Sending to a mobile wallet abroad

A mobile wallet transfer sends money from your UK account to a wallet held on someone else's phone, usually in another country. The wallet is identified by a phone number rather than a sort code and account number, and the person receiving it does not need a traditional bank account to hold or spend the money. That is why wallets are widely used for remittances, particularly where banking access is patchy.

The mechanics are the same as any other international payment: an international money transfer allows people to send funds from a UK account to another account in a different country¹. What changes is the last step, where the money lands in a wallet rather than a bank account.

Not every UK bank can pay a wallet directly. Santander, for example, lets customers make and receive international payments in Online Banking, though not through its Mobile Banking app², while Metro Bank lets customers send money outside the UK in pounds sterling, euros or US Dollars to 35 countries through its mobile app³. Where a bank cannot reach a wallet, a specialist transfer service usually can.

What a mobile wallet transfer is and where it is used

A mobile wallet is a payments system held on a phone. Apple Pay is well known in the UK, and Google Wallet is a similar mobile payments system that works on Android devices and some Android-based smartwatches⁸. Abroad, the same idea is used less for tapping a card in a shop and more for holding and receiving money, which is what makes it useful for remittances.

The names people meet most often in this market are PayPal and MoneyGram. PayPal offers an online or e-money transfer service, and with MoneyGram you can transfer money through the Post Office, or you can do it online⁹. Both are routes a sender in the UK can use to reach a recipient who does not hold a bank account in the usual sense.

It helps to separate this from a different product with a confusingly similar name. A money transfer on a credit card means moving funds from a credit card to your UK bank account, and a transfer fee might apply in addition to interest¹⁰. That is a way of borrowing, not a way of sending money overseas, and it does not reach a wallet abroad.

The reason wallets matter for remittances is access. A current account usually lets you receive benefits and wages, spend in shops, withdraw cash, manage online or by mobile app, and set up Direct Debits and standing orders¹¹. A wallet does far less than that, but it does the one thing a recipient without a bank account needs: it receives money and lets them spend or withdraw it.

How sending to a mobile wallet works from the UK

The transfer runs in two legs. The first is domestic: the account provider transfers money, on the instruction of the customer, from the customer's account to another account in the UK¹². The second is the international leg, where the money leaves the UK and is paid out to the wallet in the destination country. Account-to-account payments move money directly from a payer's bank account to a payee's bank account without the need for intermediaries such as credit or debit cards¹³, which is why they are cheaper to run than card payments and why transfer firms build on them.

In practice you start in your bank's app or online banking, or in a specialist provider's app. Some banks restrict which channel you can use: Santander customers can make international payments in Online Banking but not in the Mobile Banking app². Others allow it in the app but only to a set list of countries, as Metro Bank does with 35 countries³.

The wallet itself is activated by phone. Barclays sends an SMS confirming Travel Wallet activation to all accountholders on set up of each Travel Currency Travel Wallet¹⁴, which shows the pattern: the phone number is the account identifier, and the confirmation goes to the phone.

Fees, exchange rates and what the recipient receives

Two costs sit on top of the amount you send: the fee and the exchange rate margin. On the fee side, there may be a cost for sending or receiving the money, depending on your bank and the bank you are transferring the money to¹⁴. As an example of a bank charge, one UK bank's standard electronic international payment carries a £25 fee².

The exchange rate is where transfers differ most. The exchange rate will change depending on the day and time your payment is made and the bank or company you use, and your bank should tell you the rate used before completing the transfer¹⁴. Some providers build their charge into the rate rather than showing it separately: HSBC international money transfers are made using the HSBC Exchange Rate, which includes a currency conversion charge¹⁵.

For comparison, the cost of moving money between accounts in the UK is often expressed as a percentage. A money transfer credit card, which shifts money from your card to your current account, usually charges around 4%¹⁶. A balance transfer fee of 3% on a £2,000 balance comes to a £60 fee¹⁷. Those are domestic products, not remittance services, but they show the shape of the charges: a percentage of the amount moved, taken up front.

What the recipient actually receives is the amount after the fee and after conversion at the provider's rate. Because the rate moves with the day and time¹⁴, the same transfer can produce a different amount on a different morning. The rate you are quoted at the point of confirmation is the one that matters.

Details you need before you send

For a wallet transfer the key detail is the recipient's phone number, registered to their wallet, plus their name as it appears on the wallet account. For the bank leg, the requirements are the same as any other payment.

For a one-off bank transfer you need the amount you want to send, the full name of the person you're sending money to, their 6-digit sort code, their 8-digit account number, a payment reference, and whether you want the money sent straight away or at a later date and time⁴. For a standing order you need the amount of money you want to send, a payment reference, when you want the money to leave your account, and how long you'd like the regular payments to continue⁴.

