Best Money Transfer Services for Sending Money Abroad
Where to send/receive money, the cheapest FX rates, and the new FSCS rule that just came into effect from March 2026.
Martin
Editor
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Most Brits who move abroad lose more money to currency conversion in their first year than they realise.
Not always in dramatic chunks.
More often it’s in quiet 2% margins on every £1,000 you move, every month, for years. A high-street bank sending £2,000 of your UK pension to a Spanish account can take £400-£600 a year off the top before you've noticed the rate moved.
So… this matters.
The six providers below cover most of what most expats actually need - from monthly pension transfers to one-off six-figure property completions.
Which one is right for you depends on how much you need to send, how often, and where.
#1 — Best Overall for Expats
Wise
Free account, transfers from 0.33%, 2 free ATM withdrawals/month
For most British expats, most of the time, Wise is the simplest option for money transfers overseas. It has the free GBP receiving account ready for pension Bacs and Direct Debits, mid-market rate plus around 0.43% on GBP-to-EUR (less than half what your high-street bank takes), and a usable card for spending abroad. It's not FSCS-protected - which matters for parking lump sums, albeit less so for moving them. For the typical £1k-£20k/month transfer pattern, Wise is super convenient and great value.
What We Love
- ✓Free GBP UK account details (Bacs, Faster Payments, Direct Debits) — receive your pension in pounds, convert at mid-market
- ✓Transparent percentage fee on top of the mid-market rate, no hidden margins
- ✓14.8m+ customers, FCA-authorised since 2011
- ✓Multi-currency hold in 40+ currencies, receive locally in 9
- ✓Works for monthly pensions, freelancer invoicing, card spending, and one-off transfers under £100k
Watch Out For
- ✗E-money safeguarded, not FSCS-protected - don't park large sums for long
- ✗Card ATM allowance restructures from 1 May 2026: £250/month free, then 1.75-2.69% on the excess
- ✗Less competitive than dedicated brokers above £100k transfer size
- ✗SWIFT receiving fees apply on some less-common corridors (USD around £6, GBP and EUR around £2)
- ✗Same-currency transfer fees can hit £8+ on some routes
#2 — Best for large transfers
OFX
No transfer fee in the UK; FX rate carries the margin.
Once a transfer crosses £100k, the flat-percentage fintech model stops being the cheapest on the table. OFX has dealers who'll negotiate inside 0.5% on six-figure deals, along with 24/7 phone support, and forward contracts up to 12 months.
It has slightly slower onboarding than Wise (rate locks only after verification) and it's not the right fit for a smaller £500/month remittance to Asia or Africa. For a £400k Spanish property completion, though, this is exactly the right kind of option for maximising the efficiency of your transaction and saving on fees.
What We Love
- ✓No transfer fees from the UK; FX margin narrows to 0.4-0.5% on £100k+ deals
- ✓24/7 phone support and a dedicated dealer for larger clients
- ✓Forward contracts up to 12 months, limit orders, recurring payments up to a year ahead
- ✓50+ currencies, 170+ countries
- ✓Listed on the ASX (OzForex Group Ltd) - more transparent than most non-bank brokers
Watch Out For
- ✗Bank transfer funding only - no cards, no Apple Pay, no Google Pay
- ✗Rate locks only after sign-up and ID verification, which can take a day
- ✗E-money safeguarded, not FSCS-protected
- ✗Typically 1-2 business days, not the fastest in an emergency
- ✗Less competitive than Wise on small transfers below £5k
#3 — Best All-in-One App
Revolut
Free standard plan (1% fee over £1,000 FX, 1% weekend fee)
Revolut is a brilliant card and a competent transfer app - but those are two different things.
For day-to-day card spending abroad, it's hard to beat. Premium, Metal and Ultra plans give you no weekend FX markup, fee-free ATMs up to a monthly limit, and multi-currency holdings all in one beautifully designed app.
But for actual money transfers, the Standard plan is where most expats get caught out. You get mid-market FX up to £1,000 per month - after that, a 1% fair-usage fee kicks in, plus another 1% on weekends when markets are closed. Move £5,000 to your EUR account on a Saturday and you're paying around £80 in fees that Wise wouldn't have charged you.
The fix is either upgrading to a paid tier (£3.99-£14.99/month) or simply using Wise for transfers and Revolut for the card. A lot of expats have both.
