Your family's bank may hold more than one currency for them. Maib says on its own site that an individual can open several accounts in national currency and in foreign currency. So they may have a leu account, a euro account, or both.
If the money should arrive in leu, compare Revolut, TransferGo and Western Union. Wise does not send leu from the UK. If it should arrive in euro at a Moldovan bank, send euro directly, because an app that sends leu means a second conversion. If the family wants cash, use Western Union or MoneyGram.
Name where the money should arrive first. Then pick the tool.
Why some families ask for euro
In November 2014, three Moldovan banks (Banca de Economii, Banca Sociala, Unibank) lost about a billion dollars through fake loans. That was around an eighth of the country's yearly output.
Someone who saved through those years may want part of their money outside leu. If you are sending to a parent, an aunt or an older sibling in Chisinau, Balti or Cahul, ask them which account they want the money in. Do not guess. The answer changes which app is worth using.
Three places the money can arrive, and which tool fits each
If the family keeps a leu account at a Moldovan bank, Revolut, TransferGo and Western Union all quoted a leu send on 5 November 2026. The table below shows what each delivered.
Catch
Revolut's Moldova page says a transfer to leu cannot be more than 10,000 leu, about £415. For a bigger amount, split the send or use another app.
Revolut's page says a bank transfer generally takes 3 to 5 business days. Its calculator on 4 November said 1 or 2 days. Revolut-to-Revolut from the UK to Moldova is not available on Revolut's own listing. If you want minutes on this app, the route is a card push to the recipient's Visa or Mastercard.
Paysend's Moldova guide says it charges £1 and pays to a card. That guide dates from 2020, and we could not read Paysend's rate, so it is not in the table. Check the amount that arrives in the app.
Wise is the one that catches people out. As of 5 November 2026, Wise says on its Moldova page that it does not yet send leu from the UK. It offers a dollar transfer over the international bank system instead. Wise says the other banks on that system do not show their fees upfront, so you may not know the full cost before you send.
If the family keeps a euro account at a Moldovan bank, do not send leu. If an app converts to leu on the way and the family then converts to euro at their bank, you pay for two conversions.
Send euro directly into the family's euro account. Maib joined the single euro payments system that European banks use on 6 October 2025. It says these payments settle within one business day. Ask the family for their euro IBAN. Then ask your UK bank if it sends to Moldova through this system, and what the total cost is. Ask for the euro amount that will arrive. Do not accept "no fee" as an answer without seeing that amount.
If the family wants cash, Western Union pays out at its agents across Moldova. Its price for sending online is in the table. MoneyGram also has cash pickup in Moldova, but we could not read its price. Remitly's UK page shows cash pickup at Moldovan banks including Maib and Victoria Bank, but as of 5 November 2026 it pays out in euro, not leu.
What £300 delivered on 5 November 2026
For a leu bank account, use Revolut. On 5 November it delivered the most of the regular prices. Western Union's standard price to a bank account delivered about 240 leu less. If this is your first online transfer with Western Union, compare its first-send price too, but do not count on that price after the first send. Revolut's page says a bank transfer takes 3 to 5 business days, so allow up to 5. If the family needs the money sooner and has a card, compare Revolut's card transfer and TransferGo.
The real exchange rate that day (the one you get if you search GBP to MDL on Google) was £1 = 24.24 leu. On £300 that is 7,272 leu before any provider takes anything. These prices were read between 03:12 and 03:15 UK time. Western Union's are for sending online and paying by card. Paying at an agent may cost more. Revolut's are for its Standard plan.
#AppArrives asBehind the top
1Revolut to a bank account7,198.78 leuMost arrives£1.20 fee, taken out of the £300. No extra exchange fee on a weekday, inside the free monthly amount.
2Revolut to a card7,155.42 leu43.36 leu£3.00 fee, taken out of the £300. Revolut says under 30 minutes.
3TransferGo to a card7,084.95 leu113.83 leuNo fee, and a promotional discount is in the rate. TransferGo says about an hour.
4Western Union to a Mastercard debit card7,084.65 leu114.13 leu£1.99 fee on top of the £300, so you pay £301.99.
5Western Union to a Visa debit card7,075.42 leu123.36 leu£1.99 fee on top of the £300, so you pay £301.99.
6Western Union to a bank account6,958.39 leu240.39 leu£1.99 fee on top of the £300, so you pay £301.99.
7Western Union cash pickup6,795.58 leu403.20 leu£4.99 fee on top of the £300, so you pay £304.99.
8Western Union to a bank account (first send only)7,193.14 leu5.64 leuNo fee, on a first online transfer.
The table shows Western Union's standard prices, except the last row. Western Union's 
fee-free page says the fee is £0 on your first online transfer to a bank account or mobile wallet. That is why the no-fee bank price sits last.
Western Union also showed a better rate on all four ways of sending. Its page does not mention the better rate. Its no-fee line names a bank account or mobile wallet, not a card or cash. The better rates came with the same offer, so we read them as first-send prices too. We saw them as a visitor with no account, and the same request from outside the website returned the standard prices. We did not log in. Compare the rate in the app with these:
- To a bank account: the standard rate was £1 = 23.19 leu with a £1.99 fee on top of the £300. So you pay £301.99 and 6,958.39 leu arrives. The better rate was £1 = 23.98 leu, no fee.
