Send Money from the UK to Spain

Measured on the full cost — the transfer fee plus the exchange-rate margin — Wise is cheapest on this corridor at £1,000, across the 4 providers we hold checked figures for. The cheapest provider also changes with the amount you send, so compare the final sum that arrives in euros rather than the headline fee.

At £1,000, Wise is the cheapest of the 4 providers priced at that amount on this corridor: about £3.81 all in, or 0.38% of the amount sent. Western Union is next at about £10.29. That is the fee plus the exchange-rate margin that applied to a transfer of that size — priced at £1,000 specifically, not worked out from a measurement taken at some other amount. It covers a bank transfer; cash pickup and mobile wallet payouts are priced separately. The margins were measured by Wise's comparison service rather than published by the providers themselves, and other providers here may be cheaper and are not priced this way.

Delivery ranges from minutes to a few business days depending on the provider and payout method. Western Union can deliver within minutes when you pay by debit card. Bank-funded and economy transfers typically take one to three business days but usually cost less. Transfers sent outside banking hours or over a weekend may not settle until the next working day.

Across the providers we compare, the available payout methods are bank deposit, cash pickup and mobile wallet. The most widely used options in Spain are bank deposit over SEPA, plus a wide cash pickup network. Spain hosts the largest British community in the EU, so this corridor runs on pensions, property and second homes rather than family support. Not every provider supports every method, so check the table above before you commit.

No. Remitly, Western Union, Ria Money Transfer, Xoom and Xe Money Transfer offer cash pickup in Spain, so your recipient can collect the funds with valid photo ID and the transfer reference number. That said, bank deposit over SEPA, plus a wide cash pickup network generally cost less than cash collection.

Providers rarely give you the mid-market rate — the reference rate you see on Google or Reuters. Instead they add a margin, typically between 0.4% and 4%, and keep the difference. That margin is often larger than the visible transfer fee, which is why a "no fee" service can still be more expensive overall. For GBP to EUR, compare the quoted rate against the mid-market rate to see the real spread you are paying.

Yes, provided you use a licensed provider. Every service listed on this page is regulated in the UK under the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), which requires safeguarding of customer funds and identity verification. Send only to people you know personally, keep your transfer reference private, and be sceptical of anyone pressuring you to send money urgently to someone you have not met.

Yes. Each provider sets its own transfer limits, which vary by how much identity verification you have completed and how you pay. Larger transfers may require additional documentation such as proof of source of funds. For transfers above roughly £10,000, a specialist foreign-exchange broker will often beat an app on rate.

The UK is still a full member of SEPA, the Single Euro Payments Area — it applied separately and was approved after Brexit, because SEPA membership was never tied to EU membership. This is widely misunderstood. What did change is paperwork: a UK-originated SEPA instruction now needs the sender's full postal address and the relevant BIC codes, and a transfer missing them can be rejected. Spain is one of the markets where some banks have added friction or charges to payments arriving from a UK IBAN, despite EU rules against treating IBANs differently by country. If a transfer is refused or charged unexpectedly, this is a known cause. Several UK banks closed or restricted accounts held by customers resident in the EU after Brexit ended passporting rights. If you live abroad and your UK account was affected, a money transfer service is often the practical way to move pension or rental income. The pound-to-euro rate has been shaped this year by a genuine policy tug-of-war rather than drifting on its own. Sterling has had support from Bank of England rate expectations — UK inflation rose in July and the BoE has stayed hawkish — but UK government borrowing costs have climbed sharply too, creating fiscal anxiety ahead of the autumn Budget. The euro's own inflation ticked up in August on energy costs, making ECB decisions pivotal: an aggressive ECB inflation response could strengthen the euro from what has so far been a weaker position against sterling than earlier in the year. None of this is settled, so check the rate on the day rather than assuming either currency's recent direction continues.