Sending money to an AIS card in Cuba

Enviodinero is not currently sending money to Cuba. Does anybody have good experience with another company sending money to an AIS card in Cuba. Sending from Canada.

Gracias!

That's over a week that they have been "updating their system".

I heard that Western Union now allow transfers from Canada - but I don't know what restrictions they have.

For AIS, I have used https://www.aisremesascuba.com/ but that requires a lot of hassle to sign up and I haven't been able to pay via that site for months.

I have also used https://www.sendvalu.com/en - you could try that

Thanks Beardo, I have opted for Western Union. Let's see if it goes through with no hitch.

BTW, I was not allowed to do it by internet, I had to visit one of their outlets here.

Cheers - let us know what Western Union say.

What were the fees like on western union? In the last couple years I've been using AIS Remesas followed by enviodinero.

Compare - https://www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntree/forums/americas-cuba/cuba/least-expensive-manner-to-send-cash-to-cuba?page=1#post_22499024

I have used Western Union twice in the past year and each time it was very quick and no hassles at the Cuban end. The recipient needs to present i.d. and the number that WU assigns to the transaction, which you send by internet or telephone separately. There are WU offices in Vedado at the supermercado at 11, esq.4 and Habana Libre; there are many other WU offices in Cuba. You have to tell WU what the "relationship" is with the recipient ( "sister-in-law" works fine) and the limit per transaction is $10,000. The fee is $20 per $1000, plus the commission for converting Canadian dollars to CUC, same as going to a cadeca there. In my location the WU agent is Money Mart and they were clueless, but helpful. The WU commission plus the exchange results in a 5% cost, but it is almost instantaneous and does not involve any card or bank, so I went with it. I know WU did not send money from Canada in the past, but that has changed.

That seems substantially better for large sums than enviodinero.

Is this the card your sister in law has greslogo? https://www.desjardins.com/ca/personal/loans-credit/prepaid-card/index.jsp

Can the card go into negative?

Ya, that's the same product. Looks like they changed the look of the card. or didn't say Prepaid in the past.

It has gone negative but only a few dollars. It probably could go more negative since, i have other accounts with Desjardins. Not sure if they are linked in any way.

I just sent 68 CUC via WU. Cost $80. This is only slightly less expensive than enviodinero. However, WU gives 1 point each $2 sent, so after a certain # of points the fee is eliminated. Not for those who dislike nickel and dimeing.
Rates from WU: CUC $

With envio, sending $85.86 gets the Cuban 70 CUC. Compare to the WU rate of $85 for 72.8 CUC.
Trap

#7....They do charge a 2.5% conversion fee but no foreign transaction charge. The conversion fee is charged up to a week later.

Beard: Sendvalu seems to work, but they want the recipient's province, city, address, and ID #. Enviodinero didn't want such a mass of info. I assume the same AIS card is to be used with Sendvalu?

Trap - yes - same AIS card.

Sendvalu gives a choice of billing in USD or EUR rather than billing in CAD. Paying with a GBP card, it seemed slightly cheaper to use Enviodinero but with a USD or EUR card Sendvalu might be better. Sendvalu also charge a little extra for visa rather than mastercard.

It seems Sendvalu is a tad cheaper than Envio if using US$ directly. But I had to get the Cubana to give me the relevant data before I could send any money.

Yesterday I sent money with Enviodinero and everything worked very fast, they are back in business.
I noticed that the current fees are almost the same as WU, I paid $82 USD for $70 CUC.

Thanks for the update.

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