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Remitly money transfer in the UK – fees, timings and how it works
In this helpful guide, we’ll walk you through how Remitly works for UK users. This includes currencies, fees, exchange rates, limits and everything else you need to know.
But remember that Remitly isn’t the only option for making international transfers. A great alternative is Wise (WISE.LON). It’s fast, secure and transparent, letting you send money worldwide at the mid-market exchange rate for low fees*.
For now though, let’s get back to Remitly.
What is Remitly money transfer?
Remitly is a 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.
You’ll have a choice of methods to fund your payment, along with a range of delivery/collection methods too (depending on where you’re sending to).
Remitly supports sending money to over 170 receiving countries worldwide.1
Is Remitly a bank?
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).1
Do you need a bank account to use Remitly?
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. However, if you don’t have a bank account, you can also use a prepaid card with Remitly.2
Is it safe to send money through Remitly?
Remitly works in partnership with financial institutions all over the world. It also has a number of security measures in place. According to the website, this includes account verification processes, SSL with 256-bit encryption, secure payment technologies and multi-level password security.3
However, like using any transfer service, you should be cautious about who you send money to (especially people you don’t know) and take steps to keep yourself safe. And it’s also important to be mindful of any additional fees - but more on that later.
What countries and currencies does Remitly support?
Remitly supports transfers in 100+ currencies,1 including all major currencies. The following countries are part of its worldwide network:
| Country | Currency |
|---|---|
| Albania | ALL or EUR |
| Algeria | DZD or EUR |
| Andorra | EUR |
| Anguilla | XCD |
| Antigua and Barbuda | XCD |
| Argentina | ARS |
| Armenia | EUR or USD |
| Australia | AUD |
| Austria | EUR |
| Azerbaijan | USD |
| Bahamas | BSD |
| Bahrain | BHD |
| Bangladesh | BDT |
| Barbados | BBD |
| Belarus (currently unavailable | BYN |
| Belgium | EUR |
| Belize | BZD |
| Benin | XOF |
| Bermuda | BMD |
| Bhutan | BTN |
| Bolivia | BOB or USD |
| Bosnia and Herzegovina | BAM or EUR |
| Botswana | BWP |
| Brazil | BRL |
| Brunei Darussalam | BND |
| Bulgaria | BGN or EUR |
| Burundi | BIF |
| Cabo Verde | CVE |
| Cambodia | USD |
| Cameroon | XAF |
| Canada | CAD |
| Cayman Islands | KYD |
| Chile | CLP or USD |
| China | CNY |
| Colombia | COP |
| Comoros | KMF |
| Congo Brazzaville | XAF |
| Costa Rica | CRC or USD |
| Côte d'Ivoire | XOF |
| Croatia | HRK |
| Cyprus | EUR |
| Czech Republic | CZK |
| Denmark | DKK |
| Djibouti | DJF or USD |
| Dominica | XCD |
| Dominican Republic | DOP or USD |
| DR Congo | USD |
| Ecuador | USD |
| Egypt | EGP or USD |
| El Salvador | USD |
| Equatorial Guinea | XAF |
| Eritrea | ERN |
| Estonia | EUR |
| Ethiopia | ETB |
| Fiji | FJD |
| Finland | EUR |
| France | EUR |
| Gabon | XAF |
| Gambia | GMD |
| Georgia | EUR or USD |
| Germany | EUR |
| Ghana | GHS |
| Gibraltar | EUR |
| Greece | EUR |
| Guatemala | GTQ |
| Guinea | GNF |
| Guinea Bissau | XOF |
| Guyana | GYD |
| Haiti | USD |
| Honduras | HNL or USD |
| Hong Kong | HKD |
| Hungary | HUF |
| Iceland | EUR |
| India | INR |
| Indonesia | IDR or USD |
| Ireland | EUR |
| Israel | EUR or USD |
| Italy | EUR |
| Jamaica | JMD |
| Japan | JPY |
| Jordan | JOD or USD |
| Kazakhstan | USD |
| Kenya | KES |
| Kiribati | AUD |
| Kosovo | EUR |
| Kuwait | KWD |
| Kyrgyzstan | EUR or USD |
| Laos | USD |
| Latvia | EUR |
| Lebanon | LBP or USD |
| Lesotho | LSL |
| Liberia | USD |
| Liechtenstein | EUR |
| Lithuania | EUR or USD |
| Luxembourg | EUR |
| Macau (coming soon) | MOP |
| Madagascar | MGA |
| Malawi | MWK |
| Malaysia | MYR |
| Maldives | MVR |
| Malta | EUR |
| Mauritania | MRU |
| Mauritius | MUR |
| Mexico | MXN |
| Moldova | EUR or USD |
| Monaco | EUR |
| Mongolia | MNT or USD |
| Montenegro | EUR |
| Morocco | MAD |
| Mozambique | MZN |
| Myanmar | MMK |
| Namibia | NAD |
| Nepal | NPR |
| Netherlands | EUR |
| Nicaragua | USD |
| Nigeria | NGN |
| North Macedonia | EUR or USD |
| Norway | NOK |
| Oman | OMR |
| Pakistan | PKR |
| Panama | USD |
| Papua New Guinea | PGK |
| Paraguay | PYG |
| Peru | PEN or USD |
| Philippines | PHP or USD |
| Poland | PLN |
| Portugal | EUR |
| Qatar | QAR |
| Puerto Rico | USD |
| Romania | RON or EUR |
| Russia (currently unavailable) | RUB |
| Rwanda | RWF |
| Samoa | WST |
| San Marino | EUR |
| Saudi Arabia | SAR |
| Senegal | XOF |
| Serbia | EUR |
| Seychelles | SCR |
| Sierra Leone | SLL |
| Singapore | SGD |
| Slovakia | EUR |
| Slovenia | EUR |
| Solomon Islands | SBD |
| Somalia | USD |
| South Africa | ZAR |
| South Korea | KRW |
| Spain | EUR |
