Payment limits: daily and per-payment caps at home and abroad

When you try to send money from your bank account, you run into two kinds of limit. The first is the limit your own bank places on Faster Payments, the system that carries most everyday transfers: it runs seven days a week, 24 hours a day, and every bank and building society sets its own cap on how much can be sent through it¹. The second is the ceiling of the system itself, and here the two main options behave very differently. Faster Payments is capped by your bank, while CHAPS, the same-day system used for house purchases and other large transfers, has no upper limit to the amount you can transfer².

The difference matters most when something goes wrong. Since 7 October 2024, banks and other payment providers have had to reimburse victims of authorised push payment scams up to a maximum of £85,000, but that protection applies to payments between UK bank accounts, and it stops at the border³. So the limit on a payment, the way it is sent and where it is going all change what happens if you are tricked into sending money to a criminal.

Faster Payments: each bank sets its own limit

Faster Payments are near-immediate electronic transfers sent directly from your bank account, and all UK banks and building societies are now able to send and receive them¹. What varies is the cap. Each bank or building society has its own limit on the amount that can be sent using Faster Payments, and the figures published by banks themselves range widely¹.

Two things stand out from the table. First, the same provider can have several different limits depending on how the payment is made and how long the recipient's account has been registered, so a single "bank limit" figure rarely tells the whole story. Second, the figures are set commercially by each bank, not by the payment system or the regulator, which is why they differ so much and why the only reliable way to know your own limit is to check with your bank. Independent reporting has noted the same variation: Nationwide has limited Faster Payments to £10,000 per transfer while Halifax allows payments of up to £25,000¹¹.

Daily limits online, in the app and in a branch

Most banks apply an overall daily limit as well as a per-payment limit, and the daily figure often depends on the channel you use. Nationwide, for example, states that payments set up online through its app or internet bank, including with Open Banking, can generally be made up to £100,000 per transaction, up to a £100,000 overall daily limit, while payments sent in branch can generally be made up to £25,000 per transaction, also up to the £100,000 overall daily limit⁷. Royal Bank of Scotland gives a daily limit for one-off higher value payments in Digital Banking of between £0 and £250,000, with the exact figure depending on the account⁸.

The reason for the difference is risk. A payment made from a device the bank has verified, or in person with identification, is easier for the bank to check than one made over the phone, and the limits reflect that. TSB, for instance, lists a daily limit of £75,000 for standard retail accounts alongside a limit of £10,000 per day for immediate or future-dated payments made by telephone banking¹².

If a payment is refused, the message on its own does not tell you much: it rarely says whether you have hit a per-payment cap, a daily cap, or a check on the recipient's account. Asking the bank which limit applied tells you whether splitting the payment, waiting until the next day, or moving to another channel would actually help.

Daily limits on payments abroad

Payments sent abroad are treated differently again, and the limits tend to be lower. TSB applies a daily limit of £75,000 per customer for international payments on standard retail accounts¹². Specialist and non-bank providers set their own figures: the Post Office's international money transfer service states that once your identity has been verified, you can send up to 4,000 GBP every three days with your credit card and 50,000 GBP through your bank¹³.

The mandatory scam protections also differ for international payments. The reimbursement rules that apply to UK bank transfers do not apply to international transfers, debit, credit card or crypto payments¹⁴. That makes checking the provider, the exchange rate and the recipient's details even more important before a large sum leaves the country, and it is one reason the guide to sending a large sum overseas covers source-of-funds checks and the options for big transfers separately. How the money actually moves across borders, through correspondent banks and payout networks, is explained in how international payments work.

What counts towards a daily limit

A daily limit is not always just the payments you make today. Lloyds states that its limit includes payments you set up for a future date and increases to existing future payments⁵. In other words, a standing instruction you raised last week for a payment leaving tomorrow can eat into tomorrow's allowance before you have made a single new payment.

