Send money to Germany
See today's live rates — and exactly what your recipient receives, after every fee.
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Today's best rates to Germany
As of 4 August 2026, sending £1,000 to Germany, your recipient gets the most with Instarem: 1,166.00 EUR, the best of 4 providers compared.
| Provider | Rate | Fee | Recipient gets | Speed | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1.1660 0.08% worse | £0 | 1,166.00 EUR | Within 2 days | Send | |
1.1644 0.21% worse | £0 | 1,164.43 EUR | Within 2 days | Send | |
1.1613 0.48% worse | £0 | 1,161.30 EUR | 1–2 days | Send | |
1.1353 2.71% worse | £0 | 1,135.31 EUR | Up to 4 days | Send |
Germany is one of the UK's heaviest money corridors — professionals posted to Frankfurt or Munich, families supporting relatives, students, freelancers billing German clients, and a smaller stream of property buyers. All of them meet the same question: how many euros actually land in the German account. That's settled less by the visible fee than by the exchange rate, where a UK high-street bank and a currency specialist can differ by 2–4% of the whole transfer — on £10,000, the gap between losing about £50 and losing £300+ before any fee. Germany is a euro country on the SEPA network and uses the IBAN, so the payment itself is straightforward; keeping the most euros is where the choice matters.
How to send money to Germany from the UK
Three practical routes carry money from a UK account to a German one. They nearly all deliver — the difference that matters is how many euros are left once the exchange rate has taken its share.
Bank transfer
Familiar and convenient, but rarely cheap. UK banks typically build in a margin of 2.5–4% above the mid-market rate and may add a £10–£25 fee. On £10,000, a 3% margin quietly costs about £300 before the fee is even counted.
Money-transfer provider
Specialists — Wise, Currencies Direct, OFX, TorFX, Moneycorp — undercut the banks on the rate. Margins run 0.1–0.6%, and brokers negotiate on larger sums. On £10,000, a 0.5% margin costs around £50 — a saving of roughly £250 versus a bank.
App or prepaid card
Apps such as Wise and Revolut double as spending tools, and cards fix the rate as you load them. But for paying euros into a German bank account — rather than spending on the ground — a dedicated transfer provider almost always keeps more of your money.
What you need to send money to Germany
German bank details and IBANs
Germany is part of SEPA (the Single Euro Payments Area), so every German account uses an IBAN — 22 characters, starting "DE". You'll need the recipient's full name as the bank holds it and that IBAN; some providers also ask for the bank's BIC/SWIFT code. Check the IBAN character by character against something the recipient sent in writing — a single wrong digit is one of the most common reasons a transfer is delayed or bounced back.
ID checks and verification
Before processing a payment, a UK provider must confirm who you are (Know Your Customer, under the Money Laundering Regulations). For a first or modest transfer, expect to give your name, address and date of birth, plus a photo ID and proof of address. Once you're moving more than roughly £10,000, expect a source-of-funds check on top — covered below.
How long does it take to send money to Germany?
Once your pounds become euros, the money travels inside Europe on the SEPA network. You don't pick the rail — the provider does — but knowing the names helps you read a quote.
Hold-ups usually trace back to one thing: missing the provider's daily cut-off, a first-time identity check, a UK or German bank holiday, or an IBAN or recipient name that doesn't match.
Fees and exchange rates for UK to Germany
Fees range from £0 (many specialists on a standard transfer) to £25+ (a bank-branch payment). A flat fee is easy to compare; the exchange-rate margin usually isn't — which is exactly why it costs you more. Here's where the money actually leaks.
The exchange-rate margin
The real cost of most transfers. Banks: 2.5–4% above the mid-market rate. Specialists: often 0.1–0.6%, tighter still on larger amounts. On £10,000+ the gap is routinely £200–£350.
Correspondent-bank fees
A SWIFT wire can pass through intermediary banks, each taking a cut, so the recipient gets less than the screen promised. Specialists paying by local euro rails usually avoid this entirely.
Card & weekend markups
Watch for ~3% foreign-transaction fees on ordinary UK debit and credit cards, and weekend markups on some apps (Revolut adds ~1% at weekends). Judge an offer by the euros that arrive, not the headline fee.
Sending money to Germany to buy property
Fewer Britons buy in Germany than in the Mediterranean — it's largely a city market (Berlin, Munich, Frankfurt, Hamburg) rather than a holiday-home one — but the process is worth understanding because it's unlike the UK's in one big way: there's no separate deposit. Everything runs through a Notar (a neutral public notary), and you pay the whole price in one go, later in the process.
Notarised contract
After a mandatory two-week review period, buyer and seller sign the Kaufvertrag before the Notar, who reads it aloud. On signing it's binding — but no money changes hands yet.
