PayPal vs bank transfers in the UK: which is cheaper?
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If you’re planning on sending money abroad, Remitly money transfer is one of the options available.
You can use Remitly to send money from the UK to friends or loved ones in other countries, and to receive money too. Or perhaps you need to cover the deposit for a major overseas purchase like a holiday home.
In this guide, we’ll walk you through how Remitly works for UK users. This includes currencies, fees and limits.
But remember that Remitly isn’t the only option for making international transfers. Another option for sending money worldwide is Wise. It’s fast, secure, transparent, and your British pounds are exchanged at a fair exchange rate – the mid-market rate.
Learn more about the Wise International money transfer
Please see the Terms of Use for your region or visit Wise fees & pricing for the most up-to-date information on pricing and fees.
Remitly is a regulated money transfer provider. It’s a digital service without any physical locations, where all payments are set up and managed online or via the Remitly mobile app. It aims to make international transfers easier, quicker and cheaper.
Users have a choice of methods to fund their payment, along with a range of delivery/collection methods (depending on where you’re sending to).
Remitly supports sending money from 21 countries to over 100 receiving countries worldwide.¹
Remitly isn’t a bank. However, it is a UK registered payment services company that is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).²
Remitly offers a few different methods for funding payments, but most require you to have a bank account.
You can pay for your transfer using your bank account, or a credit or debit card.³ However, if you don’t have a bank account, you can also use a prepaid card with Remitly.³
As we’ve mentioned, Remitly is regulated in the UK, and it works in partnership with financial institutions all over the world.
It also has a number of security measures to protect you and your money. This includes account verification processes, secure payment technologies and multi-level password security.⁴
However, like using any transfer service, you should never send money to someone you don’t know.
From the UK, you can send money with Remitly to any of the following countries and currencies:⁵
Country | Currency | Country | Currency |
---|---|---|---|
Albania | ALL or EUR | Kosovo | EUR |
Argentina | ARS | Kyrgyzstan | EUR or USD |
Armenia | EUR or USD | Laos | USD |
Bahamas | BSD | Latvia | EUR |
Bangladesh | BDT | Lithuania | EUR or USD |
Benin | XOF | Madagascar | MGA |
Bolivia | BOB or USD | Malawi | MWK |
Brazil | BRL | Malaysia | MYR |
Bulgaria | BGN or EUR | Malta | EUR |
Burundi | BIF | Mexico | MXN |
Cambodia | USD | Moldova | EUR or USD |
Cameroon | XAF | Montenegro | EUR |
Chile | CLP or USD | Morocco | MAD |
China | CNY | Nepal | NPR |
Colombia | COP | Nicaragua | USD |
Comoros | KMF | Nigeria | NGN |
Costa Rica | CRC or USD | North Macedonia | EUR or USD |
Côte d'Ivoire | XOF | Pakistan | PKR |
Croatia | HRK | Panama | USD |
Cyprus | EUR | Paraguay | PYG |
Czech Republic | CZK | Peru | PEN or USD |
Dominican Republic | DOP or USD | Philippines | PHP or USD |
Ecuador | USD | Poland | PLN |
Egypt | EGP or USD | Romania | RON or EUR |
El Salvador | USD | Rwanda | RWF |
Estonia | EUR | Senegal | XOF |
Ethiopia | ETB | Serbia | EUR |
Fiji | FJD | Sierra Leone | SLL |
Gabon | XAF | Slovakia | EUR |
Gambia | GMD | Slovenia | EUR |
Georgia | EUR or USD | South Africa | ZAR |
Ghana | GHS | South Korea | KRW |
Greece | EUR | Sri Lanka | LKR |
Guatemala | GTQ | Suriname | EUR |
Guinea | GNF | Tanzania | TSZ |
Guyana | GYD | Thailand | THB |
Haiti | USD | Togo | XOF |
Honduras | HNL or USD | Tunisia | TND |
Hungary | HUF | Turkey | TRY or EUR |
India | INR | Uganda | UGX |
Indonesia | IDR or USD | Ukraine | EUR or USD |
Israel | EUR or USD | Uruguay | UYU or USD |
Jamaica | JMD | Uzbekistan | USD |
Japan | JPY | Vietnam | VND or USD |
Jordan | JOD or USD | Zambia | ZMW or USD |
Kenya | KES |
The exact services on offer vary by country, so you’ll need to check which payment routes are available to you by modelling the transaction on the Remitly website.
It’s also worth checking out how Remitly compares to other providers, especially if the country or currency you want to send to isn’t on its list.
If you need to make regular international payments, it’s worth checking out the Wise Multi-Currency account. It lets you send money to 80 countries worldwide in dozens of currencies. You can hold 50+ currencies in your account at once and switch between them whenever you need to.
Unlike some other providers, all currency conversions with Wise are carried out at a fair exchange rate without an expensive mark-up – the mid-market rate. Choose Wise to send your money overseas with transparent and upfront fees, and save time and money.
Please see the Terms of Use for your region or visit Wise fees & pricing for the most up-to-date information on pricing and fees.
