Quick Pay
Quick Pay is a electronic payment system that has been created by the leading US company Western Union. The Quick Pay system links a customer's Western Union account to the merchant account that the customer wishes to pay. The money needed to settle the transaction is paid into the Western Union account, either by cash or some other means at a real-world Western Union outlet, or online. The Quick Pay system acts as a conduit between the merchant and the customer.
The Quick Pay system is in effect an eCommerce version of the money wire transfer system that has been running uninterrupted since the late 1800s. It allows people to make online payments and payments for remote services who do not have credit cards or other eWallet solutions.
Quick Pay history
Western Union began life as a company in the middle of the 1800s, and soon became the largest and most powerful company in the USA, mainly thanks to its monopoly of the telegraph system. It was the most frequently used messaging system and money transfer system in the United States, with its network of telegraph wires that stretched from coast to coast, and from Canada to Mexico, and eventually internationally. Western Union began to lose its monopoly on communications in the US once the telephone system overtook the telegraph, since which it has concentrated on the financial aspects of its business.
Quick Pay was introduced by Western Union just before the end of 1999, as a method of allowing companies to receive money faster than other remote financial services. The service was initially free, and payments made by consumers typically appear in the merchants account the day after they are made.
Quick Pay today
Quick Pay is preferred by customers who do not wish to give sensitive financial information such as credit card numbers and bank account details to merchants they are unfamiliar with. A customer can either enact their transaction online (passing their sensitive information to Western Union as opposed to the merchant) or by cash at a Western Union outlet. The customer simply needs to fill in the requisite form at the outlet, and then pay in cash or by some other method. They will need to know the accepted Company Name and Company Code of whom they are paying, as well as some means by which they can be identified as the sender of the payment. The agent will convert the amount to the equivalent in the merchant's currency, and add the fee that the customer is required to pay on top. The agent will also give the customer a Money Transfer Control Number (MTCN) by which the transaction can be identified if necessary.
There are numerous Western Union outlets all over the world. The current total is estimated at around 212,000 across 170 different countries. A customer can find their closest by using the agent locator on the Western Union website. There is typically a minimum deposit amount of around £10, and Quick Pay transactions generally takes a maximum of 16 hours to enact.
Western Union Quick Pay transactions are only one way. A customer cannot withdraw funds into their account by this method.
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