Nationwide sets out which types of payment share its overall daily limit: Faster Payments, member-to-member payments, standing orders and recurring payments all count together towards the £100,000 daily figure⁷. The practical effect is that a limit can feel smaller than it looks on paper, because several kinds of outgoing payment draw on the same allowance. If a large payment is refused late in the day, scheduled payments leaving the account are one of the first things to check, and your bank can tell you how much of the day's allowance has already been committed.

CHAPS has no upper limit on the amount

CHAPS is the other main system for moving sterling, and its defining feature is that there is no upper limit to the amount you can transfer². High-value transactions are processed through the Bank of England's settlement service using CHAPS, which the Bank describes as a risk-free, instant way of settling big payments such as when you buy a home¹⁵.

The scale of the system explains why it exists. In 2025 there were 53.3 million CHAPS payments processed, worth a total of £93.9 trillion, yet CHAPS accounted for just 0.1% of the total volume of payments in the UK¹⁶. In other words, it carries a very small number of very large payments: the average value per retail and commercial CHAPS transaction amounted to £627,298 in 2023¹⁷. Private individuals seldom make CHAPS payments themselves; the typical users are businesses and solicitors or licensed conveyancers, with house purchases the most common reason a personal customer encounters the system¹⁸. Access is structured around direct members, the main banks and larger building societies, and over 400 indirect members, typically smaller banks and building societies that reach the system through a direct member¹⁹.

CHAPS or Faster Payments: speed, cost and when each is used

Both systems can move money on the same day, but they make different promises. A Faster Payment usually arrives on the same day within 2 hours, so long as the account you are sending to accepts them⁴. A CHAPS payment to an external bank is guaranteed to arrive on the same day you request it⁴, and Bank of Scotland describes CHAPS as a way of sending money that is guaranteed to arrive on the same day you send it, with requests made before 4.25pm on a working day arriving the same day and later requests processed the next working day²⁰.

The other differences follow from that guarantee. CHAPS opens for business at 6.00am each day and payments usually have to be started by 4.00pm, with a facility for late payments, in certain circumstances, up to 5.00pm¹⁸. It operates on working days only, whereas Faster Payments runs around the clock¹. On cost, Faster Payments carry no fee at Bank of Scotland²⁰, while CHAPS payments typically involve a charge, which is set by the bank making the payment and varies between providers. Which? describes CHAPS as a same-day payment system used for high-value transfers, such as paying a deposit for a property, and notes that most banks advise using CHAPS for payments of more than £25,000²².

Both systems are also accepted where timing matters to an official deadline. HMRC lists Faster Payments or CHAPS among the ways to pay a Self Assessment penalty so that it arrives the same or next day²³, and Which? similarly notes that Faster Payment or CHAPS, online, app and telephone banking services get a tax payment to its destination on the same or next day²⁴. The same applies to Stamp Duty: if you pay by CHAPS or Faster Payments, you can submit your payment on the same or next day²⁵. The choice between them usually comes down to the amount and the deadline: within your bank's Faster Payments limit and with a couple of hours to spare, a Faster Payment is free and fast; above the limit, or where a same-day guarantee is essential, CHAPS is the option designed for the job.

How to send more than your limit

If the amount you need to send is above your daily or per-payment limit, there are three main routes, and the right one depends on how much time you have.

1. Check whether a different channel has a higher limit. The same bank often allows more in a branch than online: Lloyds allows up to £250,000 in a branch with valid identification, against £25,000 online⁵, and Halifax notes that if you want to send up to £250,000 in a day, you can do this by Faster Payments in branch⁴.
2. Use CHAPS for amounts above every Faster Payments limit. With no upper limit on the amount², CHAPS is the standard route for sums such as a house deposit, and it is common to transfer money for house purchases using CHAPS⁴. Some banks only allow CHAPS payments to be made in branch or via post¹¹, and a charge typically applies, set by the bank making the payment.
3. Plan ahead where registration rules bite. Yorkshire Building Society allows up to £250,000 in one transaction online only where the destination account has been registered for more than 30 days; newer payees are limited to £10,000⁶. Registering the recipient's account details in advance can raise the ceiling on the day the payment is needed.

