Comments on: Anyone has any advise in using Western Union?

By: Penny

Penny — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 03:49:23 +0000

Yow Chuan, thanks for sharing the great tips, it’s definitely very useful to save me some time. If I didn’t know better, I would’ve headed to Public Bank to do the withdrawal. And I hope the lines won’t be perpetually down.

Tien Soon, thanks too. I think I’ll do the same, go on a weekend. But a bit hard to find a branch that opens during the weekend. It’ll probably have to be some branch at a mall.

By: Tien Soon

Tien Soon — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 16:58:30 +0000

Yes, it’s really that simple 0 MTCN and your IC will do. I always withdraw at CIMB; don’t have experience with any other Western Union agent yet.

Usually, I withdraw on Saturday. So, I will look for CIMB counter that offers foreign currency exchange – most banks are closed during weekend, but currency exchange counter doesn’t. And yes, for CIMB, Western Union services are served at the currency exchange counter.

I’ve posted my first experience with Western Union withdrawal in my blog. Feel free to check it out.

By: Yow Chuan

Yow Chuan — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 13:51:28 +0000

Penny, from my own experience, CIMB is fastest, followed by RHB, and then Public Bank. Although Public Bank only starts offering Western Union recently, I foresee Public Bank will catch up very soon in terms of efficiency.

I have not tried POS or Bank Rakyat.

You only need 2 things to withdraw:

1) Money Transfer Control Number (MTCN)
2) Your Original NRIC.

I have not tried asking a friend to withdraw the money for me.

There are times when the Western Union connection is ‘down’. It’s best you ask the staff over the counter about the Western Union’s connection status before queuing up, especially when the line is long.

Hope that helps!