iRemit Review Verdict
iRemit is a money transfer service built around one route: sending pounds from the UK to the Philippines. It is the UK arm of I-Remit, Inc., a long-established, Filipino-owned remittance group listed in Manila.
Its strength is reach. You can pay into a Philippine bank, top up a GCash wallet, have cash collected at thousands of counters, or send money to the door. The exchange rate we saw was close to mid-market, which is rare for a heritage service.
The catch is the rest of the package. The flat fee is higher than app-first rivals, bank deposits can be slow, and the customer reviews we read carry a worrying run of held-funds and support complaints.
Best for
- Sending to family in the Philippines who rely on cash pickup or door-to-door delivery
- Households that also want to pay Philippine bills or top up GCash
- People who value a Filipino-owned service with UK branch support
Look elsewhere if
- You want the cheapest, fastest bank deposit (a mid-market app usually wins)
- You send to countries other than the Philippines
- You are a business making commercial payments
How Much Does iRemit Cost?
A flat fee that sits above the app rivals
iRemit charges a flat fee rather than a percentage. We found the standard fee starts at roughly £6 for a bank deposit or cash pickup, dated July 2026, with door-to-door delivery costing more.
There is no fee-free first transfer that we could confirm, which is a gap when rivals like Remitly hand new customers one. If you fund with a credit card, expect a surcharge of around £8 on top.
A rate margin that is genuinely thin
The other half of the cost is the exchange rate. Here iRemit surprised us. The margin above the mid-market rate looked very small, on the order of a fraction of one percent on the day we checked.
That thin margin is the trade-off for the higher flat fee. The live rate shows before you sign up, and a quoted rate is held until the end of the day you confirm, so you can price a transfer first.
Worked Example: Sending £1,000 to the Philippines
This uses the live mid-market rate of 81.62 on 1 July 2026 and iRemit's typical margin. The fee is charged on top. Rates move daily, so treat this as a snapshot and check the live figure before you send.
| Provider | Rate | Fee | Recipient gets |
|---|---|---|---|
| iRemit | ~81.46 | ~£6 | ~81,460 PHP |
| Wise | ~81.62 (mid) | ~£3.70 | ~81,620 PHP |
| Remitly | ~80.40 | ~£2.99 | ~80,400 PHP |
Read it like this. iRemit's rate lands right next to Wise, so on the exchange rate alone it is competitive, which many heritage services are not.
The gap opens once you add the fee. Wise still delivers a few hundred more pesos on a straight bank deposit because its fee is lower, while Remitly trades a weaker rate for a lighter fee. iRemit sits mid-pack on price, and its case rests on payout reach rather than being the cheapest.
Costs to watch
- The flat fee bites hardest on small transfers, so £6 on £100 is steep
- Credit-card funding adds a surcharge; a bank transfer avoids it
- Door-to-door delivery costs more than bank or cash pickup
Where and How Can You Send Money?
The Philippines, covered end to end
This is a single-corridor service, and the payout network is its real advantage. We found options that app-only rivals cannot match, spanning bank deposit, cash pickup, e-wallets, bill payments and home delivery of cash.
Bank deposits reach BDO, BPI, Metrobank, Landbank and UnionBank. Cash can be collected at iRemit's own Philippine counters plus thousands of partner outlets such as Cebuana Lhuillier, M Lhuillier, Palawan Express and LBC, and wallets cover GCash and Maya.
If the Philippines is your route, it pays to see how the wider market prices it. Compare the field on the send money to the Philippines route before you commit.
Speed and access
| Method | Speed |
|---|---|
| E-wallet such as GCash | Within minutes |
| Cash pickup | Usually within a day, often real-time |
| Bank deposit | 1 to 4 Philippine working days |
E-wallet and cash payouts are quick, but bank deposits are slower than the mid-market apps, and Philippine banking hours, weekends and holidays add delay.
You can send from the iRemitX app on iOS or Android, from the website, or in person at the London branch. Funding works by debit card, credit card or bank transfer, and there is a per-transfer cap of roughly £7,800 online.
Who Is iRemit Best For?
Families who need flexible payout
This is the core case. If your recipient collects cash in a provincial town, wants money in a GCash wallet, or needs it delivered to the door, iRemit covers all three where many app rivals do not.
You also get Filipino-language support and a UK branch you can visit.
Households paying Philippine bills
A natural fit. iRemit lets you settle Philippine utilities and government contributions such as SSS, PhilHealth and Pag-IBIG alongside a normal transfer, which a pure send-money app will not do.
That convenience is a genuine reason to pick it.
Cost-first and business senders
Not the right tool. If you only want the cheapest, fastest bank deposit, a mid-market app usually beats it, and iRemit has no business product for commercial payments.
If that describes you, a broader or business-focused provider will fit better.
When another provider fits better
- You want the lowest total cost on a bank-to-bank send
- You send to destinations beyond the Philippines
- You are a business making supplier or payroll payments
iRemit Pros and Cons
✓Pros
- Exchange-rate margin close to mid-market on the day we checked
- Bank, cash pickup, GCash and door-to-door payout all covered
- Philippine bill payments built in
- Long-established, Filipino-owned, with a UK branch and phone support
- Live rate shown before you sign up
✕Cons
- Higher flat fee than app-first rivals, with no free first transfer
- Bank deposits are slow at 1 to 4 working days
- A poor customer-review record, with held-funds and support complaints
- Credit-card funding carries a surcharge
- The Philippines is the only destination
Is iRemit Safe?
Who runs it
We checked the FCA Register. iRemit is the UK trading name of iRemit Global Remittance Ltd, an Authorised Payment Institution under firm reference number 537568, holding money-remittance permission under the Payment Services Regulations.
