Send yourself money Via Western Union for the best exchange rate and or to get change at a bank when traveling to a foreign country.

I always encounter two major problems when traveling to Mexico all having to do with money. The first issue is finding an ATM with a good exchange rate and low ATM fee. My second issue is that I always get issued large bills from an ATM which makes it crazy difficult to get change for small bills. I was able to get around these issues by sending myself money Via Western Union. Western Union had the BEST exchange rate and I was charged no fees for the first two transactions. I was charged around $3 USD for my third transaction which is pretty good. The best thing is that I was able to pick up my money from a partner bank that allowed me to choose the bill denominations which means I didn't have try and get chang anywhere. The only downside is that you cannot pick up money from Western Union partner places like convenience stores, pharmacies and department stores ( that don't have a bank inside) without a local I.D. You can pick up money from any partner bank using a passport of any kind. Edit* I forgot to mention WU has an app so no need to go to an actual location to send yourself money. Just set up your account before you leave. --- **Post Details:** - **Subreddit:** r/travelhacks - **Author:** u/outpf - **Score:** 34 upvotes - **Upvote Ratio:** 80.0% - **Comments:** 43 - **Posted:** 6/26/2025 - **URL:** https://reddit.com/r/TravelHacks/comments/1ll8u8q/send_yourself_money_via_western_union_for_the/