Retail terms and conditions

PAYMENT – Transfers will normally be paid in cash, but some Agents may pay by cheque or a combination of cash and cheque or may offer or the receiver may choose other ways to receive funds and some money transfers may be paid to accounts. All Transfers are subject to availability, receivers showing documentary evidence of their identity and providing all details about the money transfer required by Western Union, including sender’s and receiver’s names, country of origin, approximate sum, MTCN and any other conditions or requirements applicable at the Agent location. The sender authorizes Western Union to honor the receiver’s choice of method to receive funds even if it differs from the sender’s. Transfers shall be paid to the person that Agents deem entitled to receive the Transfer after verification of identity often through examination of identification documents. Such payment can be made even when the form filled out by the receiver contains minor errors. Neither Western Union nor its Agents carry out a comparison of the “To Send Money” form against the To Receive Money” form to verify the address given for the receiver. In some destinations the receiver may be required to provide identification, a test question answer or both to receive funds in cash. Test questions are not an additional security feature and cannot be used to time or delay the payment of a transaction and are prohibited in certain countries.

FOREIGN EXCHANGE – Transfers will normally be paid in the currency of the destination country (In some countries payment is available only in U.S. dollars or other alternate currency). In addition to the transfer fee applicable to each Transfer and if the currency which the sender presents to an Agent is not the currency to be received by the receiver, all currency is converted at Western Union’s then current rate of exchange. The currency will be converted at the time of the transfer and the receiver will receive the foreign currency amount shown on the money transfer application form (“Application”). In a few countries local regulations require the currency to be converted at the time the receiver is paid, in which case the exchange rate and any amounts shown on the Application are subject to exchange rate fluctuations between the time of Transfer and the time the receiver collects the funds. Western Union calculates its rate of exchange based on commercially available interbank rates plus a margin. Most rates of exchange are adjusted several times daily in line with the relevant closing rate of global financial markets. The exchange rate applied may be less favourable than some publicly reported commercial exchange rates used in transactions between banks and other financial institutions. Any difference between the currency exchange rate offered to customers and the currency exchange rate received by Western Union will be kept by Western Union (and, in some instances, its Agents) in addition to the transfer fee. Additional information about exchange rates for specific destination countries can be obtained by calling the number below.

SMS – Where available, Western Union offers free SMS notification to senders to indicate that a Transfer has been collected from a location. Charges applied by the service provider are the exclusive responsibility of the sender. If permitted by applicable law, the SMS will be sent to the sender’s mobile number they have provided on the Application. Western Union will send SMS messages to a third party gateway for delivery, however delivery is the responsibility of third parties, and cannot be guaranteed. Western Union is not responsible for undelivered SMS or technical malfunctions that occur outside of its proprietary systems.

ACCOUNT BASED TRANSFERS – Where available, the receiver may incur additional fees for receiving a Transfer through a mobile telephone or to a bank or other account. Transfers should be sent to a local (receiver) currency account, otherwise the receiving institution may convert the funds at its own exchange rate or reject it. The receiver’s agreement with its mobile phone service, mWallet, bank or other account provider governs the account and determines their rights, liability, fees, funds availability and account limitations. In the event that the account number provided (including mobile phone numbers for mobile accounts) does not belong to named receiver, the Transfer will be credited to the account number provided by the sender. Western Union may make money from fees associated with use of an account. Western Union accepts no responsibility to the sender nor to any account holder for any fees, exchange rates used for conversion to non-local currency, acts or omissions of the destination or intermediary financial service providers.

LIABILITY – WESTERN UNION DOES NOT GUARANTEE THE DELIVERY OR SUITABILITY OF ANY GOODS OR SERVICE PAID FOR BY TRANSFERS. THE SENDER’S TRANSACTION DATA IS CONFIDENTIAL TO HIM AND SHOULD NOT BE SHARED WITH ANY PERSON OTHER THAN THE RECEIVER. THE SENDER IS CAUTIONED AGAINST SENDING MONEY TO ANY PERSON HE DOES NOT KNOW. IN NO EVENT SHALL WESTERN UNION OR AGENTS BE LIABLE IF THE SENDER COMMUNICATES TRANSACTIONAL DATA TO ANY PERSON OTHER THAN HIS RECEIVER. IN NO EVENT SHALL WESTERN UNION OR AGENTS BE LIABLE FOR DAMAGES FOR DELAY, NONPAYMENT OR UNDERPAYMENT IN PROVIDING TRANSFERS OR NON-DELIVERY OF ANY SUPPLEMENTAL MESSAGE, WHETHER CAUSED BY NEGLIGENCE ON THE PART OF THEIR EMPLOYEES OR AGENTS OR OTHERWISE, BEYOND THE SUM EQWUIVALENT TO US$500 (IN ADDITION TO REFUNDING THE PRINCIPAL AMOUNT AND TRANSFER FEE). IN NO EVENT WILL WESTERN UNION OR AGENTS BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES. THE FOREGOING DISCLAIMER SHALL NOT LIMIT WESTERN UNION’S OR AGENTS LIABILITY FOR DAMAGES RESULTING FROM WESTERN UNION’S OR ANY OF ITS AGENTS GROSS NEGLIGENCE OR INTENTIONAL MISCONDUCT IN THOSE JURISDICTIONS WHERE SUCH A LIMITATION OF LIABILITY IS VOID.