The firm has been on the FCA register since 2011 and runs from an office at 7B Kensington Church Street, London. It is part of I-Remit, Inc., a remittance group listed on the Philippine Stock Exchange.
How your money is protected
This is where a payments firm differs from a bank. iRemit is not a bank, so your money is not covered by the FSCS savings guarantee. Instead it is safeguarded, meaning customer funds are held in segregated accounts, separate from the firm.
Safeguarding is the standard protection for an authorised payments firm. It is designed so your transfer money is ring-fenced if the company were to fail, rather than insured like a bank deposit.
Checks and security
Expect standard onboarding. We found iRemit verifies you with photo ID and a facial biometric check, and larger or more frequent transfers can trigger source-of-funds questions that hold the payment until you reply.
Those held-payment checks show up repeatedly in reviews, so keep your documents ready for a bigger send. The recipient's name must match their ID exactly at a cash counter, so enter it with care.
Using iRemit: App, Funding and Support
Getting started. Download the iRemitX app on iOS or Android, or use the website, then verify your identity with a photo ID and a selfie check. You add a recipient by their bank, wallet or cash-pickup details before sending.
Paying. Fund a transfer by debit card, credit card or a bank transfer. Credit cards add a surcharge, so a debit card or bank transfer keeps the cost down, and you can also pay in person at the London branch.
Support. Help runs Monday to Saturday and on Sunday afternoons, in English and Filipino. You can reach the team by phone, email, in-app message, WhatsApp, Viber or Facebook Messenger, though reviewers rate the responsiveness as patchy.
iRemit Customer Reviews and Reputation
We read the reviews rather than only the scores, and this is the weakest part of the picture. The recurring complaint is money held for weeks with little explanation, which matters a great deal when you are sending it to family.
| Source | Score | Reviews | As of |
|---|---|---|---|
| Trustpilot | 1.5/5 | ~44 | Jul 2026 |
| Apple App Store | 2.1/5 | Mixed | Jul 2026 |
| Google Play | Mixed | 50,000+ installs | Jul 2026 |
What people praise: convenient Philippine bill payments, and fast real-time cash pickup once an account is fully verified.
What goes wrong: the main themes are transfers frozen for compliance checks, slow or generic customer support, and app glitches around identity verification. The review base is small, so weigh each account on its merits, but the pattern is a real caution.
How Does iRemit Compare?
On this corridor the real test is the pesos received and how they arrive, and you can see the wider field in our money transfer comparison.
Two other Filipino specialists price differently. Our Kabayan Remit review covers a low-fee app with a free first transfer, while our PNB Europe review looks at a bank-backed rival with its own branch network. Two fellow Philippines specialists sit close by: our BCRemit and Metro Remittance UK reviews.
Rates move daily, and we refresh the live figures, so run a live comparison of today's rates and fees before you send. Then weigh iRemit's payout reach against the lower cost a mid-market app can offer.
Final Verdict: Is iRemit Worth It?
iRemit is a legitimate, long-established way to send money to the Philippines, and its payout network is genuinely strong. The rate margin we saw was thin, and the ability to reach banks, wallets, cash counters and even the front door is a real draw for family support.
What holds it back is the rest of the deal. The flat fee sits above app-first rivals, bank deposits are slow, there is no first-transfer perk, and the customer-review record carries too many held-funds and support complaints to ignore.
For Philippines remittance it earns 2.5 out of 5. Use it for its cash pickup, bill payments and door-to-door reach, but compare the total cost against a mid-market app first, and keep your ID ready in case a transfer is held for checks.
iRemit FAQs
Yes, it is legitimate. iRemit is the UK trading name of iRemit Global Remittance Ltd, an FCA Authorised Payment Institution under firm reference number 537568. Your money is safeguarded in segregated accounts, the standard protection for a payments firm rather than FSCS bank cover.
It uses a flat fee, which we found starting at roughly £6 for a bank deposit or cash pickup as of July 2026, with door-to-door delivery costing more. On top of the fee the exchange-rate margin is small, which offsets some of that higher fee.
It depends on the payout. E-wallet and cash pickup are usually quick, often within minutes to a day, while bank deposits can take 1 to 4 Philippine working days. Weekends and Philippine holidays add delay.
A wide range. You can pay into major banks such as BDO, BPI and Metrobank, send to GCash and Maya wallets, arrange cash pickup at thousands of outlets, pay Philippine bills, or have cash delivered to the recipient's door.
Yes, it is legitimate. iRemit is the UK trading name of iRemit Global Remittance Ltd, an FCA Authorised Payment Institution under firm reference number 537568. Your money is safeguarded in segregated accounts, the standard protection for a payments firm rather than FSCS bank cover.
It uses a flat fee, which we found starting at roughly £6 for a bank deposit or cash pickup as of July 2026, with door-to-door delivery costing more. On top of the fee the exchange-rate margin is small, which offsets some of that higher fee.
It depends on the payout. E-wallet and cash pickup are usually quick, often within minutes to a day, while bank deposits can take 1 to 4 Philippine working days. Weekends and Philippine holidays add delay.
A wide range. You can pay into major banks such as BDO, BPI and Metrobank, send to GCash and Maya wallets, arrange cash pickup at thousands of outlets, pay Philippine bills, or have cash delivered to the recipient's door.
Verified 2 July 2026. Provider data cross-checked against the FCA Register, Trustpilot and the live GBP/PHP corridor benchmark. Rates and fees move daily; confirm the live figure before sending.
Currency Expert compares money transfer providers and may earn a commission when you use our links. It does not change how we rank providers or what we say below. Rates and fees move, so the figures here are dated and illustrative; confirm live costs before you send.