What We Love
- ✓FSCS-protected up to £120,000 on current-account deposits
- ✓Excellent app, instant Revolut-to-Revolut transfers, multi-currency Mastercard
- ✓No weekend FX markup on Premium/Metal/Ultra (1% on Standard, 0.5% on Plus)
- ✓13m+ UK customers, excellent mobile-first product
- ✓Pockets, joint accounts and Pro accounts also now covered by FSCS
Watch Out For
- ✗Standard plan free FX limit is £1,000/month, then a 1% fair-usage fee on the excess
- ✗Only current-account deposits are FSCS-protected - crypto, stocks and partner-bank savings vaults sit outside it.
- ✗1% weekend markup on Standard adds up if you use the card on Saturdays
- ✗To match Wise on transfer fees you usually need Plus (£3.99/month) or higher
#4 — Best for emerging markets
Remitly
Route-based; first transfer often fee-free. GBP-EUR examples £1.49-£2.99.
Remitly is a good transfer option when the person on the other end isn't sitting right next to a bank account...
Sending £200 a month to your mum in Manila? She can pick up cash at a 7-Eleven within minutes. Helping out family in Lagos? It lands in their mobile wallet before you've finished your coffee. Supporting a sibling in rural Bangladesh? bKash... no problem!
India, Pakistan, Mexico, the Philippines - in all cases, Remitly has the strongest payout matrix in this lineup, with cash pickup in 60+ countries, mobile wallet integrations (M-Pesa, GCash, bKash and others), and even home delivery in some regions.
The pricing model is a simple two-tier choice: Express (near-instant, slightly higher fee) or Economy (a few days, often free or near-free).
Best to pick speed when it matters, and save money when it doesn't.
One thing to know going in though is that your first transfer usually comes with a promo rate that's better than what you'll get long-term. It's not a trick exactly - but it's ALWAYS worth reading the default fees if you plan on using Remitly for the long-term.
What We Love
- ✓170+ countries with the widest payout options: bank, cash pickup (60+ countries), mobile wallet, home delivery
- ✓Express tier is near-instant for emergencies, Economy tier 3-5 days but cheaper
- ✓£75,000 send limit per transfer (with verification), covers most use cases
- ✓First transfer often fee-free with a promo rate
- ✓App is elegantly built and easy to use
Watch Out For
- ✗FX margins can quietly hit 2% on some routes
- ✗Promo first-transfer rate reverts to standard pricing - not a sustainable hack
- ✗Small fixed fees stack up if you do frequent small transfers
- ✗E-money safeguarded, not FSCS-protected
- ✗No multi-currency holding account, no card
#5 — Widest coverage
XE
Variable by corridor and payment method; fee shown before confirmation.
If you're sending GBP to mainstream destinations like the Eurozone, US, Canada or Australia, Wise will typically be faster and slightly cheaper.
But the moment you need to transfer somewhere further afield, services like XE become much more appealing.
Expats sending to Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Kenya, Colombia, Egypt, or anywhere Wise/Revolut quietly grey out the destination dropdown - XE *often* still has you covered.
With 190+ countries and 130+ currencies on its books, it's the broadest network in our list, making it the go-to option when nothing else works.
XE also lets you lock in a rate for up to 24 months - twice as long as most rivals offer 12. If you're an expat with predictable foreign-currency outgoings (school fees in Switzerland, a holiday-home mortgage in Portugal, a child at university in the US), the ability to fix today's rate against next year's payments is really useful. Layer on rate alerts and limit orders, and you've got proper FX tools rather than just a transfer button.
XE is slower than Wise on standard corridors (1–4 business days for bank transfers) and there's no multi-currency account or card to spend from. It's basically a transfer specialist, not a daily-use account.
What We Love
- ✓190+ countries, 130+ currencies - broadest support on our list
- ✓500,000+ cash pickup locations via the Ria network
- ✓Forward contracts up to 24 months, limit orders, rate alerts
- ✓Zero fees for many bank-to-bank major-corridor transfers above $500
- ✓Mobile wallet payout in 35+ countries
Watch Out For
- ✗1-4 business days for bank transfers - slower than Wise
- ✗FX margin typically 0.5-2% (less competitive than Wise on majors)
- ✗No multi-currency holding account, no card
- ✗Sign-up requires ID verification before rates lock
#6 — Best for low FX margins
CurrencyFair
~0.53% FX margin plus a €3 transfer fee.
Irish-founded in 2010, regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland, and built around an unusual peer-to-peer mechanic where you set the rate you want and wait for another user to match it.
When it works, it's one of the cheapest ways to move major currencies.
For most expats, a common use would be regular GBP-EUR movements in the £1,000-£10,000 range. So, that might be a Brit in Spain converting UK rental income each month, a freelancer in Berlin invoicing UK clients, or a retiree in France topping up their EUR account from a UK pension.
