Western Union Picks Mastercard Send For Receiver Disbursements

Mastercard and Western Union announced news on Wednesday (Oct. 25) that they forged an alliance to integrate Mastercard Send into the Western Union Money Transfer service.

In a press release, the companies said the integration enables Western Union to deliver funds to virtually all U.S. debit cards. What’s more, the collaboration opens up a new channel for U.S. consumers to quickly and conveniently send money via Western Union to the debit cards people use every day, including non-Mastercard cards.

Western Union is the money transfer industry’s first to offer the debit card-enabled service via the Mastercard Send platform in the United States, the companies said in the press release.

“With Mastercard Send, Western Union customers now have a powerful new way to send funds directly to the debit cards in the wallets of millions of Americans,” said Leigh Amaro, SVP, Global Strategic Alliances, Mastercard, in the press release. “Today’s consumer is busier than ever, and any option to make everyday tasks like money transfer more convenient is hugely important. Western Union is giving consumers one more option to make the service work for their needs.”

The new Western Union service is slated to be available in the early part of 2018 and will initially offer digital fund transfers within the U.S. via westernunion.com and the WU mobile app, Customers only need to know the recipient’s 16-digit debit card number to complete the peer-to-peer (P2P) transfer. By integrating Mastercard Send, Western Union is enabling consumers to move funds in the U.S. to a recipient’s debit card quickly.

“Western Union is synonymous with fast, reliable global money transfer and payments,” Elizabeth Chambers, chief strategy, product and marketing officer for Western Union, said in the same press release. “We’re offering customers more choice and convenience when they send and receive money. This new capability we’ve developed with Mastercard means customers will be able to send funds directly to their receivers’ debit card, with speed and ease.”