Advance America Teams With Western Union For Money Transfer Tools

Financial services platform Advance America is partnering with cross-border payment firm Western Union Company to expand its suite of payments solutions.

“Our companies share a common purpose, enabling millions of financial connections for our customers. Together, we are enhancing our domestic and international money transfer services to include more convenience, with digital services and a streamlined retail customer experience,” Jean Claude Farah, president of the global network at Western Union, said in a press release on Wednesday (Feb. 24).

Advance America will bridge its digital and retail infrastructure to Western Union’s platform capabilities. The partnership will enable Advance America to offer Western Union’s bill pay, money order services, and person-to-person (P2P) payment solutions. It also gives Advance America access to Western Union’s network across over 200 countries and territories in 130 currencies. In addition to its digital services, Advance America operates 1400 physical locations.

“We welcome Advance America and commit to bringing the best of our capabilities — expertise, scale and a sophisticated platform that moves currencies across borders — to serve Advance America’s customers in the manner that is most convenient to them,” said Matt Brown, head of national accounts at Western Union Global Network in the Americas. 

In the U.S., people will have the option of getting payment into their U.S. bank account or picked up from more than 54,000 Western Union locations. Western Union services at Advance America are anticipated to launch sometime this year. 

“By integrating Western Union services within our online and retail interfaces, we are giving our customers access to speed, reliability, channel choice, and local access to send money globally,” Mickey Durkin, SVP of digital marketing and product at Advance America.

Western Union said in August that it was looking for merger and acquisition opportunities, including a possible tie-up with its biggest rival MoneyGram. WU’s market value is $9.6 billion, and it has more than 500,000 locations in 200 countries, while MoneyGram’s is valued at $220 million with 350,000 global locations.