Google AdSense Ends Western Union Payments! Switch to Checks or Wire Transfer

Users of Google AdSense, AdMob, and Ad Manager may recently have received an official email informing them that Google will discontinue payments via Western Union in early 2021.

This email is not a scam. Official staff member Sonia Hernandez confirmed that Google is indeed ending its partnership with Western Union in early 2021, and that starting this August it will no longer accept new users applying to use Western Union.

In the past, in articles such as “Taishin Bank to End Its International Business Partnership with Western Union” and “Taiwan’s Western Union Service Loses Another Bank in 2018, Leaving Only King’s Town Bank,” we discussed which domestic banks no longer offer Western Union service, forcing operators to keep opening accounts at new banks. Well, now it’s settled — Google simply won’t work with Western Union anymore and is reverting to traditional check and wire transfer payments, so everyone no longer needs to worry about whether there will be no bank willing to offer Western Union service in the future.

As for how users of Google AdSense, Google AdMob, Ad Manager, and YouTube services can still receive payments after the Western Union service ends, Google currently offers five payment options, including:

• Checks: A paper check is mailed to our designated address, and must be taken to a bank in person to cash[2].
• International Wire Transfer: An electronic funds transfer method that can send funds directly to a bank account of our choice[1].
• Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT): Deposits funds directly into a bank account in the payee’s local currency in their location; this is Google’s recommended payment method[3].
• EFT via Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA): The SEPA system allows European businesses and consumers to send electronic transfer payments to any country in the eurozone.
• Rapida: For AdSense publishers with a personal account and payment address in Russia.

Although five payment methods are listed above, for people in the Republic of China region, only checks and wire transfers are actually available; the rest are services only available in the EU, Russia, and other advanced countries.

However, both checks and international wire transfers incur additional bank fees, and they are not small amounts, so they are not a good payment channel for website owners. We can only hope that Google will offer a payment model in the future that doesn’t harm website owners’ interests. For now, I personally recommend wire transfer, to avoid the delays and possible loss of mailed checks.

References

1. International Remittance / How to Look Up SWIFT/BIC Codes for Banks in Various Countries.
2. Countries whose domestic banks offer EFT service no longer support check payments. In addition, checks not cashed within 60 days will be voided, and the original amount will return to the Google account records.
3. Countries that support EFT include, commonly, Australia, Canada, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore, the United States, and the United Kingdom; if you happen to have a bank account in one of these countries, you can use the service.