- To a Mastercard debit card: the standard rate was £1 = 23.62 leu with a £1.99 fee on top of the £300. So you pay £301.99 and 7,084.65 leu arrives. The better rate was £1 = 23.78 leu, no fee, and 7,132.94 leu arrives.
- To a Visa debit card: the standard rate was £1 = 23.58 leu with a £1.99 fee on top of the £300. So you pay £301.99 and 7,075.42 leu arrives. The better rate was £1 = 23.75 leu, no fee, and 7,123.65 leu arrives.
- Cash pickup: the standard rate was £1 = 22.65 leu with a £4.99 fee on top of the £300. So you pay £304.99 and 6,795.58 leu arrives. The better rate was £1 = 23.33 leu with the same fee, and 6,997.64 leu arrives.
These are one day's prices. Providers change them, and the leu moves against the pound. Check the amount that arrives on the day you send.
A word on Transnistria
If your family is in Tiraspol, Bender or Ribnita, the banking picture is not the same. Transnistria has its own banks and its own currency. Do not assume the app that works for Chisinau works for Tiraspol. Ask the family where they can receive the money before you send.
Ask the family which account they want the money in, and in which currency, before you pick the app. On the day you send, check the real rate on Google against what the app is quoting you.
Corrections
- 2026-11-05: An earlier version of this page listed Western Union's better rates in the main order and said to compare Western Union on the day, did not say its standard £1.99 fee is on top of the £300, and printed one card price without naming the card. Those rates now sit last or under the table, each card has its own line, and the advice for a leu bank account is Revolut, on prices from one read on 5 November 2026. The page also did not say Western Union's prices are for sending online. It now does.
- 2026-11-05: An earlier version of this page listed Western Union among the apps to compare if the money is needed sooner. Western Union says 0 to 2 business days to a Visa card, and we could not read its time for Mastercard, so that line now names Revolut's card transfer and TransferGo.
- 2026-11-04: An earlier version of this page said the former prime minister served nine years in a conviction linked to the 2014 fraud. He was sentenced to nine years and released early in December 2019, so that line and the line on the main figure's sentence are cut, and the 2026-07-14 note now says sentenced.
- 2026-11-04: An earlier version of this page said TransferGo's standard option arrived the next business day for a fee of around a pound, at a rate close to the real one, and delivered the most leu of four options. On 4 November 2026 TransferGo quoted one option, with no fee, to a card, in about an hour, and Revolut delivered more.
- 2026-11-04: An earlier version of this page said Paysend's rate was close to the real rate, that about 7,000 leu would arrive, that Revolut cost about the same as Paysend, and that the cost gap between the apps was small. We could not read Paysend's rate or open a current Paysend page for this route, so those lines are cut and Paysend has left the opening list of apps to compare. Wise is no longer listed in the opening as an app for leu, which it does not send from the UK.
- 2026-11-04: An earlier version of this page said Western Union and MoneyGram both pay leu at bank counters in minutes, for several pounds, and that this was the only way to deliver cash in leu. Western Union's price is now in the table, and the page says only that MoneyGram has cash pickup in Moldova, because its price could not be read.
- 2026-11-04: An earlier version of this page said a euro payment from a UK bank to a Maib euro account moves at close to eurozone speed and cost. Maib says these payments settle within one business day and does not name the UK or a price, so the page now tells you to ask your bank.
- 2026-11-04: Lines with no source we could open have been cut. They said how many families prefer euro or collect cash and why, what the 2014 fraud cost the economy afterwards, what the fraud is called in Moldova, that Moldovan banks in general offer several currencies, that Wise and Revolut have no cash pickup, how Transnistria families collect money, and where Moldova's money came from after 2022.
- 2026-10-12: An earlier version of this page said that if the recipient has a Revolut account of their own, a Revolut-to-Revolut send from the UK to Moldova arrives in minutes. Revolut's own UK to Moldova page now carries a notice that peer-to-peer payments on this route are currently unavailable (the same notice is on Revolut's Ireland, Spain, Sweden, Estonia, Netherlands, Iceland and Australia pages for Moldova). The sentence has been rewritten: Revolut-to-Revolut from the UK to Moldova is not an option today, and the minutes case for Revolut on this route is a card push to the recipient's Visa or Mastercard.
- 2026-07-14: An earlier version of this page said a Revolut Standard leu send to Moldova was "same-day". Revolut's own UK to Moldova page states that a transfer to a bank account generally arrives within 3 to 5 business days; same-day only applies to Revolut-to-Revolut or a card push. The list entry has been rewritten to match the provider's own timings.
- 2026-07-14: An earlier version of this page said, of the 2014 Frauda Miliardului scandal, that "the main figure went to prison". The main figure, Ilan Șor, was sentenced to fifteen years in absentia in April 2023 and is a fugitive abroad. Former prime minister Vlad Filat was sentenced to nine years in a related conviction. The paragraph has been rewritten to name both correctly.