How long does a bank transfer take with Nationwide?

New Nationwide customer? If you’ve just opened a new personal account, you’ll be ready and raring to make your first payment. It can be handy to know how long it takes, especially if you ever need to make an urgent transfer.

Here, we’ll give you the lowdown on transfer times with Nationwide, for both UK and international payments.

Things you need to make a bank transfer with Nationwide

If you’d like to transfer money to a person or business using Nationwide, here’s the important info you’ll need to hand:¹

• The recipient’s name, account number and sort code
• A payment reference – to help the recipient understand what the payment is for.

To make your payment, you’ll need to register for online banking with Nationwide, or sign up for the Banking app. To register a new payee, you’ll also need your card reader ready.²

Transferring money to someone in another country? You can do it through your Nationwide account, but you’ll need the following:³

• The name, address and bank details for the recipient
• The recipient’s International Bank Account Number (IBAN) - use our IBAN checker finder tool to find this information or calculate any Nationwide IBAN number here.
• The Bank Identifier Code (BIC) for their bank
• The name and address of the recipient’s bank.

You’ll also need your card reader to hand to set up an international payment with Nationwide. You can send your payment using online banking or in a branch, but not in the Banking app.

How long does a bank transfer take with Nationwide?

For UK bank transfers with Nationwide, the payment should arrive instantly – if you set it to leave your account right away. But be aware that it can potentially take up to 2 hours.⁴ This is for payments up to £10,000, as these are made through the Faster Payments system.

International payments with Nationwide usually take longer than this. The time can vary depending on the country you’re sending to. For example:⁵

• SEPA payments in euros to a European country can take up to 2 working days
• SWIFT payments to all other countries (in any currency) can take up to 4 working days or even longer.

Isn’t a bank transfer instant?

If you’re sending money to someone in the UK using Nationwide and the Faster Payments system, it should arrive instantly or under 2 hours.

However, there are situations where transfers can take longer. These include:

• If you want to send more than the £10,000 Faster Payments limit
• If the receiving bank isn’t a part of Faster Payments
• If you’re sending money to another country.

Are there any faster international money transfer options?

Don’t fancy waiting 4 days or more to send money to friends or family in another country? Luckily, there is another solution available besides your bank.

Open a multi-currency Wise account and you can send money internationally in under 2 working days⁶. But to be honest, it rarely takes that long – so your payment could arrive much faster.

As well as being fast and secure, Wise is also one of the cheapest ways to make international transfers. You’ll only pay tiny fees and always get the real exchange rate. In total, it could be as much as 8x cheaper than using your bank⁷.

How do I make a transfer with Wise?

You can set up and send an international payment with Wise in just a few easy steps:⁸

1. Open your Wise account.

2. Enter the amount you want to send and the payment type (i.e. ‘personal transfer’).

3. Enter a few essential details about yourself and the recipient, including their account details.

4. Check the fee and other details of the transfer to make sure everything’s ok.

5. Send the money and receive instant confirmation via email or the Wise app.

So that’s it – sending money with Nationwide in a nutshell, including how to set up a payment and how long it takes. You should now be all ready to make your first transfer.

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Sources used:

Sources checked on 20-January 2021.