Once you can name what you are looking at, you know what to do about it. This page covers five shapes a rule change can take. They work whether the app is Wise, Sendwave, Revolut, Remitly, LemFi, or the one your cousin uses.
The five shapes a rule change takes in the app
1. A new field on the send screen
The app asks you something it has never asked you before. "Where did this money come from?" "What is your relationship to the recipient?" You cannot tap past the screen without answering.
Answer plainly. If the money is from your salary, say so. If the recipient is your mother, say so.
2. A lower cap, or a new cap you have just crossed
You used to be able to send £5,000 in one go, and now the app caps you at £2,500 without an extra document. Or the app has a monthly limit you have just hit for the first time.
If the app offers to lift the cap in exchange for a document (a payslip, a bank statement, a tax return), send the document. Do not open a second account to route around the cap. The second account is now linked to you by name, and both accounts get flagged.
3. A hold that was not there before
The transfer used to clear in an hour. It has been sitting at "processing" for a day, or "under review" for three. Support has replied with the same three sentences twice.
On any new recipient, send small first. Send the smallest amount the app will let you send, wait for it to clear, then send the real amount. If the hold is on a recipient you have sent to for years and it has not moved in three business days, use the escalation letter.
4. A currency or a whole country that disappeared
The app no longer offers a currency you used to send, or it no longer sends to the country at all.
Check the destination page for the country (/destinations/nigeria/ for Nigeria) for which providers are running that route.
5. A rate that has changed shape
The app's rate on a route stops moving with the market. Or a label appears that says something like "official rate." The amount arriving at the other end is different from what your friend got last month on the same amount.
Before you decide the app has got expensive, check what other people are getting on the same route this week.
An example of the framework
This is shape 4, a currency that disappeared. It covers money sent to Nigeria through transfer companies. Guidelines from the Central Bank of Nigeria dated 31 January 2024 said money sent in through transfer companies must be paid out in naira only. Sendwave's Nigeria help page says the Central Bank no longer permits dollar sends, and that wording goes back to at least November 2024.
A newer rule has been in force since 1 May 2026 (the circular was issued on 24 March 2026). It changes how the apps hold and settle their naira in Nigeria. We found no record that it paused delivery or moved the rate you get. What the rule actually says, and what has not changed for you, is in this piece.
What to do next time the app changes on you
Read the app's own message plainly and answer what it is asking. If it is asking for a document, send the document. Do not open a second account and do not put a different name on the recipient. Both trip flags. If you have sent to this person before and this time the money is stuck for more than three business days, use the escalation letter.
For more on money that moves against the usual direction, see the between-systems hub.
Corrections
- 2026-11-05: An earlier version of this page said dollar payouts to Nigeria stopped, and that an app's dollar option went. This holds for transfer companies, not every route, so both lines are cut.
- 2026-11-05: An earlier version of this page said a lower cap is usually the sending-side rules getting tighter. Remitly and Sendwave say limits also depend on things like the receiving country and your account history, so the line is cut.
- 2026-11-05: An earlier version of this page said a rule change almost always shows up as one of five shapes, and that a new question on the send screen is almost always a country tightening its check. We had no count behind either share, so both lines are cut.
- 2026-11-05: An earlier version of this page said the between-systems hub covers questions the transfer apps do not think to ask. We had no source for this, so the line is cut.
- 2026-11-05: An earlier version of this page said to send what the app allows and split the rest across the week or the month when a cap asks for a document. Remitly warns that splitting a transfer can trigger extra review and delay delivery, so the line is cut.
- 2026-11-05: An earlier version of this page said an app treats a first send to a new person as risky and a second send to a known person as routine. We found no provider page that says this, so the line is cut.
- 2026-11-05: An earlier version of this page said a message with the document goes through faster than three messages complaining. We found no provider page that says this, so the line is cut.
- 2026-11-05: An earlier version of this page said an app can stop offering local currency on a route and only offer dollars. We had no source for this, so the line is cut.
- 2026-11-04: An earlier version of this page said the UK's October 2024 scam reimbursement rule made banks and sending apps slower on a first send, and that a hold is usually the firm protecting itself against a claim. That rule covers payments from one UK account to another, not money sent abroad, and we had no source for slower holds, so these lines are cut.
- 2026-11-04: An earlier version of this page said a whole country can be off the list for a week, that a closed route usually reopens in a couple of weeks at a slightly different price, and that the destination page shows who runs a route this week. We had no source for the first two, and the destination page is not updated every week, so these lines are cut.
- 2026-11-04: An earlier version of this page said apps ask for the recipient's PAN on a send to India and the recipient's BVN on a send to Nigeria. We found no provider page that shows either field, so both are cut.
- 2026-11-04: An earlier version of this page said a rate change is usually a central bank pinning the rate, that every provider moves with it, and that the cheapest provider can change from week to week. We had no source for these, so they are cut.
- 2026-11-04: An earlier version of this page said a new question will stay and be asked on every send, that a second account or a different recipient name trips flags on every send, and that the shape tells you if a change is a one-off. We had no source for these, so they are cut.
- 2026-11-04: An earlier version of this page said naira delivery was greyed out on some apps for a couple of weeks in May 2026, and that rates then moved closer to the Google rate. We found no source for either claim, so both are cut. The Nigeria example now uses the January 2024 rule.