Regular payments abroad: paying bills, family or a mortgage overseas

Paying something abroad every month, whether it is a mortgage on a holiday home, rent, a bill in euros or support for family, is a different job from a one-off transfer. The Financial Ombudsman Service describes regular payments as automatic payments set up on your account to pay bills, subscriptions and other ongoing services¹, and an international money transfer as a way of sending funds from a UK account to an account in a different country². Combine the two and the question becomes which method to automate, because each one behaves differently on cost, timing and protection.

Broadly there are three routes. A standing order from your bank sends a fixed amount on a set schedule and you control it entirely. A SEPA direct debit lets a business in a euro country collect varying amounts from your UK account, which suits bills that change. And money transfer firms offer their own recurring payment plans, which can convert pounds to the local currency automatically each time. Standing orders are a familiar habit in the UK: there were 551 million of them in 2025, forecast to grow to 586 million by 2035³.

Ways to make regular payments abroad

The right route depends on who controls the amount. If the amount is the same every time and you want to decide when it goes, a standing order fits: it is an instruction you give your bank to pay a set amount to a named beneficiary at regular intervals, and the customer's bank sends the money⁹. If the amount changes, for example a utility bill in Spain or an insurance premium in France, a SEPA direct debit lets the company collect what is owed each month, subject to rules on notice and refunds. If your main concern is the exchange rate, a recurring plan with a money transfer firm converts the pounds each time, and some firms let you fix a rate for a period.

Real-life examples show how each is used. Graduates living abroad repay a Plan 2 student loan through their online account or by International Bank Transfer (IBAN)¹⁰, which is a standing-order-style arrangement you control. Someone paying an electricity bill in a euro country may instead give the supplier permission to collect the bill amount directly. Someone supporting relatives monthly may use a transfer firm's automatic plan so the same sterling amount arrives as local currency each time.

Each route is covered in detail below, but the trade-offs to keep in mind throughout are:

The costs differ too. A bank standing order abroad is really an international payment on a schedule, so the bank's transfer fees and exchange rate margin apply each time. A SEPA direct debit in euros is usually cheap to receive but the exchange conversion still happens somewhere. A transfer firm's plan prices the conversion into its own rate and fees. The pages on how international payments work and exchange rates explain where these costs sit.

Standing orders: a fixed amount on a set schedule

A standing order is an instruction you give your bank to pay an amount to a person or organisation at regular intervals¹. The ombudsman's guidance puts it more fully: standing orders are customers' instructions to their bank to pay a set amount, to a named beneficiary, at regular intervals, and the bank, not the beneficiary, sends the money⁹. That last point is the defining feature. Once set up, the payment happens whether or not the recipient does anything, and the amount stays the same unless you amend your instruction⁴.

In the UK, standing orders are typically used for rent payments, monthly charity donations and regular payments into a savings account⁴. The same mechanics work for an overseas recipient: you give your bank the foreign account details, usually an IBAN and BIC as explained in recipient details for payments abroad, and the bank sends the payment on your schedule. Domestically the money is transferred through the Faster Payments Service and is processed on the same day, or on the first day after a weekend or bank holiday⁴. Going abroad adds correspondent banking steps, which is why the timescales are longer, as covered below.

One regulatory point is worth knowing. The FCA's banking conduct rules list "set up a standing order to a payee in the United Kingdom" among the basic banking services a bank must provide, with a standard 15-minute execution expectation for that service¹¹. That rule is written around UK payees. A standing order to an account abroad is an international payment, and the execution rules and timescales that apply to it are the international ones, not the domestic ones.

For a payment that must arrive as a fixed amount in the recipient's currency, a standing order has a built-in weakness: you fix the sterling amount, but the amount that lands abroad depends on the exchange rate on the day. A euro mortgage payment of the same sterling amount each month can arrive as noticeably different euro amounts. The page on fixing an exchange rate covers ways to remove that variability.

Payment limits and cut-off times

International payments do not move instantly, and each bank sets cut-off times after which a payment counts as the next business day's work. first direct's account terms give a concrete example: payments outside the UK in other currencies usually take up to four working days, with a cut-off of 6.00pm for US Dollars⁸. Other currencies have their own cut-offs, so a payment instructed late in the day may leave a day later than expected. The page on how long international payments take goes deeper into what causes the delays.

