below), but the sender can do Western Union over the phone (Visa, MasterCard, Discover, debit card) or on-line (Visa, MasterCard, debit card), bailing you out from the comfort of his own home and sending the quick cash to offices in any of 190 countries. The catch is, you pay only $15 for the first $100 if you go to an office and do the transaction in cash, but fork over $33 if you use a credit card. You pay a little less per hundred bucks as you send more money, to a max of $999.99 in a month.

Travelers Express/MoneyGram

(www.moneygram.com) - Money zips over the wires to offices in 155 countries worldwide in about ten minutes, for the privilege of which the sender, standing at his local MoneyGram branch office, gets to pay an fee of $20 for the first $200 sent, $30 for $400, and so on at a sliding scale. You can pay in cash, Visa, or MasterCard only. Plus the sender gets to include for free a 10-word message that arrives along with the funds, perhaps something along the lines of "When you get home I'm gonna tear you a new..."



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This material was last updated October 2006. All information was accurate at the time.

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