The flat £2.50 outbound fee plus an FX margin of around 0.45% on majors stacks up fairly well against most rivals at this size, and same-day settlement on major corridors is the norm.
The currency list is short though (20+, versus Wise's 40+ and XE's 130+), so verify that the one you need is covered - plus there's no card, no cash pickup, no multi-currency account in the modern fintech sense, and the app feels a generation behind Wise's.
Above £10k, dedicated brokers like Currencies Direct or TorFX will typically beat the FX margin once their dealer negotiates.
What We Love
- ✓~0.45% FX margin (peer-matched can be lower) plus a £2.50 outbound fee
- ✓Cheap on GBP-to-EUR for the £1k-£10k range
- ✓20+ currencies, 150+ countries; same-day on majors
- ✓Regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland (FCA-passported into the UK)
- ✓Established player with 15 years in the market
Watch Out For
- ✗App is much clunkier than Wise
- ✗Smaller currency list - no THB, INR, MXN, etc
- ✗No card, no cash pickup
- ✗Not ideal for transfers over £10k where dedicated brokers beat the flat-fee model
- ✗Peer-to-peer mechanic appears to have been de-emphasised for new sign-ups
How we picked these services
We've checked the FCA register on each provider above, pulled fee benchmarks from Wise's calculator and from independent scrapers (e.g. feeprobe.com, sendmoneycompare.com, exiap.co.uk) as of early 2026.
Obviously, fees change and the service you go with could be depend entirely on what region (or currency) you are transferring to/from.
All things considered though, you will save significant cash using these services compared to a standard high street bank.
Why most "money transfer" companies are NOT FSCS-protected
OK, so here’s something that catches people OUT.
Most of the providers we’ve looked at - Wise, OFX, XE, CurrencyFair, Remitly -are not covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme. They're regulated as e-money or payment institutions, which means customer funds are "safeguarded" in segregated accounts at high-street banks, rather than insured up to £120,000 like a UK current account.
What does that mean in practice?
If Wise (or OFX, or XE, or any safeguarded provider) goes bust, your money should still be there, sitting in a segregated client-money account that creditors can't touch.
But you might face delays getting it back, and any liquidator costs come off the top.
If Revolut goes bust - and only since 11 March 2026 has this been true - you're FSCS-protected up to £120,000 per person, per authorised firm, the same as any UK bank.
The only provider in this lineup with full FSCS protection is Revolut, which finally got its UK banking licence in March 2026 (after the longest mobilisation period in UK history!).
Keep in mind, crypto, stocks and commodities held in Revolut still aren't FSCS-protected. Only the current-account deposits.
For most readers the practical takeaway is simply: don't park large sums in any e-money provider for long.
Move money through them. Don't let it sit. If you want £50k earning interest while you wait for a property completion, that should be in a UK bank account, not parked in Wise.
(The FCA is tightening the safeguarding regime from 7 May 2026 with daily reconciliations, monthly returns and qualified-auditor sign-off for firms holding over £100k of customer funds. While this is a meaningful improvement on the safeguarded model… It still isn't FSCS.)
Examples of savings on large transactions
Let’s say you want to buy something… chunky… like a Spanish apartment.
Here's where the standard fintech-vs-bank picture breaks down.
If you're moving £150,000-£500,000 in one transfer to complete on a property abroad, the flat-percentage model that makes Wise great for monthly pensions actually starts to look expensive.
Why is this?
Well…
Wise's GBP-to-EUR margin of around 0.43% means a £400,000 property completion costs you £1,720 in conversion alone - more than your council tax bill for a year in most of England.
For these transfers, dedicated dealer specialists beat the fintechs.
Here are three that are worth knowing a closer look:
- Currencies Direct (founded 1996, currenciesdirect.com) - it has the strongest expat brand recognition for Spain and Portugal property, 22 international offices including 16 in Spain, dedicated account managers, no transfer fees. FX margins narrow to 0.2-0.5% on £100k+ deals.
- TorFX (torfx.com) - sister of Currencies Direct in the Redpin group. Won Good Money Guide's "People's Choice" Best Currency Broker in 2024 and 2025. Forward contracts up to 24 months (versus 12 at most rivals), good for buyers locking in budgets for off-plan property.