Weekends and bank holidays shift dates in both countries. A standing order sent through Faster Payments is processed on the same day or on the first day after a weekend or bank holiday⁴. But the receiving side has its own calendar: the International Pension Centre warns that a payment date falling on a public or bank holiday where you live may be delayed, and that payments due in the same week as a US federal holiday could arrive one day late because a US company processes them¹². A regular payment that is due abroad on the 1st of each month may therefore need to be sent earlier to arrive on time.

Where a deadline is strict, the rules are strict too. HMRC requires that if a payment deadline falls on a weekend or bank holiday, the payment must reach HMRC by the last working day before, unless paying by Faster Payments¹³. Benefits and pensions due on a weekend or bank holiday are usually paid on the working day before¹⁴, and the same rule applies in Northern Ireland, where a payment due on a bank holiday is usually paid on the last working day before the holiday¹⁵.

Setting up, changing or cancelling a standing order

To set up a standing order you need four things: the amount of money you want to send, a payment reference, when you want the money to leave your account, and how long you would like the regular payments to continue¹⁶. You can set up standing orders through online banking¹⁶. For a recipient abroad you also need their international account details, covered in details needed to pay someone abroad. The reference matters more than people assume: NS&I, for example, asks customers paying into its accounts to quote their NS&I account number as the reference, and to give the sort code and account numbers to their bank online, by phone or in a branch¹⁷.

Changing or cancelling is entirely in your hands. You can edit or cancel a standing order whenever you like, and should do this at least three working days before the payment is due⁴. The ombudsman's guidance is blunt about the mechanics: any subsequent change, for example to the amount or the date, must be initiated by the consumer, and to cancel, the consumer must cancel their standing order instruction with the bank, because informing the recipient is not enough¹⁸. NS&I makes the same point to its savers: if you wish to stop or change your standing order you need to contact your bank¹⁹.

If you switch bank accounts, the switching rules protect your schedule. Under the Payment Accounts Regulations, the date from which standing orders and direct debits are executed at the new provider must be at least six business days after the receiving provider receives the transferred documents²¹. Banks must also offer a switching service between payment accounts denominated in the same currency and held with providers located in the UK²², a duty restated in the 2023 amendment to the regulations²³. Debt advisers suggest using the switch as a chance to re-time payments: shifting direct debits and standing orders to go out soon after income arrives can help avoid overdraft use²⁴.

SEPA direct debits for bills in euro countries

A direct debit works the other way round from a standing order: to set one up, you give permission to a business or organisation to collect money from your account, usually for bills or subscriptions¹. In the UK these collections run over Bacs, which is used for direct debits, commonly to pay regular bills²⁵, and direct debits are often used for mortgage, phone, energy or gas bills⁴. They are the dominant habit: consumers used direct debits for around 7 out of 10 of all regular bill payments in 2025³.

A SEPA direct debit is the same idea extended across Europe, letting a company in a euro country collect from your UK account. The full rules are on the page about sending euros from a UK account. The attraction for bills abroad is that the company collects exactly what is owed each month, so you never underpay a variable bill. The protection that comes with it is unusually strong: under regulation 79(3) of the Payment Services Regulations 2017, the payer is entitled to an unconditional refund from its payment service provider of the full amount of any SEPA-type direct debit transaction⁵.

Even a basic payment account must support this. The Payment Accounts Regulations require an account with basic features to allow direct debits, payment transactions through a payment card including online payments, and credit transfers including standing orders, within the European Union, in sterling or in the currency of another member state²⁶. The same list appears in the regulations' own summary of the account's features²⁷. So a UK bank cannot refuse a euro direct debit purely on the grounds that the account is a basic one.

Who can set up a SEPA direct debit

The practical answer is that the company sets it up, not you. Direct debits are set up by the company you will be paying, and you provide them with your name and bank details so they can arrange the payment¹⁶. That means the recipient must be an organisation able to collect direct debits: a utility in Ireland, an insurer in France, a phone company in the Netherlands. An individual cannot usually pull a direct debit from your account, which is why a SEPA direct debit is not a way to send regular money to a relative.