You should find it pretty simple to use Remitly in the UK.
You simply need to follow these steps:⁶
Create an account online or on the app
Set up your account details and profile
Start a new payment
Enter your recipient’s name, address, phone number, and bank details
Enter the amount you’d like to send and confirm your payment method.
Check the details and hit ‘send money’
You’ll receive a confirmation receipt, followed by another notification once your payment arrives
You can also track your transfer
You’ll have a choice of delivery methods with Remitly, but not all are available in every country. One option that’s available for almost all countries (except when sending to Vietnam⁵) is a bank transfer.
This is where you’ll send funds from your bank account, directly to your recipient’s account. Remitly offers either express or economy options for bank deposits for the UK users. Each has different fees and delivery times.
In some countries, it’s possible to arrange for your recipient to collect their money in cash from an agent location near to them. This is convenient if they don’t have easy access to a bank account - but can cost more in fees, depending on where you’re sending the money to.
You can select cash pickup when sending with Remitly from the UK, but only if you’re sending to Colombia, the Philippines, India, Guatemala, Mexico or the Dominican Republic.⁷
Home delivery of the payment is also available from the UK to some countries, but you’ll need to check with Remitly before sending.
This means that the payment you send will be couriered right to your recipient’s door and handed over in cash in the local currency. As you may imagine, there are fees to pay for the convenience.
In a few countries, you also have the option of sending money to a mobile wallet. Remitly works with mobile wallet providers and apps in other countries to enable this, so you can send money straight to your recipient’s phone.
For example, you can send money to:
There are limits to the amount of money you can send abroad with Remitly. When you first sign up, your limit is automatically set at £5,000 in 24 hours, £15,000 in 30 days, and £50,000 in 180 days.¹¹
If you want to increase these limits, you’ll need to provide some further information and documentation to Remitly.
You’ll need to show a government issued photo ID, and evidence of the source of the funds you’re transferring. You’ll also need to give some details about the reasons for your transfer.
This process is in place to ensure that Remitly comply with legislation to ensure money is not used for illegal purposes. If they’re satisfied after carrying out the checks, your limits could be increased to £25,000 over 30 days, and £75,000 in 180 days. If you’d like to increase it further, the maximum you’ll be able to send is £150,000 in 180 days.¹¹
There may be other limits in place in addition to these, depending on the laws in the country you’re sending to. You’ll be informed when you arrange your transaction if that’s the case.
The length of time it’ll take for your recipient to get their money depends on where you’re sending to, and which payment route you choose.
As a guideline, when sending from the UK it can take around 3-5 working days for Economy transfers (those funded by a bank account). If you send an Express transfer using a debit card, your payment could arrive within minutes.¹²
The estimated delivery date will be confirmed by Remitly when you start to process your transfer.
Here’s an idea of the costs to make a transfer with Remitly. For more specific costs, model the transaction you want to make on the Remitly website.
The fee depends on the amount you’re sending, where it’s going, and how you want your recipient to receive it.
Here are some examples:
Sending money to a bank account in India using the Express service will cost £1.99¹³ in upfront fees, no matter how much you send.
Sending money to Poland costs £1.99 for the Express service, but is cheaper at £0.99 for Economy.¹⁴
If the country you’re sending to offers cash pick up or home delivery options, these may incur an additional cost. These will be set out when you arrange the transfer.
Remitly may add a markup to the real, mid-market exchange rate. This makes the transfer more expensive for you, and Remitly keeps the extra margin for themselves.
Here’s what their user agreement says:¹⁵
“You acknowledge and agree that we may earn revenue from the exchange rate applied to a Transaction and by instructing us to process a Transaction via our Service, you agree to the application of the exchange rate calculated for that Transaction.”
Exchange rate markups can make international transfers far more expensive, even if the initial fee seems low. To avoid this, use Wise instead.
Wise only ever uses the mid-market exchange rate. This is a fair rate, and the one banks use when they sell currency on the wholesale market. There are no margins, mark-ups or hidden costs - only a cheaper transfer for you.
Please see the Terms of Use for your region or visit Wise fees & pricing for the most up-to-date information on pricing and fees.
When you’re choosing a service for your international payments, the options can seem overwhelming.
To get the best deal, just make sure you compare both the upfront fees charged and the exchange rate on offer. A bit of research can make a big difference to the price of your international transfer, and leave you with more money to play with in the end.
Sources used:
Sources last checked on date: 18-Aug-2022
This publication is provided for general information purposes only and is not intended to cover every aspect of the topics with which it deals. It is not intended to amount to advice on which you should rely. You must obtain professional or specialist advice before taking, or refraining from, any action on the basis of the content in this publication. The information in this publication does not constitute legal, tax or other professional advice from Wise Payments Limited or its affiliates. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. We make no representations, warranties or guarantees, whether express or implied, that the content in the publication is accurate, complete or up to date.
Check out our comparison of PayPal vs. bank transfers in the UK, including fees, transfer times, limits, exchange rates and more.
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