We put the same £200 transfer through public provider calculators, then compare the amount at the other end. Each result keeps its dated screenshot. You can inspect the quote rather than taking our word for it.
A completed transfer quote can win. A currency converter cannot.
Xe mid-market reference only. This evidence does not complete a like-for-like transfer, so it stays out of the winner calculation.
First-transfer offer. We keep the receipt, but a price available only to selected customers cannot win the standard table.
Public destination calculator. This evidence does not complete a like-for-like transfer, so it stays out of the winner calculation.
First-transfer Instarem offer. We keep the receipt, but a price available only to selected customers cannot win the standard table.
Wise comparison estimate for a bank-funded transfer. This evidence does not complete a like-for-like transfer, so it stays out of the winner calculation.
Wise comparison estimate for a bank-funded transfer. This evidence does not complete a like-for-like transfer, so it stays out of the winner calculation.
Wise comparison estimate for a bank-funded transfer. This evidence does not complete a like-for-like transfer, so it stays out of the winner calculation.
Wise comparison estimate for a bank-funded transfer. This evidence does not complete a like-for-like transfer, so it stays out of the winner calculation.
Business Current Account public indicative rate plus published payment fee. This evidence does not complete a like-for-like transfer, so it stays out of the winner calculation.
Wise comparison estimate for a bank-funded transfer. This evidence does not complete a like-for-like transfer, so it stays out of the winner calculation.
Wise comparison estimate for a bank-funded transfer. This evidence does not complete a like-for-like transfer, so it stays out of the winner calculation.
Wise comparison estimate for a bank-funded transfer. This evidence does not complete a like-for-like transfer, so it stays out of the winner calculation.
Wise comparison estimate for a bank-funded transfer. This evidence does not complete a like-for-like transfer, so it stays out of the winner calculation.
ECB reference rate less Lloyds' published 2.60% margin, plus £15 online fee. This evidence does not complete a like-for-like transfer, so it stays out of the winner calculation.
ECB reference rate less Santander's published 3% markup, plus £25 payment fee. This evidence does not complete a like-for-like transfer, so it stays out of the winner calculation.
A provider button may earn us money. The receipt link does not; it opens the evidence we stored independently.
Every published figure has a stored capture behind it. We show indicative rates, but they stay out of the cheapest-rate claim.
New UK checks start with £200 sent from a bank account to another bank account. Historic records keep the amount used at the time.
We record the rate and fee, plus what reaches the recipient. The payment route and time sit beside the captured provider screen.
The newest successful check becomes current. Yesterday's quote stays in the archive, where an inconvenient old result belongs.
That is roughly the price of a supermarket loaf, added because the recipient needs notes in hand. Our study compares like-for-like delivery and sets 791 UK service records against financial access data for 33 destinations.
Read the figures and the awkward bits →Current GBP comparisons for the routes UK customers use most.
The same receipt test, this time with pounds arriving at the other end.
We also watch the large routes between Europe and the United States, plus North America and Australasia.
Finofin publishes OnlineMoneyTransfer.co.uk and has worked on financial comparison sites since 2015. Its longer-running Money Transfer Comparison project began in 2014.
Alon Rajic leads the research operation. Russell Gous runs the written side, drawing on earlier roles at Barclays Corporate Banking and WorldFirst.