Your bank's duties when you move depend on where you are moving to. Where a consumer wishes to open a payment account with a provider located outside the UK but within the EU, the UK provider must, by a date the consumer specifies and free of charge, provide a list of all active standing orders and direct debit mandates, information about recurring incoming credit transfers and direct debits from the previous 13 months, transfer any positive balance to the EU provider, and close the UK account²². That 13-month list is designed precisely so that recurring payments, including SEPA direct debits, can be re-established at the new bank without anything being lost.

SEPA direct debit refunds: eight weeks or 13 months

Two different time limits protect direct debit payments, and they do different jobs. The first is the unconditional refund. Regulation 80 of the Payment Services Regulations 2017 provides that the payer must request a refund under regulation 79 from its payment service provider within 8 weeks from the date on which the funds were debited²⁸. The same eight-week window is restated in the legislation's part 7 provisions⁵ and in the authorisation provisions²⁹. For a SEPA direct debit, this refund does not depend on the payment being wrong: within eight weeks you can ask your bank to return the full amount⁵.

The second limit is 13 months, and it applies to a different category. Under the redress rules, an unauthorised or incorrectly executed payment transaction must be notified no later than 13 months after the debit date for the payer to be entitled to redress⁶. So a payment you never authorised, or one that was executed wrongly, can be challenged for over a year, while the no-questions SEPA refund lasts only eight weeks.

If you complain to your bank about a card payment or direct debit, the business must look into it and get back to you within 15 days³⁰. Banks' own terms run on similar lines for card payments: first direct allows a refund claim within eight weeks of the payment being charged where the amount was higher than you reasonably thought, with a decision within 10 working days of the claim⁸. If the bank does not resolve the complaint, the Financial Ombudsman Service can look at it, and its guidance on regular payments explains how¹.

Regular payment plans from money transfer firms

Money transfer firms offer a third route: you fund a payment account with them, and they send the converted amount abroad on a schedule. The services these firms provide are regulated activities: the Payment Services Regulations list them as including enabling cash to be placed on a payment account, cash withdrawals, execution of payment transactions including direct debits, card transactions and credit transfers, issuing payment instruments, money remittance, and payment initiation and account information services when carried out as a regular occupation or business³¹. Money remittance is the category most transfer firms sit in.

The attraction is usually the exchange rate and the automation: the firm converts each payment at its own rate, and some plans let you lock a rate for a period, as explained in forward contracts and limit orders. The protection is different from a bank's, and it matters to understand how. Under the FCA's 2025 policy statement, payment firms must perform safeguarding reconciliations at least once each day, other than weekends, public holidays and days when relevant foreign markets are closed³². But the same policy states an exclusion: where a foreign exchange transaction is carried out independently of any payment services, those funds do not have to be safeguarded³². Money held purely for a currency conversion, rather than for making a payment, may sit outside the safeguarding rules.

Firms in this market can and do fail, and it is worth knowing in advance where you would stand. When a payment firm stops trading, customers' claims are to the funds the firm was required to safeguard, not to the FSCS, because safeguarding, not deposit protection, is the rule that applies to money held for payment services²⁴. The pages on safeguarding and when a provider fails explain how that works and what steps to take.

Where a standing order gives no protection

A standing order is your instruction, and the protections that attach to direct debits do not attach to it. Which?'s guidance is direct: you aren't protected if a standing order payment goes out in error, so make sure you have the correct information⁴. There is no Direct Debit Guarantee for a standing order, no automatic refund window, and no company standing behind the payment that must give you notice of changes. If you send the money to the wrong account, or send the wrong amount, recovering it depends on the recipient and your bank's goodwill and tracing efforts, covered in tracing, cancelling or recalling a payment.

The ombudsman's position reinforces where responsibility sits. Because a standing order requires the customer's bank to send the money on the customer's instruction, the bank executes what you told it to do; cancelling means cancelling the instruction with the bank, and informing the recipient is not enough¹⁸. If a payment goes out after you thought you had cancelled, the question the ombudsman will ask is whether the bank received and acted on your cancellation in time, not whether the recipient knew.

That is not the same as having no recourse at all. If your bank fails to execute a payment correctly, or fails to act on a cancellation, you can complain to the bank and then to the Financial Ombudsman Service, which handles complaints about IT problems at banks, including payments that go missing or wrong³⁰. The broader rights, including the 13-month rule for unauthorised and incorrectly executed transactions, are on the page about your rights under the Payment Services Regulations. But the starting point is simple: with a standing order, the accuracy of the details and the timing of any change are on you.