| Sri Lanka | LKR |
| St Kitts and Nevis | XCD |
| St Lucia | XCD |
| Suriname | EUR |
| Sweden | SEK |
| Switzerland | EUR |
| Taiwan (coming soon) | TWD |
| Tajikistan | EUR or USD |
| Tanzania | TZS |
| Thailand | THB |
| Timor Leste | USD |
| Togo | XOF |
| Tonga | TOP |
| Trinidad and Tobago | TTD |
| Tunisia | TND |
| Turkey | TRY or EUR |
| Turkmenistan | TMT |
| Turks and Caicos | USD |
| Uganda | UGX |
| Ukraine | EUR or USD |
| United States | USD |
| US Virgin Islands (coming soon) | USD |
| Uruguay | UYU or USD |
| Uzbekistan | USD |
| Vanuatu | VUV |
| Vietnam | VND or USD |
| Zambia | ZMW or USD |
| Zimbabwe | USD |
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.
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.
If you need to make regular international payments, it’s worth checking out the Wise account. It lets you send money worldwide in dozens of currencies. You can hold 40+ 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 – this is known as the mid-market rate. Choose Wise to send your money overseas to save time and money with transparent and upfront fees*.
How to send a transfer with Remitly
You should find it pretty simple to use Remitly in the UK.
You simply need to follow these steps:4
- Create an account online or on the app
- Set up your account details and profile
- Start a new payment - select ‘send’ or ‘get started’ if using the app, or ‘send money’ if sending online
- Enter the amount you’d like to send
- Choose a delivery method
- Enter your recipient’s name, phone number and bank details (for bank to bank transfers)
- 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.
Ways to send money with Remitly
You’ll have a choice of delivery methods with Remitly, but not all are available in every country. The main ones are - bank deposit, cash pickup, home delivery and mobile wallet.
Bank deposit
One delivery method that’s available for almost all countries 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.
Cash pickup
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 a small number of countries. If it’s available for your recipient’s location, you’ll see it as an option when setting up the transfer.
Home delivery
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.
Mobile wallet
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.
Limits on Remitly money transfers
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.5
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.5
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.
How long does a Remitly transfer take?
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.
Remitly has two options - Economy and Express. Economy is the slowest and cheapest, while Express is designed for payments that need to arrive quickly.
However, Remitly doesn’t say exactly how long these two options take. You’ll need to create an account and enter the details of the transfer before Remitly will give you a delivery timescale.
What are the fees for using Remitly?
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.
Remitly transfer fees
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 £500 to a bank account in India will cost £1.99 in upfront fees6
- Sending £1,000 to a bank account in France cost £0 in upfront fees7
- Sending £2,000 to a bank account in Australia costs £2.99 in upfront fees.8
Cash pickup or home delivery fees
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.
Exchange rate markup
Remitly may add a margin to the mid-market exchange rate, which it keeps. Unfortunately, this makes the transfer more expensive for you.
Here’s what the company’s user agreement says:9
“If the currency you choose when submitting a Transaction is different to the Recipient's currency, an exchange rate is applied to the Transaction and includes a small margin, which we keep.”
Exchange rate markups can make international transfers far more expensive, even if the initial fee seems low. To avoid this, you may wish to use an alternative like Wise instead.
Check out our live Remitly exchange rate comparison tracker.
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, just a small, transparent fee*.
Which means a cheaper transfer for you.
And that’s it - everything you need to know about Remitly money transfers. We’ve covered the lot, from fees and exchange rates to delivery methods and transfer times.
You should be all set to make your first transfer. Just make sure you compare all alternative options first, because there could potentially be a better deal out there.
Sources used:
- Remitly - number of currencies served/FCA regulation
- Remitly - how to pay for a transfer
- Remitly - security
- Remitly - how to send a transfer
- Remitly - increase limits
- Remitly - send money to India
- Remitly - send money to France
- Remitly - send money to Australia
- Remitly - Remitly User Agreement
Sources last checked on date: 22-July-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.
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