Send money to France
See today's live rates — and exactly what your recipient receives, after every fee.
GBP
EURCompare in seconds
Live mid-market comparisons · results refreshed continuously
Today's best rates to France
As of 5 August 2026, sending £1,000 to France, your recipient gets the most with Instarem: 1,165.10 EUR, the best of 6 providers compared.
| Provider | Rate | Fee | Recipient gets | Speed | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1.1651 0.10% worse | £0 | 1,165.10 EUR | Within 2 days | Send | |
1.1650 0.11% worse | £0 | 1,165.00 EUR | 1–3 days | Send | |
1.1650 0.11% worse | £0 | 1,165.00 EUR | 1–3 days | Send | |
1.1636 0.23% worse | £0 | 1,163.58 EUR | Within 2 days | Send | |
1.1605 0.50% worse | £0 | 1,160.50 EUR | 1–2 days | Send | |
1.1344 2.73% worse | £0 | 1,134.42 EUR | Up to 4 days | Send |
France is one of the biggest destinations for UK money transfers — a second home in the Dordogne or Brittany, a retirement move to Provence, a ski place in the Alps, or supporting family and paying French bills. Because both countries sit in the SEPA zone, the euros themselves move easily; the real question is which provider you convert your pounds with. The gap between a UK high-street bank and a specialist is typically 2–4% of the whole transfer — on £10,000 that's the difference between losing around £50 and losing £300+ to the exchange rate alone, before any fee. And yes, France uses the IBAN, so paying into a French account is straightforward.
How to send money to France from the UK
There are three practical ways to move money from the UK into a French bank account. They rarely differ in whether the money arrives — it almost always does — but they differ a lot in how many euros survive the exchange rate.
Bank transfer
The obvious choice, and usually the dearest. High-street banks typically build a 2–4% margin into the exchange rate on top of a £0–£25+ fee. On a £10,000 transfer, a 3% margin alone is about £300 gone before the fee.
Money-transfer provider
Specialists — Wise, Currencies Direct, TorFX, OFX, Revolut — are built to beat bank rates. Margins run 0.5–2%, often under 1% on larger sums, and brokers will price a big transfer keenly. On £10,000 a 0.5% margin is around £50.
App or prepaid card
Apps like Wise and Revolut double as travel-spending tools; prepaid cards fix the rate when you load them. For actually paying euros into a French bank account — rather than spending on the ground — a dedicated transfer provider usually wins.
What you need to send money to France
French bank details and IBANs
France is part of SEPA, so every French account has an IBAN — 27 characters, starting "FR". You'll need the recipient's full name and their IBAN, and most providers also ask for the bank's BIC/SWIFT code to route the payment. Check the IBAN digit-by-digit against something the recipient sent you in writing — a single wrong character is one of the most common causes of a bounced or delayed transfer.
ID checks and verification
UK providers must verify who you are before sending (Know Your Customer, under the Money Laundering Regulations). A first or modest transfer needs your name, address and date of birth, plus a photo ID and proof of address. Anything above roughly £8,000–£10,000 usually triggers extra checks — the source-of-funds request covered further down.
How long does it take to send money to France?
Once your pounds are converted to euros, the payment travels on the SEPA network inside Europe. You don't pick the rail — the provider does — but it's worth knowing what the labels mean.
Hold-ups usually come down to one thing: a missed daily cut-off, first-time identity checks, a UK or French bank holiday, or a mistyped IBAN. On a large purchase, the checks before the money leaves take longer than the transfer itself.
Fees and exchange rates for UK to France
Fees run from £0 (many specialists on standard transfers) to £25+ (a bank branch payment). But the flat fee is the part that's easy to see — the exchange-rate margin is the part that isn't, and it's usually the bigger cost. Here's where it hides.
The exchange-rate margin
The real cost of most transfers. Banks: 2–4% above the mid-market rate. Specialists: typically 0.5–2%, often under 1% on larger amounts. On £10,000+ that gap is routinely £200–£300.
Correspondent-bank fees
An old-fashioned SWIFT wire can hop through intermediary banks that each take a slice, so less arrives than you sent. Specialists paying by local euro transfer usually avoid this altogether.
Card & weekend markups
Watch for ~3% foreign-transaction fees on a normal UK debit or credit card, and weekend/out-of-hours markups on some apps. Judge any offer by the euros that land, not the headline fee.
Sending money to France to buy property
The British have long been among the largest groups of overseas buyers in France, concentrated in the west and south — the Dordogne and Charente, Brittany and Normandy (a ferry or tunnel from home), Occitanie, the Alps and Provence. The French buying process is formal and runs through a notaire — a neutral, state-appointed official who guarantees the transaction's legality but is not your personal adviser. Money changes hands at set stages.
Preliminary contract
Compromis de vente — the first binding contract. You pay a deposit (dépôt de garantie) of around 10% into the notaire's client account, then have a statutory 10-day cooling-off period to withdraw with a full refund.
The notaire's checks
Over the next two to three months the notaire runs title searches, planning and charge checks, and prepares the deed. This is when your source-of-funds paperwork matters most.
