Send Money from the USA to Nigeria

Measured on the full cost — the transfer fee plus the exchange-rate margin — Wise is cheapest on this corridor at $1,000, across the 3 providers we hold checked figures for. WorldRemit, Remitly, Sendwave, LemFi, Instarem and Boss Money advertise no transfer fee here, which looks cheaper and often is not: a provider with no fee recovers it in the rate, and the margin is usually the larger of the two costs. The cheapest provider also changes with the amount you send, so compare the final sum that arrives in Nigerian nairas rather than the headline fee.

At $1,000, Wise is the cheapest of the 3 providers priced at that amount on this corridor: about $12.18 all in, or 1.22% of the amount sent. Western Union is next at about $13.70. 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.

Yes. Up to $500, Western Union costs least on this corridor; from $1,000 upwards, Wise does. The change happens somewhere between those two amounts — they are the amounts actually priced, so naming a precise crossing point would be a guess dressed as a figure. This happens because a transfer costs a flat fee plus a percentage of the amount, and those two scale in opposite directions: on a small transfer the fee dominates, on a large one the exchange-rate margin does. It is why a comparison taken at a single amount can point you at the wrong provider for yours.

Delivery ranges from minutes to a few business days depending on the provider and payout method. WorldRemit, Xoom, LemFi and Instarem 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, mobile wallet and airtime top-up. The most widely used options in Nigeria are bank deposit to local naira accounts. Most digital providers pay directly into Nigerian bank accounts in naira, which is usually cheaper and faster than cash pickup. Not every provider supports every method, so check the table above before you commit.

No. WorldRemit, Remitly, Western Union, Xoom, Sendwave and Boss Money offer cash pickup in Nigeria, so your recipient can collect the funds with valid photo ID and the transfer reference number. That said, bank deposit to local naira accounts 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 USD to NGN, 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 USA under FinCEN and state money-transmitter licences, 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.

Taptap Send no longer offers cash pickup in Nigeria, having discontinued it after Central Bank of Nigeria directives in February 2024. Western Union and Xoom still do. Western Union deposits to First Bank, GTBank and Access Bank are available for USD deposit only, which matters if the recipient needs naira in the account. Western Union caps bank deposits at $50,000 from a US account. Taptap Send caps US senders at $10,000 per transfer and per day and $24,000 over any 14-day period; New Mexico and Oklahoma residents are limited to $999 per transfer and per day. WorldRemit's fee-free offer applies specifically to transfers sent in Naira. Sending in another currency carries a fee. Sendwave cash pickup issues the recipient an SMS voucher code redeemable at Access, Zenith or Fidelity Bank rather than paying out at an agent counter. A 1% US federal excise tax applies to remittance transfers funded with cash, a money order or a cashier's check, effective January 2026. Xoom states its transfers are not subject to it. The reason this corridor now has real competition is a deliberate CBN policy push, and it is worth understanding because it changed what a formal transfer is worth. Formal monthly inflows to Nigeria went from about $250 million in early 2024 to $600 million by September 2024 and $947 million in July 2026, with the central bank targeting $1 billion a month. The CBN got there by licensing 14 new international money transfer operators, letting them access naira liquidity at the central bank window, requiring them to pay recipients directly in naira, giving them freedom to set their own exchange rates, and settling same-day for transactions completed before noon. The practical effect for you is that the formal rate has converged much closer to what informal channels offer, which is exactly why several providers here can afford to charge no fee at all and compete on the rate instead.