Before sending, the limit that applies is the one set by the bank making the payment: as NS&I puts it, most banks have a daily limit on how much you can pay, and this can be checked with the bank, particularly for a large payment²⁶. For payments abroad, the same planning applies, plus the checks covered in details needed to pay someone abroad and the timing issues in how long an international payment takes.

Scam protection depends on how you pay

The limits above are about what a bank will let you do. Protection is about what happens when the person on the other end is a criminal. Since 7 October 2024, if you were tricked into authorising a payment to a scammer, your payment service provider must refund you up to £85,000 if you are eligible²⁷, and the Financial Ombudsman Service confirms the rules require banks and other providers to reimburse you up to a maximum of £85,000³. The Payment Systems Regulator has set the maximum level for CHAPS at £85,000, matching the Faster Payments cap²⁸. Your bank can deduct £100 from the refund unless you are considered vulnerable under the rules²⁹.

Not every way of paying carries the same protection, and the differences are sharp:

• Bank transfer (Faster Payments or CHAPS): covered by the mandatory reimbursement rules for UK payments, up to £85,000³. The majority of authorised push payment fraud is currently enacted with a Faster Payment³⁰.
• Credit card: MoneyHelper notes that credit card payments over £100 carry more protection than bank transfers³¹.
• Pay by Bank: reimbursement of up to £85,000 can be claimed if you are tricked into authorising a payment to a scammer³².
• Other routes: if a scammer took payment for an item through PayPal but failed to send it, PayPal Buyer Protection may cover the loss, though there are exceptions and time limits on lodging a claim³³.

The scale of losses shows why the rules exist. UK Finance's figures show APP scams paid via CHAPS were valued at £17.6m in 2025, an 11% change on 2024³⁴, and £22.5m of bank transfer scam losses in 2021 related to payments made by Chaps¹¹. Which? has warned that fraud victims who pay the wrong way could be left with nothing, because the reimbursement rules do not cover every payment type²². A consultation response by Which? noted that 98% of the value of APP scams would have been protected under a £415,000 cap, a figure used in debating where the final £85,000 level should sit¹⁷.

Where scam refunds stop: payments abroad

The reimbursement rules have a territorial boundary. They apply to payments sent from a bank in the UK to another bank in the UK, and an international payment is excluded, because the rules only apply to UK bank transfers³⁶. Which? confirms the protections do not apply to international transfers, debit, credit card or crypto payments¹⁴. The Take Five campaign states the position directly:

This is the single most important limit on this page for anyone sending money abroad. A large transfer to a scammer posing as a foreign property developer, a family member in distress or an overseas "investment" falls outside the mandatory £85,000 cap, whatever the amount and however it was sent. Some banks may still consider a refund voluntarily, and complaining is always worthwhile, but there is no guarantee. The types of scam that commonly target people making international payments, from advance fee fraud to fake providers, are covered in scams involving payments abroad, and the general guide to scams and fraud covers the warning signs.

Where to get help

If money has already left your account to a scammer, act quickly and in order. Contact your bank immediately and ask it to try to recall the payment; the process for this is covered in tracing, cancelling or recalling a payment. Then complain to the bank: if you were tricked into making a payment, the Financial Ombudsman Service can look at complaints about scams you have been tricked into making³. If the bank rejects the complaint or eight weeks pass without a resolution, the ombudsman can review the case independently and for free.

Free, impartial support is available at every stage:

• MoneyHelper explains the types of scam and how to protect yourself when paying³¹.
• National Debtline sets out how the APP fraud refund rules work, including the £85,000 maximum and the £100 excess²⁹.
• StepChange offers guidance on how to spot, avoid and report scams³⁵.
• Take Five provides advice on protecting yourself when using banking apps before you send³⁷.

If the payment went abroad, the same bodies can still help you complain and understand your options, even though the mandatory reimbursement rules do not apply. The guide to your rights under the Payment Services Regulations explains what a payment provider must do in any case, including how quickly it must respond to your complaint.