How to Send Money to Someone in Africa

I wanted to send some money to a friend in Africa so I asked her to open up a Paypal account. That was easy enough for her, but then she had to open a bank account. When she asked the bank manager for the bank routing number he wanted to know why she wanted it. When she told him, she wanted to connect her Paypal account she was told she could not do that because she was not a business.

Try Western Union

The only other alternative that I could find to send money to Africa was Western Union. I asked her if she had heard of Western Union to which she replied, yes. I know where the Western Union is, and I am sure you can send money to my cell phone via MPESA.

I had never done a Western Union transfer and had no idea what I was doing but I knew I had $30.00 I wanted to send to her. I went to the internet, looked up the local Western Union office and it turns out that my local grocery store offers Western Union so I went there.

How it works

The clerk was agreeable and handed me a form when I inquired about sending a Western Union transfer. On the Money Transfer form it asked me how much I was sending and to what city, state, county, and country I was making the transfer. It asked me for my name and my address and my mobile phone number. It also asked me for the receiver information. I had to supply her full name and her mobile phone number including the country code. Thankfully, that was part of the number I copied from her Facebook page so I had everything I needed.

Costs

To send $30.00 it cost me $39.99 because there was a $9.99 transfer fee. When the transfer was completed, the clerk gave me a Money Transfer Control number. I sent this MTCN# to my friend via a text message to let her know I had wired her the money.

Collecting the Cash

The following day, Mary went to her Western Union office and gave them the Money Transfer Control Number and her phone number and they handed her the money. Along with the transfer fee, the paperwork states that there is also a fee for making foreign currency. On my receipt, I saw that Mary was going to receive 2425.89 Kenyan shillings.

I received an auto text message from Western Union confirming that she had picked up the money and then I got a private message from Mary thanking me-she had received the $30 and she was very happy.

Other limitations

If sending $1000 or more you must provide identification and mobile limit is $1500 per day up to $5000 per month. (Or up to $7500 in Mexico) You can send money to anyone for any reason or occasion.

Watch out for wcams asking for money

There are scammers out there and Western Union cautions people not to send money to claim lottery or prize winnings, to secure a credit card or loan, or in response to an internet phone call or email from someone, you do not really know.

Since then I have discovered that you can actually send money to someone in Africa online, without even leaving your house. You can connect to Western Union online sending money to a phone, a bank or even a credit card. The money is usually available to the recipient within minutes.