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International payments and transfers – How do I send money abroad?

– Barclays International Payments Service

This service provides a flexible means of sending funds overseas and has been designed to meet your needs in terms of cost and speed. Payments are sent using an electronic bank-to-bank transfer, which is suitable for both urgent and less time-critical payments. Find out more

  • Payments from sterling or currency accounts or against forward contracts
  • Payments made in any freely traded currency to virtually any destination
  • No maximum value
  • Flexible, reliable, secure and competitive
  • Make payments online, over the phone or in branch
  • Choose between standard and priority service

Standard service

  • For non-urgent payments – Payments are dispatched on the working day following receipt of your instruction (at the very latest)
  • Number of working days for funds to arrive (indication only): 3-4 for sterling or local currency to EU/EEA (not available for euros, see SEPA Credit Transfer below); 4-5 for the rest of Europe; 4-5 for North America; up to 8 for the rest of the world*
  • Charge: £25 plus overseas delivery charges** where you've agreed to pay them†. Please note: Payments to Europe where IBAN and SWIFTBIC have not been provided will be sent as priority service and charged at £40
  • Not available for euro payments to the EU/EEA – see SEPA Credit Transfer below

Priority service

  • For urgent payments – Payments are dispatched same-day following receipt of your instruction by the 2pm cut-off time
  • Payments dispatched with earliest possible Value Date
  • Number of working days for funds to arrive (indication only): usually same day or next working day for euros, sterling or local currency to EU/EEA; 1-3 for the rest of Europe; 1-3 for North America; up to 7 for the rest of the world*
  • Charge: £40 plus overseas delivery charges** where you've agreed to pay them†

Ways to pay 

  • Online – available for Online Banking customers who use PINsentry
  • By phone – available for Telephone Banking customers with their Telephone Banking passcode if the destination account is in their own name and the payment is for £5,000 or less; call 08457 165 921*** (+44 01202 648 921 from outside the UK).
  • In branch – visit your local branch for full details.

 

– SEPA (Single Euro Payments Area) Credit Transfer

This service is for non-urgent payments in euros only to any of the 27 European Union countries plus the 3 European Economic Area Countries (Iceland, Lichtenstein, Norway), Monaco and Switzerland:

  • No maximum value
  • Euros only
  • Payments reach the beneficiary the working day after processing*
  • Charge: £15
  • SWIFTBIC and IBAN are mandatory
  • The option to ‘pay only Barclays charges’ must be selected

Ways to pay

  • Online – available for Online Banking customers who use PINsentry
  • By phone – available for Telephone Banking customers with their Telephone Banking passcode if the destination account is in their own name and the payment is for £5,000 or less; call 08457 165 921*** (+44 01202 648 921 from outside the UK).
  • In branch – visit your local branch for full details.


– Other methods of international payment

If you wish to send funds yourself, you can use our paper-based international payment product, International Drafts. Once you've got this item from your branch, you send the payment by post to the beneficiary. International Drafts take longer than electronic payments but you don't need to know the beneficiary's account details.

Are you a Barclays Wealth customer?
As a Barclays Wealth client, you could make online payments to overseas beneficiaries through the international online service (up to £20,000 per payment). Find out more about international banking services from Barclays Wealth.

 

*Payment instructions received via Royal Mail are not subject to these dispatch timescales described. These timescales only affect payments received via Online Banking, Telephone Banking and our branch counters.

** Overseas delivery charges cover the costs and charges for delivering the payment in the destination country. They may be a flat fee or a percentage fee.

*** To maintain a quality service, we may monitor and record phone calls. Read call charges

† To find out more about IBAN and SWIFTBIC as well as applicable counties, visit our IBAN site

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