Western Union has taken of 451st position in the rating Fortune 500 in 2009, having moved from 473rd line in 2008. Leaving the idea of expansion into Europe, Western Union took up the expansion of services in the U.S. market. 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. You do not need to open a bank account, so you can send or receive money in any of the 170 000 service points of Western Union around the world. To obtain the Golden card can any client of Western Union, committing money transfers on this system more than 1 time per year. Getting the card is issued at the time of making of the next transfer. In 1914 Western Union engineers invented the first payment card - a prototype of the modern credit card. Western Union incomes for 2007 have made $4,9 billion US dollars, and the quantity of transactions has made 572 million. In 1879 Western Union left the telephone business after losing a lawsuit against Alexander Graham Bell - the patent holder on the phone. In 1884 Western Union has become a joint-stock company and was brought to the stock exchange. The company has entered in the first American stock index Dow Jones.