Remitly Money Transfer in the UK – how does it work? [2022]

Gert Svaiko

18.08.22 (updated more than 1 year ago)

6 minute read

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.

What is Remitly money transfer?

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

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).²

Do you need a bank account for 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.³ However, if you don’t have a bank account, you can also use a prepaid card with Remitly.³

Is it safe to send money through Remitly?

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.

What currencies Remitly supports?

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.

Sending GBP to EUR with Wise and Remitly

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.

How does Remitly work in the UK?

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

Bank deposit

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.

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 Colombia, the Philippines, India, Guatemala, Mexico or the Dominican Republic.⁷

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.

For example, you can send money to:

Cameroon, Zambia or Ghana using MTN Mobile Money⁸
The Philippines using Coins.ph, GCash or PayMaya⁹
Pakistan using Alfa, EasyPaisa or MCB Lite¹⁰

Limits on Remitly money transfer

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.

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.

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.

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.

Upfront 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 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

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 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

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