Once you've sent money to someone once, their details will be stored and you won't need to enter them next time⁴. That convenience is also a risk: a stored payee is easy to pay again without rechecking.

Some banks now have a warning when you transfer money to someone, prompting you to double check the details are correct and think twice that the person you're sending money to is genuine⁴. Where a bank asks for more, a CHAPS payment requires the full account name of the person you want to pay as it appears on their account, their sort code, their account number, a reference or other payment details, the amount, and your card and PIN plus a form of ID if you visit a branch¹⁸.

How long it takes, and what sets the limit

Speed depends on the rail used. Money sent using Faster Payments through online banking on a smartphone app will reach the recipient's account within 2 hours, and sometimes it's received immediately⁴. Transfers through banking apps are usually done via Faster Payments, which are secure payments that usually arrive within seconds¹⁹. A bank paying into a savings account gives a similar picture: in most cases the money will leave your bank account straight away, and it can take up to two hours to reach the account²⁰.

The international leg and the wallet payout sit on top of that. A wallet credit is not instant in every country, and the receiving service may hold the money while it checks the recipient.

Limits come from both ends of the transfer. Your bank or provider sets a cap on what you can send, and the wallet sets a cap on what it will hold or what can be spent. As examples, one UK bank allows up to £20,000 per transaction through its send money feature⁵, and one bank caps mobile wallet spending at £500 per transaction⁶. A wallet's incoming limit is often lower than a bank's outgoing limit, so a large transfer may need to be split or sent to a bank account instead.

When a transfer goes wrong: mistakes, delays and scams

The most common mistake is a wrong phone number. If the number does not belong to a wallet, the payment should fail and the money should automatically bounce back to you²¹. If it belongs to someone else, the money has reached a real person, and recovery depends on the provider tracing it and the recipient agreeing to return it.

Delays usually come from checks rather than from the payment rail. A provider may hold a transfer while it verifies identity or the source of funds, and the recipient's wallet may hold it while it verifies them.

Scams are the bigger risk. Scams involving authorised push payments occur when consumers are tricked into authorising a transfer of money to an account that they believe belongs to a legitimate payee²², and they are the second biggest type of payment fraud²¹. A bank transfer request is itself a warning sign: if someone is asking you to pay by bank transfer, it could be a sign that it's a scam²³.

Digital wallet fraud is a related problem: it happens when a criminal steals your card details, tricks you into sharing a one-time passcode and adds your card to a digital wallet on their own phone²⁵. The warning sign is transactions that you didn't make²⁵.

If you are contacted after a loss, be careful. Be alert to follow-up scams: criminals may contact you again pretending they can recover your money for a fee²⁶. With cryptocurrency fraud specifically, if you are scammed it is unlikely you will recover any of your money²⁷.

Where to get help and how to complain

Start with your bank or transfer provider. Contact your financial provider by phone, and you can also contact the Financial Ombudsman Service if you are still unhappy²⁸. If you contact your bank, you may be able to recover money you've lost in unauthorised or unexpected payments²⁹.

The ombudsman service takes complaints through its website, using an online form that guides consumers through the information needed³⁰. It is free to use and covers banking and payments, including sending money abroad¹.

On the reimbursement picture, 88% (£316m) of the money lost to APP scams has been reimbursed to victims, covering 7 October 2024 to 31 March 2026³¹. That figure relates to the UK scheme, so it does not tell you what happens to a transfer sent to a wallet overseas.

If a provider will not refund you after a scam, there is a route beyond the bank: the ombudsman can look at the complaint, and the Financial Ombudsman Service is the body to escalate to³². For help that is free and independent, MoneyHelper covers banking choices and safe online shopping³³, and Age UK sets out support for scam victims²⁹.

Is money sent to a mobile wallet protected by the FSCS?

Usually not. The Financial Services Compensation Scheme covers deposits with banks and building societies, but FSCS can't protect e-money or payment services firms⁷. A wallet is normally an e-money product, so the protection you get is safeguarding rather than insurance.

Safeguarding means your money is held separately. A virtual current account is covered by e-money rules, which means your money is kept safe at a different bank, but you'd need to make a claim to the administrator if your provider failed³³. That is a real protection, but it is slower and less certain than a compensation payout.

There are narrow cases where the scheme does step in. In most cases FSCS would cover the costs deducted by the joint special administrators for distributing client money from the client money pool³⁴. That is about the cost of returning money, not about replacing a lost balance.

The practical point for a sender is that the money is protected by the rules of the country where the wallet sits, not by UK deposit protection. If the wallet provider fails, the route is the administrator, and the timescale is set by that process rather than by the FSCS.