1998 - the number of points of money transfers worldwide reached 50,000. The network of money transfers of Western Union is the world's largest. As a result of 2011, net income of Western Union has increased by 28% to $ 1.165 billion, the company reported. Most service points of Western Union work in the time convenient for customers throughout the week and throughout the year. The size of the commission fee for the transfer is charged according to the Western Union tariffs and depends on the amount of money sent. In 1914 Western Union engineers invented the first payment card - a prototype of the modern credit card. In October 1871 the company Western Union began to provide money transfer services, drawing on its own extensive telegraph network. Western Union made so that the time in all of American civil services was the same.