Send Money Abroad at the Post Office (Western Union) 2026

You can send money abroad at any Post Office branch that offers Western Union transfers. Pay in cash, by debit card or by credit card at the counter, and your recipient can collect cash at a Western Union agent, sometimes within 15 to 30 minutes, or receive it in a bank account (checked November 2026). It’s one of the few ways to send money abroad with cash and no bank account. You pay for that convenience through a transfer fee plus a margin on the exchange rate, so if your recipient has a bank account, an online specialist is usually cheaper.

How Post Office money transfers work

Post Office international money transfers are provided by Western Union. Online, the service is run by Western Union Payment Services GB Limited, which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.

You have three ways to send:

And three ways your recipient can receive:

Delivery times don’t include payment processing, and compliance checks can cause delays.

Step by step: sending money at the Post Office

1. Check the price first. Use the estimator on the Western Union or Post Office website for your destination, amount and payout type. It shows the fee and exchange rate. Western Union says these are estimates and the final figures are confirmed before you pay.
2. Get your recipient’s details right. For cash pickup you need their full name exactly as it appears on their ID, plus their country and city. For a bank deposit, you need their account details.
3. Take ID to the branch. Accepted: passport, valid UK, EU or EEA driving licence, or EU/EEA national identity card.
4. Pay at the counter in cash, by debit card or by credit card.
5. Keep your receipt and MTCN (Money Transfer Control Number). Your recipient may need it to collect, and you need it to track the transfer.
6. Tell your recipient the MTCN, the amount and your name as entered. They take photo ID to a Western Union agent to collect.

What it costs

Western Union doesn’t publish a single tariff. Its UK pages say fees depend on “the destination, the transfer amount and how quickly you want your money to arrive”, and that Western Union also makes money from currency exchange (checked November 2026). In practice, that means two costs:

• A transfer fee, which tends to be higher for cash pickup and card payments than for bank-to-bank.
• An exchange-rate margin, the gap between the rate you get and the mid-market rate.

Watch out for credit cards in particular. Your card provider may treat a money transfer as a cash advance, with an upfront fee and interest from day one. Western Union notes that credit card use may incur extra third-party charges.

How to work out the real cost

1. Note the amount your recipient will receive in local currency.
2. Divide it by the pounds you pay, including the fee. That’s your effective rate.
3. Compare it with the mid-market rate on Google. The gap is what the transfer really costs you.

For comparison, sending £1,000 to a bank account in euros with Wise cost £3.81 in total at the mid-market rate in November 2026, and £1,000 to a Pakistani bank account cost £6.60. If your recipient can receive into a bank account, check that option before you choose cash.

When the Post Office or Western Union is the right choice

• You want to pay in cash. Few other regulated options take cash over the counter.
• Your recipient doesn’t have a bank account, or lives where cash is easier to use.
• It’s urgent. Cash pickup can be ready within minutes in many countries.
• You’re not comfortable with apps and prefer a face-to-face service.

When a cheaper option makes more sense

• Your recipient has a bank account. Wise or a bank-deposit service is usually cheaper. See the cheapest way to send money abroad.
• You send every month. A few pounds’ difference per transfer adds up over a year.
• You can pay by bank transfer. That’s usually the cheapest way to fund any transfer.

Other cash-pickup services

If your recipient needs cash, it’s worth comparing these alongside Western Union:

Rates differ a lot by country and on the day, so get two quotes and compare the amount received. Corridor guides: India, Pakistan, Nigeria, the Philippines.

Our pick: If your recipient needs cash in hand, compare Western Union and Remitly for the amount collected. If they have a bank account, a Wise bank-to-bank transfer usually delivers more.

Safety: protect yourself from scams

Cash-pickup transfers are fast and very hard to reverse, which is why fraudsters like them. Western Union and the Post Office warn customers about this, and so do we:

• Only send to people you know personally. Never send to someone you’ve only met online, however convincing.
• Never pay “fees” to release a prize, loan, inheritance or parcel.
• No genuine bank, HMRC officer or police officer will ask you to send money by Western Union.
• Don’t share the MTCN with anyone except the intended recipient.

If you think you’ve been scammed, contact Western Union straight away, as an uncollected transfer can sometimes be stopped, and report it to Action Fraud.

On regulation, Western Union Payment Services GB Limited is FCA-authorised. Like other payment firms, it isn’t covered by the FSCS. The FCA requires it to safeguard customer money instead. For money in transit for minutes or days, that’s a limited risk.

Quick summary

• The Post Office sends money abroad through Western Union: pay cash, debit or credit card at the counter.
• Cash pickup can be ready within minutes. Bank deposits take up to two working days.
• Bring a passport, driving licence or EU/EEA ID card.
• You pay a fee plus an exchange-rate margin. Compare the amount received.
• If your recipient has a bank account, an online specialist is usually cheaper.

For every option side by side, see the best way to send money abroad, or run your numbers in our transfer cost calculator.