Difficulties in Receiving Money Wired to Cuba
By Vicente Morin Aguado
HAVANA TIMES – Long lines in front of the insufficient number of offices of Western Union that provide service in Havana, combined with the temporary suspension of monetary remittances via Internet by the previously efficient Sendvalu, is causing alarm given the increasing participation of transfers from the outside in the national economy.
According to people waiting in line at WU offices, the problem involves a lack of connectivity within the internal network in Cuba applied to the collection of remittances, a persistent, still unresolved situation since last week.
An estimated third of Cuban families survive off family remittances and many small private businesses depend on them for covering investments and other costs.
At one of the WU offices visited there were customers from many of Havana’s 15 municipalities, some far from the city center. An employee commented that “here people come from all over, it is obvious because they have to identify themselves to collect and must match the identity document data with the ones sent.”
The situation is serious knowing that the other option to transfer money, companies with websites that provide fast and safe service, are showing their failures. Such is the case of Sendvalu, whose global money sending service towards Cuba has been halted for two weeks.
A company employee, Mina Dragova, informed a complaining user on Monday: “We are still working to solve the problem. We will be reporting as soon as everything returns to normal. ”
On their website, Sendvalu posts the message: “Be aware that transactions and payments in Cuba are temporarily suspended. The money that was already transferred will be paid as soon as our partner [in Cuba] resolves the problem – we are sorry for any inconvenience.”
The remittance by internet panorama is broad, with a dozen companies connected with Cuba, mainly through the use of debit cards that can be obtained free of charge by nationals at FINCIMEX offices. Some companies that stand out for their versatility are: Smallworldfs.com, especially recommended for those who live in Europe; Fonmoney, capable of serving not only monetary remittances, but also mobile top-ups and the Nauta local system used in digital navigation, as well as Western Union itself, which created the Wu.com site two years ago.
Among other possibilities are AISremesascuba and Transferzero, the latter with excellent recommendations on some online sites dedicated to Cuban issues.
The importance of remittances is such that some economists place this source of income as the number one in the national economy. Western Union alone invoices more than 3 billion US dollars annually, with the advantage of being cash dollars, with no additional costs for the Cuban government, which receives them directly and immediately after transfer, turning them into Cuban Convertible Pesos (CUC), which is what the customers receive.
Please how can I receive money from Cuba to Nigeria
At this moment we don’t have information of any service that is funtioning normally. Supposedly aisremesas works but it is almost impossible to register with them and their assistance, like the other companies, is very deficient. From some countries Western Union works, but mainly for familiy members.
I’m in Canada. Can you recommend a service for me to send money to Cuba? I was using SendValu.
I guess there is a more serious problem. Not just sendvalu has stopped the money transfer to Cuba. I registered at enviodinero.ca just to see that there it is the same. In the moment no transfers to Cuba. With fonmoney the problem is, that you need to assert that you sent money to relatives. So it is not allowed to use it to sent money to friends. Western Union don’t sent money to Cuba from Europe. And aisremesascuba always is a problem. The registration process is complex and when you have questions for sure you never ever get an answer. After registration one transfer was possible. Two weeks later the page to start the transfer did not show anymore. Answers to my questions from aisremesascuba? No.
If you live in Europa, fonmoney.com is the best option. I used it more than 5 times and the money arrived to my family without any problem. I recommend you!
Fincimex advised using aisremesascuba.com – I tried but that did not work.
fonmoney.com did work.
smallworldfs.com does not even list Cuba as a destination.
Have seen another comment saying that the transfer done with fonmoney did not arrive either. This situation is very difficult for Cuban families.
duales works great delivered to the door in 1 to 3 days
Larry Press: I sent Western Union via internet from home. Quite easy and money is available for pickup in Cuba by the designated Cuban in a few minutes, never more than an hour. Not cheap however, fees start at 10% for smaller amounts but do down as a percentage as amount increases. And there is an additional fee if you pay via credit card instead of a debit card.
Sent money by Sendvalu on the 7th, not received. The problem is they won t cancel and refund as promised.and they don t answer phone/mail.
Tried with fonmoney as they assured me they had no problem but the money has not been received yet either. Something is seriously wrong
The best way:
Directly by office, Western Union, only minutes, may be an hour.
From Home by internet:
transferzero.com or fonmoney.com but you have other choices, search for enviardineroacuba
Vicente.
Thanks for the info ! I also am having trouble with Sendvalu since more than a week. It is a bit strange that they can´t solve the problem, or at least provide some updated status info.
The article above left me wondering if other service providers also were affected by the mysterious problem, but apparently there is at least one that is not.
What is the best way to send money to Cuba from the US?
I do not understand why anyone in Cuba receiving a Western Union transfer would bother to go to an actual Western Union office when they can pick up the money at any bank and most Panamericanas and most TRDs.
Hi! Yes I used to send money with Senvalu. But since last week it does not work… luckily I found another alternative: Fonmoney. The AIS cards recharged are working! I sent money today!! http://www.fonmoney.com
All the best!