- Atlantic Money (atlanticmoney.com) - flat £3 fee on any transfer up to £1m, mid-market rate. The maths are certainly impressive: £3 vs roughly £215 with Wise on a £50,000 GBP-to-EUR transfer. The catch is that it remains a small currency list (9-10 currencies, no THB/INR/MXN), there are no dedicated FX tools, and we’ve seen a few off-hand reports of large transfers taking a lot longer than the services listed above.
Ultimately, for the typical reader sending £2,000 a month, Wise is *probably* the right answer.
For a £400,000-property payment, you should definitely consider a bespoke transfer service (like the three above)
Transfers & The State Pension
If you've moved abroad and you're drawing a UK State Pension, the DWP can either pay it directly to a foreign bank account (with a 0.39% government-side conversion charge applied) or pay it to a UK GBP account that you then convert yourself.
If you've got a Wise GBP account (free to open, gives you a UK sort code and account number that accepts Bacs and Direct Debits), you can have the pension paid in pounds and convert at the mid-market rate plus Wise's ~0.43% margin.
That's roughly the same as the DWP's charge for GBP-to-EUR specifically - the win is that Wise will quote you the actual mid-market rate before you commit, whereas the DWP doesn't.
If you're on Revolut's Standard plan and your monthly pension plus other UK income is above £1,000/month, the maths don’t really work in your favour - you'd hit the free FX cap and start paying Revolut's 1% fair-usage fee on the excess. Either upgrade to Plus (£3.99/month) or use Wise.
Same logic applies to UK rental income, ISA withdrawals you've taken in cash, and any other regular GBP income you're moving abroad…
Use cases - what would we do?
If you're trying to figure out which of these services to actually use…
Here are some examples of specific use cases. The services we’d use for specific situations…
Monthly UK pension to Spain, France, Portugal, Italy
Wise, with a Wise GBP receiving account so the pension lands in pounds.
Convert it manually whenever the rate looks reasonable.
Freelancer in Lisbon invoicing UK and EU clients
Wise multi-currency.
Free EUR IBAN, free GBP sort code/account number, ~0.43% conversion. Possibly Revolut Plus (£3.99/month) if you regularly FX above £1,000/month and the mobile-first app suits you.
Brit in Australia receiving UK rental income
Wise GBP+AUD multi-currency for the regular monthly stuff. OFX for any lump-sum repatriations above £25k.
Sending £200/month to family in the Philippines, India, Pakistan, Nigeria or Mexico
For this, we’d go with Remitly Economy if cash pickup or mobile wallet (M-Pesa, GCash, bKash) is the easiest delivery method.
Wise if the recipient has a normal bank account and you're optimising for FX cost over speed.
One-off £150k+ property completion abroad
Currencies Direct or TorFX, with a forward contract if the completion date is more than 30 days out.
The FX margin saving on £150k+ pays for the slight admin friction of opening a brokerage account.
Buying off-plan property 18-24 months out
TorFX. They and Halo Financial are basically the only brokers offering 2-year forward contracts.
Card spending and ATM withdrawals while abroad
Revolut Premium/Metal/Ultra (no weekend FX markup, multi-currency, lounge perks at the higher tier) or the Wise card (mid-market always, £250/month free ATM allowance coming soon).
Both are fine for spending.
Just don't rely on either for actual transfers above £1,000/month if you're on the Standard Revolut plan.
Things we would avoid
- Western Union for anything other than disaster scenarios. Yes, of course, the cash-pickup network is unmatched (500,000+ agent locations in 200+ countries, 12,000+ in the UK alone, often inside post offices). But the FX markups can be 2-6%, with a typical cash-to-cash GBP-to-China £1,000 costing £24.90. WU used to be the only gig in town, but that’s just not the case anymore. There are much better options out there.
- Wirex. Crypto-fiat hybrid that lost most of its FCA scope after a regulatory tightening. Skip.
- PayPal Xoom. PayPal is not exactly known for offering value. With Xoom, the FX markups are typically well over 2%. It might be reasonable for emergency cash pickup - at a stretch. But it’s worse than Remitly on virtually every transfer for everything else.
- Your high-street UK bank's international transfer service. Hidden margins are typically 3-5%. Even on a £2,000/month pension that's £60-£100/month going to Barclays or HSBC or NatWest in stealthily disguised FX markup. The Wise/Revolut split on the same transfer is closer to £8-£20.
Where to go from here
If you're working through the broader expat-finance picture, we’ve got two related pieces that are worth your time. Our UK bank accounts for expats guide covers which banks let you stay open as a non-resident customer, which ones quietly close you down, and the offshore current-account options that exist as a fallback.
Also, our guide to UK credit ratings while living abroad covers the address trap that catches a surprising number of expats out.