DATA PROTECTION – Your personal information is processed under applicable laws and is controlled by Western Union. We use personal information you provide to us when using our products and services, as well as other information that is collected or generated during our relationship with you. This includes information from other services like money transfers, bill payments, loyalty or membership program details, previous use of our services history, and marketing choices. This information is collected and used to provide you with the services you have asked for and for activities such as administration, customer service, anti-money laundering, compliance and legal duties, to validate your details, to help us understand our consumers by doing analysis and research of the information we hold, to measure marketing return on investment and brand satisfaction, to conduct market research surveys, to comply with legal and regulatory duties related to anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing; detection, prevention and prosecution of fraud and theft as well as preventing illegitimate or prohibited use of our services or other illegal or wrongful activitiesto help prevent and detect fraud, debt and theft, to help us improve our products, services and operations, and, subject to your choices, send you commercial communications by email, telephone, post, SMS and by any other relevant channel.

Western Union may use, collect from and share with other businesses that work with us, information from other products and services and convenience and/or rewards programs, for which you have registered. This information may be used for any of the purposes in this section. We will hold and retain the information that you give us about another person including the details of the receiver of our services in order to execute the transaction. Prior to providing this information you are obliged to notify and secure authorisation from the other person on the use of this information as set out in this section. The provision of this information is optional information, but needed to execute the transaction and provide these services to you. Without it, Western Union is unable to execute the money transfer or payment service, facilitate convenience activities or other requested services.

We may provide the information we hold to parties located in countries other than the country in which the information originally was collected or created, including to affiliates in the United States, for the purposes set out in this section. The categories of data transferred include personally identifiable information, contact details and information relating to the money transfer, transaction history, and any other information supplied by you. We may also provide the information to other organisations and authorised service providers, including those that help us run our business, if there is a reasonable need to do so, to carry out or aide the money transfer, future services, or for any of the reasons or uses set out in this section. We may add to information you provide with information from other businesses or individuals, including information to validate the accuracy of your information provided by you. By checking the last box in the Application, you acknowledge and consent that such transfers of information outside of your country of residence may occur. Western Union will disclose Your Information to other third parties (in any manner or method Western Union deem appropriate as notified at its website [Privacy Policy]) to understand and improve our product and service offerings to you unless you contact us on [0120-961-623¹] to instruct us not to. Western Union and our affiliates worldwide may disclose your personal information, including without limitation your name, customer ID number, address and bank account information, (i) if we are required to do so by domestic or foreign law or legal process or (ii) to law enforcement authorities or other government officials (including those in this country, the United States or elsewhere) for purposes such as detecting, investigating, prosecuting and preventing crimes, including money laundering and related criminal activity, and the recipients may further disclose the information for these and other related purposes.

GENERAL PROVISIONS – The Transfer and your relationship with WU Japan shall be exclusively governed by, and interpreted in accordance with, Japanese law. Our contract is with the sender. We have no obligations to any other party, such as a party the sender sends funds on behalf of. We will promptly investigate any claims arising out or relating to the Transfer. If a consumer is not satisfied with such investigation, they may refer the claim and dispute to the Japan Money Senders Association (“JMSA”) at 03-3556-6261, 7/F, 3-8-11 Kudan-minami, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 102-0074, or Tokyo Bar Association Dispute Center for Conflict Resolution at 03-3581-0031, or Daiichi Tokyo Bar Association Dispute for Arbitration Center at 03-3581-8588, or Daini Tokyo Bar Association Dispute for Arbitration Center at 03-3581-2249, to resolve or follow the JMSA guidelines to resolve the dispute by arbitration.to resolve or to resolve the dispute by arbitration.

The fact that Western Union uses Agents to perform services does not change the rights and duties between Western Union and its customers. Such rights and duties remain as if the services performed by the Agents were performed by Western Union itself.

Western Union has developed procedures to outline the proper handling of consumer fraud claims. The Western Union global consumer fraud claims procedures are designed to respond to potentially fraudulent money transfer transactions and take appropriate action to mitigate the risk to consumers and Western Union. These procedures outline the process for consumers initiating a consumer fraud claim request to Western Union and describes the method for data collection, investigation and reimbursement. Customers may call the Western Union Fraud hotline# is 0120-961-623 to lodge a claim request.

FOR CUSTOMER SERVICE, COMPLAINTS, OTHER INQUIRIES INCLUDING THE STATUS OF YOUR TRANSFER, PLEASE CALL 0120-961-623¹ OR WRITE TO METRO CITY KAMIYACHO 7F,1-5. TORANOMON 5-CHOME, MINATO-KU TOKYO, JAPAN. The numbers outside of Japan are available by calling the above number, from any Agent or on the local Western Union website.