Personal Finance Money transfer

How long do international transfers with Revolut take in the UK?

Gert Svaiko

12.12.24

Read time 2 minutes

Need to send money overseas from the UK? If you’re a Revolut customer, you’ll be pleased to hear you can set up and send international payments in just a few taps via the Revolut app.

But if you need your money to arrive quickly, you’ll need to know exactly how long international transfers take with Revolut.

Find out everything you need to know about average transfer times with the money app, including a few different ways to send a payment overseas with Revolut.

We’ll also show you a similarly speedy alternative - the money services provider Wise, which lets you send money worldwide for low fees* and mid-market exchange rates 24/7.

An overview of Revolut international transfer times

There are a few different methods for sending money abroad using your Revolut account. These are:

International bank transfers
Fast card transfers
Revolut-to-Revolut transfers.

Below are the average transfer times for all of these methods. We’ll look at each in more detail next.

Revolut transfer method	Average transfer time¹
International bank transfers	- 0-2 working days for SEPA (payments in EUR within the EU) - 3-5 working days for other international payments
Fast card transfers	Around 30 minutes
Revolut-to-Revolut transfers	Less than 20 seconds

Revolut international bank transfers

The most common way to send money overseas with Revolut is via an international bank transfer. These tend to take about as long as it would with a bank, although it depends where you’re sending to.

If you’re sending a payment in euros (EUR) within the EU, you’ll be able to send a SEPA payment. This stands for Single Euro Payments Area.

With Revolut, SEPA payments can arrive within a few minutes or even seconds. But it can take anywhere up to 2 working days in some cases.¹

For all other international transfers, your money will be sent via SWIFT. This stands for the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications. It’s a secure global messaging network that banks use to make payments to each other.

SWIFT payments can be a little slower than other kinds of transfers, taking on average around 3 to 5 working days.¹ This is because information about your transfer needs to travel along a route in the network that may involve several banks - before it reaches your recipient’s bank and account.

Revolut fast card transfers

Revolut also offers the option to make fast transfers to a recipient’s card, rather than to their bank account. All you need is the recipient’s 16-digit card number to get started.

Card transfers with Revolut typically take around 30 minutes to arrive, but they could be almost instant.¹

Revolut-to-Revolut transfers

Lastly, there are Revolut-to-Revolut transfers. This involves sending money to another Revolut user, which is not only fee-free but is also super fast. Your payment should arrive in around 20 seconds, so it’s pretty much instant.¹

Send fast international payments with Wise

While you’re researching the quickest ways to send international transfers, make sure to check out Wise.

Open a Wise account and you can send money worldwide for low fees* and mid-market exchange rates. It’s not a bank account but offers some similar features. Payments are fast, secure and easy to track, so your recipient gets their money in no time at all.

You’ll get upfront estimates of when your money will arrive, and it could be just minutes - although some transfers take a day or two depending on destination and currency**.

Here are the main benefits for using Wise:
Fast and easy setup with no physical paperwork Dedicated support for large transfers Low, upfront, transparent fees* Mid-market exchange rate for currency conversions 24/7 Fully trackable transfers Fast transfer times Two-factor authentication and real-time notifications Send money to 160+ countries in 40+ currencies

And that’s it - our handy guide to how long international transfers with Revolut take, covering everything you need to know.

The average transfer time varies depending on which method you use, and it’s especially fast if you’re sending to another Revolut user.

You might have to be patient though (or use an alternative money transfer service) if you’re sending an international bank transfer, as it could take a few days.

**Transaction speed claimed depends on funds availability, approval by Wise’s proprietary verification system and systems availability of our partners’ banking system, and may not be available for all transactions.

Sources used:

Revolut - Money transfer

Sources last checked on date: 07-Nov-2024

*Please see terms of use and product availability for your region or visit Wise fees and pricing for the most up to date pricing and fee information.

This publication is provided for general information purposes and does not constitute legal, tax or other professional advice from Wise Payments Limited or its subsidiaries and its affiliates, and it is not intended as a substitute for obtaining advice from a financial advisor or any other professional.

We make no representations, warranties or guarantees, whether expressed or implied, that the content in the publication is accurate, complete or up to date.