Western Union Send Money API integration services

Deliverables checklist

• API specification (OpenAPI / Swagger) for transfers, tracking, rates and auth
• Protocol & auth-flow report (token chain, device binding, request signing, pagination cursors)
• Runnable source for login, transfer-history and MTCN-tracking endpoints (Python / Node.js)
• Webhook receiver sample for "funds collected" and status-change events
• Automated tests, Postman collection and API reference docs
• Compliance guidance (PSD2 SCA, GDPR, AML record retention, KYC field handling)

Engagement models

• Source code from $300 — runnable API source plus full documentation; you pay after delivery once you are satisfied.
• Pay-per-call hosted API — call our managed endpoints, pay only for requests made, no upfront fee; good for teams that want usage-based pricing.
• Optional retainer for upgrades when the app changes its protocol, adds corridors, or rotates auth.

Tell us your corridors, expected request volume and data residency needs and we size the right model with you.

Stacks & formats we ship

• Python (requests / FastAPI), Node.js (Express), Go SDKs on request
• JSON and CSV/Excel exporters; PDF statement renderer
• Webhook + polling hybrids for near-real-time MTCN updates
• Docker images and CI test harness so you can self-host quickly

1. Accounting & ERP reconciliation

Context: a migrant-services agency or SME sends recurring payouts and needs them in NetSuite / Xero. Data/API: transfer-history endpoint (amount sent, fee, FX rate, payout amount, corridor, MTCN, status) exported nightly as CSV/JSON. OpenFinance mapping: behaves like an account-information feed — read-only, consented, normalized to a ledger schema with one journal line per transfer plus a fee line.

2. Real-time delivery notifications

Context: a support team wants to tell senders the moment a receiver collects cash. Data/API: MTCN tracking webhook firing on the "paid / collected" event, mirroring the app's email notification. OpenBanking mapping: event-driven payment-status callback, the same pattern as a PISP status push, with idempotency keys and signature verification.

3. FX comparison & rate-alert sync

Context: a comparison site or treasury desk tracks Western Union's retail rate against the mid-market rate. Data/API: rate-quote feed per currency pair plus the user's configured rate-alert thresholds. OpenData mapping: a pricing dataset polled on a schedule, joined with other providers to compute spread and effective cost per corridor.

4. Compliance & AML evidence pack

Context: a regulated obliged entity must retain transfer records and beneficiary details for audit. Data/API: transaction and receiver endpoints with full field set, written to immutable storage with consent records and access logs. OpenFinance mapping: AISP-style read access scoped to AML retention rules, with data-minimization on KYC fields.

5. "Send again" automation for repeat corridors

Context: a payroll or family-support tool re-issues the same transfer monthly. Data/API: saved-receiver list + quote + initiate-transfer flow, reusing the stored beneficiary and payment instrument. OpenBanking mapping: recurring payment-initiation journey with explicit per-run confirmation and SCA where required.

6. Agent-network analytics & store locator

Context: a partner builds a "where can my customer pick up cash" widget. Data/API: agent-location directory (geo, hours, services) filtered by country and payout method. OpenData mapping: a reference dataset cached locally and refreshed periodically, exposed through a thin lookup API.

1. Authentication (token exchange)

POST /api/v1/wu/auth/token
Content-Type: application/json

{
  "grant_type": "password",
  "username": "user@example.com",
  "credential": "<secret>",
  "device_id": "<bound-device-uuid>",
  "mfa": { "method": "biometric", "assertion": "<face_or_touch_id>" }
}

200 OK
{
  "access_token": "<ACCESS_TOKEN>",
  "refresh_token": "<REFRESH_TOKEN>",
  "expires_in": 1800,
  "scope": "transfers:read tracking:read rates:read"
}

2. Transfer history (paged statement)

GET /api/v1/wu/transfers?from=2026-03-01&to=2026-03-31&status=all&limit=50&cursor=<next>
Authorization: Bearer <ACCESS_TOKEN>

200 OK
{
  "items": [
    {
      "mtcn": "1234567890",
      "direction": "send",
      "amount_sent": { "value": 200.00, "currency": "EUR" },
      "payout_amount": { "value": 18650.00, "currency": "INR" },
      "fee": { "value": 0.00, "currency": "EUR" },
      "fx_rate": 93.25,
      "corridor": "ES->IN",
      "payout_method": "bank_account",
      "status": "paid",
      "created_at": "2026-03-08T09:14:22Z",
      "completed_at": "2026-03-08T09:31:05Z"
    }
  ],
  "next_cursor": null
}

3. MTCN status lookup

GET /api/v1/wu/tracking/1234567890
Authorization: Bearer <ACCESS_TOKEN>

200 OK
{
  "mtcn": "1234567890",
  "status": "available",
  "timeline": [
    { "state": "created",      "at": "2026-03-08T09:14:22Z" },
    { "state": "in_review",    "at": "2026-03-08T09:15:40Z" },
    { "state": "available",    "at": "2026-03-08T09:17:02Z" }
  ],
  "payout_location": { "country": "IN", "method": "bank_account" }
}

