Cheapest Way to Send Money Abroad From the UK

TapTap Send charges no transfer fee for most destinations and takes only a small margin on the exchange rate.

Sending money to places like India, Pakistan, Ghana and Nigeria, is almost always cheaper through TapTap Send than any other company.

Here’s how much you can expect to receive:

To receive money, recipients don't need a TapTap account, and you can pay out to a mobile wallet or cash pickup as well as a bank account.

However, as I mentioned before, cost depends on the amount and the destination.

For places like Gambia, Rwanda, and Europe, TapTap Send is a bit more expensive.

It's also app-only with an annual sending limit, so it isn't the best tool for one-off large transfers, where a broker like RegencyFX will work out cheaper.

TapTap Send is FCA authorised, with customer funds safeguarded rather than FSCS-protected.

Revolut is great for small transfers to the EU.

With Revolut you can send GBP with very low fees and a small markup. However, this holds true up to £1,000 per month and on weekdays only.

If you’re sending on a weekend, that's an additional 1% fee, and if you go over £1,000 there’s another additional 1% fee.

Here’s how much you can expect to receive with Revolut when converting £1,000 GBP, and how it compares to Wise.

Revolut also offers a multi-currency account, and that is where it gets interesting.

What you can do (and that’s what I do) to save on fees is pre-convert GBP to EUR or your currency in your account on a weekday and then send it or spend it however.

Since you’ve already converted the money, there are no fees involved afterwards. And since it’s now a bank, your money is FSCS protected (up to £120,000) so it’s safe to keep in your account.

You can schedule regular conversions, set them to trigger on your balance, or set a target exchange rate so Revolut converts automatically when it's hit or better.

Just make sure you don’t go over £1,000 / month or upgrade if you’re already using Revolut for banking features.

If you're travelling or spending abroad, the hidden cost usually isn't a transfer fee, it's the exchange rate.

Most UK high-street cards like HSBC, Barclays, etc. add a non-sterling transaction fee of roughly 2.75% to 3% every time you pay in a foreign currency, and some add a flat charge on top.

On a £2,000 holiday that's around £55 to £60 gone before you've bought anything worth having.

That’s assuming you don’t have any special perks or travel accounts set up with your bank (which are usually expensive add-ons).

Wise avoids that, by giving you exact interbank exchange rate at the time of conversion, and instead adds a small fee from 0.33%.

You can either pre-convert currencies before you travel or spend, or can just use Apple Pay / Google Pay to pay from the GBP balance on your Wise card.

The multi-currency account is what makes it flexible.

You can hold 40+ currencies at once, convert when the rate looks good, and keep leftover currency for next time rather than converting back and losing on the spread.

The issue is obvious here, if you need money outside of those 40+ currencies, you can’t pre-convert, but it doesn’t mean you can't spend.

Instead, Wise will automatically take money from your GBP balance and convert at mid-market rate at the time of conversion with the fee added on top.

You might ask why not just use Revolut, which works pretty much the same way.

The difference is in transparency. Wise gives you the mid-market rate every day of the week, while Revolut adds extra fees on weekends and when you go above your monthly limit.

Since you're most likely converting at weekends and on the move, Wise tends to be the safer bet for travel.

Wise isn't a bank, so the money you hold isn't FSCS-protected. It's safeguarded instead, which is covered further down.

For spending money on a trip that's rarely a concern, but it's worth knowing if you keep large balances sitting in the account.

Buying abroad is where the exchange rate matters most, simply because the sums are so large.

On a £250,000 purchase, a small difference in the rate is thousands of pounds, far more than any transfer fee.

And because there's usually a gap of weeks or months between agreeing a price and completing, a move in the pound over that window can quietly add thousands to what you end up paying.

This is where brokers like RegencyFX come into play.

With a forward contract you can lock today's rate for up to 12 months, so the price you agree is the price you pay at completion, whatever the pound does in between.

You can also set a target rate with a limit order and have the transfer trigger automatically if the market reaches it.

Regency FX charges no transfer fee and has no maximum limits, taking only a margin on the rate, which stays better on large sums.

A dedicated account manager handles the transfer and can guide you on timing and paperwork.

This is where currency brokers generally win, it’s the support rather than the costs.

Even on larger sums, Wise can be cheaper, but do you really want to handle £250,000 transfer yourself through an app?..

..Or would you rather have an experienced account manager help you through it?

I think the answer is pretty simple here.

One big benefit of RegencyFx over many other brokers is their coverage.

They can take your GBP and literally convert it to any currency there is, this is extremely rare, especially with online or app based providers.

If you’re unsure on the whole process, start simple. Make a small transfer of £1-2 to get the feel and go from there.

Regency FX is FCA regulated, with client funds held in segregated accounts rather than FSCS-protected.

Retiring abroad isn't one big transfer, it's a small-medium one every month for years.

