Author, Mike Smith
Last Updated on August 7th, 2024
I’ll explain what Barclays charges for an International Transfer, how long it takes, and how to make a Barclays International Payment.
Hopefully, it will save you time trawling through pages of bank jargon and complicated fee schedules.
Barclays international payment charges
There are two types of charges with an international money transfer.
- Transfer fees
- Exchange rates
Of the two costs, the transfer fee is the more visible but is normally less important.
A lot of people think the transfer fee is the only cost.
Companies, such as Barclays, advertise “free transfers”.
It makes it sound like there’s no cost at all! But that’s not true.
The real money is made from the exchange rate.
Barclays international transfer fee
An international transfer fee is just a basic, flat fee charged per transfer.
Barclays charges a £25 fee to make an international transfer using a branch or telephone banking. If you use online banking, there is no transfer fee.
By having lower fees for online transfers, Barclays is trying to get you to do everything online.
It saves them money and gives them stress.
From my experience, a lot of people don’t want to send large amounts of money overseas using an online system.
It can be frustrating, time-consuming, and scary.
Things can and do go wrong, so bear that in mind when you choose your method of payment.
| Barclays International Payments | Online | Branch or Telephone |
| Transfer Fee | Free | £25 |
The above table relates to outbound Barclays payments (UK to overseas).
If you receive money from overseas into your UK account, Barclays charge a £6 fee for most inbound transfers.
While transfer fees aren’t huge, they can begin to add up if you need to make frequent payments.
For the most part, you are best focusing on getting a better exchange rate.
Barclays exchange rates
There is no such thing as standard exchange rates.
Barclays creates its exchange rates by adding a mark-up or ‘margin’ to its wholesale rates.
As a customer of Barclays myself, I can delve into their system and figure out exactly what their margins are.
Barclays exchange rates are a function of the amount and the currency.
Check out the Barclays exchange rate margins below:
| Transfer Amount | Exchange rate margin |
| Under £25,000 | 2.82% |
| £50,000 | 1.78% |
| £100,000 | 1.49% |
| £200,000 | 1.19% |
You can see the bigger the transfer amount, the better the exchange rate.
Here are some examples using the table above:
£10,000 transfer, Barclays charge £282 in exchange rate costs.
£50,000 transfer, Barclays charge £890 in exchange rate costs.
£200,000 transfer, Barclays charge £2,380 in exchange rates costs.
I think a lot of people might be surprised by how big those charges are!
You can also see that the exchange rate costs are significantly higher than the transfer fees of £25.
For larger international transfers, the overall costs can be in the thousands.
But the funny thing is, most people still focus on the little transfer fee!
Are Barclays exchange rates good or bad?
In my experience, the big banks (including Barclays) don’t tend to offer the best exchange rates available.
You can do better elsewhere.
The best thing to do is get a quote from an alternative provider and compare how much money you would receive.
The potential saving will depend on the amount you are sending.
Even small differences in exchange rates can make a large financial difference to you.
If you are worried about paying excessive charges, why not compare our rates?
Types of Barclays International Transfers
I found it confusing when I read this on the Barclays website:
“We offer two payment options when sending money to Europe: SEPA payments and international payments.”
To clarify, a SEPA payment does not apply to most Brits.
That’s because SEPA transfers are Euro-to-Euro payments.
For customers that want to send or receive Pounds, an International Payment is the option you need.
How to make a Barclays international transfer
The first step is to choose how you want to send your money:
- Online Banking
- Barclays app
- Telephone Banking; or
- Branch
Here’s a quick overview of how each method works…
For Online Banking, you log in as normal.
Within Move Money, select International Payment.
You will need to enter the number of Pounds you want to move and the currency you need.
The system will quote you a rate based on the amount you enter (larger amounts = better rates).
Importantly, you will also need to input all the recipient’s bank details.
Once everything is in place, you will get a Payment Summary to check over.
Before any money is sent, you will also need to go through the PINsentry process, as per usual.
For the Barclays App, you are best watching their video with the slightly creepy voiceover guy.
For Telephone Banking you call 0345 734 5345 or if you’re outside the UK call +44 24 7684 2100. You will need to already be set up for Telephone Banking and have your passcode to hand.
For Branch, it will involve filling out forms. Hopefully, you will get a nice person that knows what they’re doing.
The information you will need:
One difference between international transfers and regular domestic transfers, is you need to put together a bit more info about the recipient.
You need the following 3 things:
- Recipient name (can be you or someone else)
- Country (where the money is going)
- IBAN (international bank account number)
The IBAN can be intimidating because it is so damn long.
It doesn’t help that an IBAN’s length varies from country to country.
It is usually 20-30 characters long – including letters and numbers.
The IBAN is the critical bit of code that ensures your money gets to the right bank and right account.
Included in this long string of characters are the country code, bank code, branch code, and account number.
The easiest way to find the Barclays IBAN is to look at a bank statement (that’s if you’re sending the money to an account in your name and have access to a statement).
If not, you can go into a branch or try and generate one using a free online tool like this.
By the way, I’m not endorsing any particular website – I’ve got no connection to them.
One advantage of using a money transfer specialist is that they can assist you with all the details and help make sure your payment is correct.
How long does a Barclays international transfer take?
Making an international transfer with Barclays is fairly quick.
Barclays says to allow 1-2 working days to transfer money within the EU. For transfers outside of Europe, allow 3-4 working days.
The variance in time often comes down to the recipient foreign bank, which is outside of the control of Barclays.
When money comes into a bank account from abroad, the recipient bank does its checks. These checks can cause hold-ups and are affected by time zones and the efficiency of the bank’s processes.
Barclays international transfer limits
Barclays has a daily payment limit of £100,000 for Online Banking.
That may not be an issue for most people, but we have some customers that need to send large amounts of money abroad.
For example, people who are buying a property in Spain, France, or Portugal, will often exceed this limit.
The limit can become a real pain if you need to send a large amount of money.
From my experience, it adds stress and worries to overseas property transactions as the customer needs to carry out multiple transfers or wait in a queue at a branch and do a bunch of paperwork.
Anyone that has bought a property before knows it’s stressful enough without adding further complications.
Any easy solution to daily limits is to use a money transfer specialist, as they don’t tend to have any restrictions or maximum amounts.
A trusted and helpful alternative: Key Currency
If you need to make an international transfer, you can:
- use a bank, such as Barclays, or
- use a money transfer specialist, such as Key Currency.
As an independent currency specialist, we have far lower overheads than the banks, enabling us to pass on the savings to you.
The cost of our service is included in the exchange rate we quote you. There are no additional fees or charges.
Unlike banks and online-only systems, we don’t make you do everything yourself.
We won’t push you onto a trading platform or make you download an app.
All our customers are given an account manager who will look after your transfer personally, taking care of the process for you.
Among other things, we are happy to help set up the payment details, offer guidance on exchange rates and keep you informed at all stages of your transfer.
Our company has attained a 5-star “Excellent” customer rating on the review website Trustpilot; the highest rating available for our industry.
Key Currency is an FCA-regulated Authorised Payment Institution (No. 753989), and as such, you have the peace of mind of knowing that all money transfers are conducted through safeguarded client accounts.
If you would like to compare us to Barclays or another provider, simply request a free quote below.
More money transfer articles & guidance
Transfer money to Spain in 4 simple steps