# error example
404 Not Found
{ "error": "mtcn_not_found", "message": "No transfer for the supplied MTCN" }

4. Delivery webhook (funds collected)

POST https://your-app.example.com/webhooks/wu
X-WU-Signature: t=1715500000,v1=<hmac_sha256>
Content-Type: application/json

{
  "event": "transfer.paid",
  "mtcn": "1234567890",
  "occurred_at": "2026-03-08T10:02:11Z",
  "receiver": { "name_masked": "R*** K***", "country": "IN" }
}

# verify HMAC, then respond
200 OK  { "received": true }
# retried with exponential backoff on non-2xx

Regulatory alignment

Western Union operates a PSD2 Open Banking program in the EU/EEA, so account-information and payment-initiation access goes through registered third parties with Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) — the same model the app's Face/Touch ID login fits into. Personal data handling follows the EU GDPR; cross-border transfers also touch AML / counter-terrorist-financing record-keeping rules and, in the US, federal money-transmitter requirements. We design every integration to use authorized partner APIs or documented public endpoints, or explicit user consent — never undocumented scraping of other people's accounts.

What we build in

• Consent capture and revocation, with an audit trail per data subject
• Data minimization — only the fields a scenario needs; KYC fields masked or omitted by default
• Request/response logging with PII redaction and configurable retention windows
• Encryption in transit and at rest; secrets in a vault, not in code
• NDAs and a documented data-processing description on request

• Remitly — digital remittance with bank deposit, cash pickup and mobile money; holds transfer history, recipient lists and delivery-status data that users often want unified with Western Union exports.
• Wise — multi-currency accounts and mid-market-rate transfers across 170+ countries; rich transaction, balance and FX-rate data that pairs naturally with remittance reconciliation.
• Xoom (a PayPal service) — international transfers to bank accounts, debit cards, mobile wallets (UPI, PIX) and cash pickup; transfer records and status events similar in shape to Western Union's.
• WorldRemit — transfers to 130+ countries with bank deposit, mobile money, airtime top-up and cash pickup; recipient and tracking data relevant to the same corridors.
• MoneyGram — 400,000+ agent locations across 200 countries; cash-pickup reference numbers and agent-network data comparable to Western Union's MTCN and locator feeds.

• Revolut — multi-currency app with transfers, cards, savings and investing; broad account and transaction data that often sits next to remittance flows in a personal-finance view.
• Paysend — card-to-card and account transfers to many countries; transfer history and FX-quote data useful for cost comparison across providers.
• Skrill — digital wallet with international transfers and currency exchange; wallet balances, transaction logs and payout records that integrators frequently aggregate.
• BOSS Revolution — money transfer plus international calling and mobile top-up; transfer and top-up records relevant to the same migrant-services customer base.
• Global66 — Latin America–focused cross-border transfers and multi-currency accounts; corridor, rate and transaction data complementing Western Union's LatAm presence.

About us

We are an independent studio focused on fintech and open-data API integration. Our team includes engineers who have worked on payment gateways, cross-border clearing, mobile-app protocol analysis and cloud platforms, so we understand how a remittance app authenticates, paginates and signs its traffic — and how PSD2, GDPR and AML rules shape what you may do with the result. We deliver end-to-end: protocol analysis, API design, build, validation and a compliance write-up.

• Cross-border payments, digital wallets, neobanking, and remittance corridors
• Enterprise API gateways, webhook infrastructure and security reviews
• Custom Python / Node.js / Go SDKs, exporters and test harnesses
• Full pipeline: protocol analysis → build → validation → compliance
• Source code delivery from $300 — runnable API source code plus full documentation; pay after delivery upon satisfaction
• Pay-per-call API billing — call our hosted endpoints and pay only per request, no upfront cost

Contact

For a quote, or to submit your target app and requirements (corridors, data types, volume, regions), open our contact page:

Contact page

Tell us whether you want source-code delivery or hosted pay-per-call access and we'll respond with scope, timeline and price.

Engagement workflow

1. Scope confirmation — target app, data types (transfers, MTCN tracking, rates, login), corridors, volume, residency.
2. Protocol analysis & API design — 2–5 business days, complexity-dependent.
3. Build & internal validation — 3–8 business days, including webhook and pagination edge cases.
4. Docs, samples and test cases — 1–2 business days (OpenAPI, Postman, runnable examples).
5. Handover — typical first delivery 5–15 business days; partner onboarding or PSD2 sandbox provisioning may extend it.

FAQ

What do you need from me to start a Western Union Send Money integration?

How long does delivery take?

How do you handle compliance and privacy?

Do you support pay-per-call hosted APIs as well as source code?