This changes the perspective a little, because now it’s more about the yearly savings vs one time saving.

Again, just like with one-off transfers, currency brokers like Key Currency are a good option because:

• They charge no fees but charge a margin

• For recurring transfers you can negotiate a better exchange rate (lower margin)

• You get an account manager to contact should you need help

A bank charging a flat fee plus a 2% to 4% rate margin on each payment can quietly cost you close to £1,000 a year.

And because the rate moves daily, the money landing in your account swings month to month, which makes budgeting on a fixed income harder than it needs to be.

Key Currency specialises in regular overseas payments and holds the rate steady across them, so your pension or other income arrives as a predictable euro amount rather than one that drifts with the market.

There's no transfer fee and no minimum, so smaller monthly amounts still work and deal with the same person each time.

You could do this with providers like Wise and Revolut, but you’ll need to keep doing it yourself every month, and it can be more expensive.

The reason I think Key Currency works best here, is it has representatives across the main expat regions, including the Costa del Sol, Costa Blanca, Murcia, Catalunya and Ibiza.

Which makes it perfect for British expats and retirees living in Spain, or close around.

To be clear, this is to help with the currency side of your pension income, moving it over cheaply and predictably, not pension or tax advice, which is a job for a regulated financial adviser.

Key Currency is FCA regulated as an Authorised Payment Institution, with client money held in safeguarded accounts rather than FSCS-protected.

For one-off large transfers, like an inheritance, proceeds from a sale, moving savings abroad, a one-time gift, etc. It’s best to use a broker with the best FX rates, like TorFX.

On a sum like that the exchange rate margin is where the real saving is, far more than any upfront fee, so a fraction of a percent difference on the rate can be worth hundreds or thousands of pounds.

TorFX is great for this, they charge no transfer fee and take their commission in the rate, and because it's geared to large transfers, that margin gets better the more you send.

There are no upper limits when you deal through an account manager, so a single large transfer isn't a problem the way it can be with online money transfer companies.

Here’s an example of what to expect:

What sets TorFX apart on a one-off is the quality of service they offer.

I spoke with their account managers many times, and they all know their stuff. I’ve asked them various questions from timing the market to recent events affecting GBP, and they know it all.

And the same is apparent in their Trustpilot reviews. The majority recommend the service for the account managers they have and the quality of the service (rated 4.9 across more than 9,500 reviews).

You can also lock in a rate ahead of sending if you want certainty before you commit.

And the best part is that you can easily do a quick test transfer of 1-2 pounds to see how the service works.

TorFX is FCA regulated (as Tor Currency Exchange), with client money safeguarded in segregated accounts rather than FSCS-protected.

If someone needs money in the next few minutes, or has no bank account to receive it, the cheapest app in the world is no help if it takes a day and pays into an account they don't have.

This is where MoneyGram comes as the cheapest option, its main strength is reach and speed.

They offer cash pickup, which is the fastest way to receive money abroad, but their costs are usually lower compared to Ria Money or Remitly.

They have a network of around 350,000+ agent locations across 200+ countries, plus home delivery and post office pickup in many places.

Your recipient can collect cash without a bank account or a smartphone.

MoneyGram is not always the cheapest way to move money in general, but they have great first time offers that make it a much better deal.

It builds a margin into the rate, averaging around 1.33% depending on the destination currency, and larger transfers get expensive fast.

If your recipient has a bank account and it isn't urgent, one of the app-based options above will almost always cost less.

Here are a few examples of what to expect:

To minimise the cost, we recommend avoiding credit card deposits (these come with extra fees) and only use cash transfer options if you really need it, bank deposit is usually much cheaper.

MoneyGram is FCA regulated in the UK as an Authorised Payment Institution, with the usual safeguarding of customer funds.

If you need the cheapest money transfer service for business, Wise Business is a good option.

If your business pays overseas suppliers, contractors or staff, or invoices clients abroad, the cost adds up fast across multiple transactions.

With Wise Business you get the mid-market rate on conversions with a sending fee from 0.33%, no monthly fee or any hidden costs.

Just like with personal transfers, this is generally good for ongoing business transfers. If you need a one-off large transfer, a currency broker is better (even for business transfers).

Here’s what you can expect from Wise Business in terms of fees compared to Revolut Business:

In addition, you can hold and receive over 70 currencies, open local account details in GBP, EUR, USD and more to get paid like a local, and run batch payments to up to 1,000 recipients in one go, each still at 0.33%.

You can also lock a guaranteed rate on a batch ahead of paying, which works like a mini forward contract on the mid-market rate.

The only major downside is the self-service model. If you’re making a few £1,000 payments a month, that is fine. But once the number grows, it gets a bit more complicated to manage everything.

This is where alternatives like Airwallex make a bit more sense. Have a look at our Airwallex review to learn a bit more.

Wise Business is FCA regulated in the UK, with customer funds safeguarded rather than FSCS-protected.