Priority notice
The Notar registers an Auflassungsvormerkung in the land register (Grundbuch), which protects your claim to the property while the paperwork completes.
Single full payment
Only when the Notar sends the "payment due" notice (Fälligkeitsmitteilung) do you transfer the entire purchase price at once; ownership is then registered in the Grundbuch.
You'll need a German tax number (the Notar notifies the tax office, the Finanzamt), and note that since 2023 property in Germany cannot be bought with cash — funds must be traceable through the banking system. Budget an extra 8–15% on top of the price: property transfer tax (Grunderwerbsteuer) that varies by state from 3.5% in Bavaria to 6.5% in North Rhine-Westphalia and others, notary fees of ~1.5–2%, and land-registry fees of ~0.5%. There's no German "golden visa" — buying grants no residency.
Lock in today's euro rate with a forward contract
Germany's structure makes currency risk unusually concentrated: because you pay the full price in a single transfer — typically two to five months after signing, when the notary's payment notice arrives — the whole sum is exposed to whatever GBP/EUR does in the meantime. A 5% swing on a €400,000 flat is roughly £17,000. A forward contract lets you fix today's rate now and pay for the euros later, usually against a small deposit, so the price you agreed in euros is the price you pay in pounds.
So once the Kaufvertrag is signed, ask about a forward contract before you exchange.
Is it safe to send money to Germany?
Any UK company that handles money transfers must be authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority and must keep customer money in accounts fully segregated from its own ("safeguarding"). Checking an unfamiliar provider on the FCA Register takes about thirty seconds. On a large payment — a property completion, a big family or business transfer — these are the traps worth knowing.
Payment-diversion (invoice) fraud
Rule: criminals hack email chains and send a fake "our bank details have changed" note before a big payment — common on business and freelance invoices. Confirm any IBAN by phone on a number you already held, never one from the email.
Completion-day diversion on property
Rule: before sending the full purchase price, verify the seller's IBAN directly with the Notar's office by phone. Do not act on bank details sent or "amended" by email close to the payment date.
"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. Look it up 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 a penny.
Report fraud: Action Fraud on 0300 123 2040 or at actionfraud.police.uk (in Scotland, Police Scotland on 101).
Tax on money sent to Germany
Moving your own money
Sending your own, already-taxed money from the UK to Germany is not a UK taxable event — there's no tax simply for moving it. There's no fixed reporting threshold for a personal electronic transfer, but a larger one commonly triggers a source-of-funds check. Keep the paperwork that shows where the money came from.
Watch-out: gifts and German taxes
If it's a gift, it can affect UK Inheritance Tax on your estate if you die within seven years (Germany also taxes large gifts on the recipient). If you own and rent out German property, non-residents pay German income tax on the rent — though the UK–Germany double-taxation treaty stops the same income being taxed twice. These are separate from the transfer itself; if you're buying, take professional advice.
How do most people move money to Germany?
For most professionals, families and freelancers, the cheapest route is a specialist currency company paying euros straight into a German bank account by SEPA — not a high-street bank. For a one-off move a spot deal is fine; for a property completion or another known future payment, a forward contract to lock the rate is what separates the specialists from a bank — and it matters more in Germany, where the whole price moves in one payment. Whatever you pick, judge it on the euros that actually arrive, and confirm the receiving account by phone before you send.
Frequently asked questions about sending money to Germany
Almost all of the cost is the exchange-rate margin, not the flat fee. A UK bank typically takes 2.5–4% of your transfer in a worse rate; a specialist typically takes 0.1–0.6%. On £10,000 that's roughly £250–£400 with a bank versus around £40–£60 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 exact amount using the table above, since some providers are cheaper on small sums and others on large ones.
Yes. Every German account uses an IBAN — 22 characters, starting "DE" — and it's required for any SEPA transfer into Germany. Some providers also ask for the bank's BIC/SWIFT code. Always check the IBAN against details the recipient sent you in writing.
As little as a few seconds for SEPA Instant between supporting banks, or 1–2 business days for a standard SEPA transfer. Bank wires outside SEPA rails can take 2–5 business days. On large sums, the checks before the money leaves are usually what takes longest.
Yes. Unlike the UK there's no separate deposit — everything goes through a Notar and you transfer the full price in one payment when the notary's Fälligkeitsmitteilung arrives (property can't be bought with cash since 2023). Because the whole sum moves at once, a forward contract to lock your rate is especially worth considering. There's no golden visa — buying doesn't grant residency.
Not for sending your own money — that isn't a taxable event in the UK. Gifting can have UK Inheritance Tax implications (and Germany taxes large gifts on the recipient). German property taxes — Grunderwerbsteuer of 3.5–6.5% by state, annual Grundsteuer, and income tax on rent — apply to what you buy and own, not 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.