Completion
Acte de vente — signed at the notaire's office. You transfer the remaining 90% plus fees into the notaire's account beforehand; ownership passes and keys change hands on signing.
All funds go through the notaire's client account — never directly to the seller or agent. You don't need a French tax number before completion (you get one when you first file a French return), but a French bank account is effectively essential for the completion draft, utilities and annual taxes. Budget an extra 7–8% of the price for costs on a resale home (the frais de notaire — mostly the ~5.8% droits de mutation transfer tax, not the notaire's own fee), and only around 2–3% on a new-build.
Lock in today's euro rate with a forward contract
Two to four months typically pass between signing the compromis and paying the balance at the acte — long enough for GBP/EUR to move against you by thousands. On a €300,000 purchase, a 2–3% swing is £6,000–£9,000. A forward contract lets you fix today's rate now and pay for the euros later, usually against a small deposit. And because a French purchase means at least two payments — the 10% deposit, then the 90% balance — some buyers convert in stages rather than all at once.
So if a big euro completion is a couple of months off, ask about a forward contract before you exchange.
Is it safe to send money to France?
Any UK firm handling money transfers must be authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority and keep customer money segregated from its own ("safeguarding") — thirty seconds on the FCA Register confirms it. The bigger danger on a property purchase is fraud, so these rules are worth knowing before you move a large sum.
Completion-day payment diversion
Rule: criminals hack the email chain between you, the agent and the notaire and, right before completion, send a fake "our bank details have changed" message pointing at their own account. Always confirm the notaire's IBAN by phone on a number you already had — never one from an email.
Never pay individuals direct
Rule: every purchase payment — deposit and balance — belongs in the notaire's official client account, not a seller's or agent's personal account. Look for agents registered with the FNAIM professional body.
"Better rate" cold-call / clone firm
Rule: a firm that rings out of the blue with an unbeatable rate may be a clone of a real one. Check it on the FCA Register and call back on the number listed there, not the one you were given.
Check the firm is regulated
Rule: FCA-authorised firms must keep your money separate from their own, so it's protected if the firm fails. Look the firm up on register.fca.org.uk before you commit.
Report fraud: Action Fraud on 0300 123 2040 or at actionfraud.police.uk (in Scotland, Police Scotland on 101).
Tax on money sent to France
Moving your own money
Sending your own, already-taxed money from the UK to France is not a UK taxable event — there's no tax just for transferring it. There's no fixed UK reporting threshold for electronic transfers, though a large one usually prompts a source-of-funds check. Keep the paperwork that shows where the money came from.
Watch-out: gifts and French taxes
A gift can affect UK Inheritance Tax on your estate if you die within seven years. Separately, owning French property brings its own annual taxes — taxe foncière, taxe d'habitation on second homes, and the IFI wealth tax on French property worth over €1.3m — none of which relate to the transfer itself. If you're buying, take French tax advice.
How do most people move money to France?
For most second-home owners, retirees and families, the cheapest route is a specialist currency company paying euros straight into a French account by SEPA transfer — not a high-street bank. For a one-off move a spot deal is fine; for a notaire completion or another known future payment, a forward contract to lock the rate is what sets the specialists apart. Whichever you pick, judge it by the euros that actually arrive — and confirm the receiving account by phone before you send.
Frequently asked questions about sending money to France
Mostly the exchange-rate margin, not the flat fee. A UK bank typically costs 2–4% of your transfer in a worse rate; a specialist typically costs 0.5–2%. On £10,000, that's roughly £200–£300 with a bank versus £50–£150 with a specialist provider.
A specialist money-transfer provider using or close to the mid-market rate, rather than a UK high-street bank. Compare the total cost — fee plus exchange-rate margin — for your specific amount using the table above, since some providers are cheaper on smaller amounts and others on larger ones.
Yes. Every French account uses an IBAN — 27 characters, starting "FR" — and it's mandatory for any SEPA transfer into France. Providers usually also ask for the bank's BIC/SWIFT code. Always check the IBAN against details the recipient sent you in writing.
As little as under 10 seconds by SEPA Instant between supporting banks, or 1–2 business days for a standard SEPA transfer. Older bank wires outside SEPA can take 2–5 business days. On large sums, the checks before the money leaves are usually the slowest part.
Yes — and it's big enough to do properly. Funds go through the notaire's client account, never direct to a seller; use an FCA-authorised provider; and consider a forward contract to lock your rate once you have a completion date. You'll want a French bank account for the completion draft, and your source-of-funds paperwork ready early.
Not for sending your own money — that's not a taxable event in the UK. Gifting money can have UK Inheritance Tax implications if you die within seven years. France's own property taxes (taxe foncière, taxe d'habitation on second homes, and the IFI wealth tax over €1.3m) are separate and apply to owning the property, not to the transfer.
Our sources & how we keep this current
Last updated: July 2026. The live rates above refresh automatically, and we review the rest of this guide every month — updating it whenever the rules on payments, tax or regulation change.