The three doors, and who each is for
For a family member who uses a phone easily, and gets a padala from you every month, the answer is nearly always GCash, or Maya. The money arrives in seconds, they can spend it straight from the wallet, and there is no fee on their side to receive it.
For a larger, less frequent send, or a family member who prefers to keep the money in a bank, use a Philippine bank account: BDO, BPI, UnionBank, Metrobank. The money still arrives in minutes if it goes through InstaPay, the network the Philippine banks use for small, real-time transfers. Larger sends may route through PesoNet instead, which is a slower system that only settles on banking days. If that happens at the weekend, the family member will not see the money until Monday.
For a parent in a province, or an older relative who does not use a smartphone bank, cash pickup still works and still matters. Palawan Express, Cebuana Lhuillier and MLhuillier have counters across the Philippines. Western Union and MoneyGram partner with the same networks. The money is ready in minutes, and the recipient walks in with an ID.
Which app to open, and for which door
Sending £150 to £500 to a family member who uses GCash or Maya
Use Wise. Its rate is close to the average market rate, its fee on a £200 send is small and shows clearly on the screen, and the money arrives in the wallet in seconds. If you have never used Remitly, check its first-transfer rate too. It is for paying by Easy bank transfer, on your first transfer, up to £1,000. On 6 November, Remitly's page showed more pesos than Wise each time we checked. Take the promotion, then compare again before the second send.
Sending to a BDO, BPI, UnionBank or Metrobank account
Wise is the safer default. The fee shows on the screen before you pay, and the rate on the screen is the real exchange rate. WorldRemit is a fine alternative. Whichever you pick, type the recipient's full legal name exactly as the bank has it, including middle names. Your mother's account may be in the name Coronacion Dela Cruz vda. de Reyes, even if everyone calls her Nanay Cora. 
WorldRemit's page for the Philippines says the name should match the bank statement exactly, to avoid delays.
Sending cash to a Palawan, Cebuana or MLhuillier counter
WorldRemit and Remitly both pair cleanly with these networks. For an older relative in a province, this is often the answer. Western Union and MoneyGram still work. Check the pesos on the screen for a cash pickup before you pay. If your recipient is comfortable at any of the three Philippine networks and does not need a brand-name Western Union office, use WorldRemit or Remitly.
What to avoid: your UK bank
Do not use your UK bank, especially on a smaller send. On a £200 send to the Philippines, Santander takes a visible £25 fee on the slip and loses about £5.55 more inside the exchange rate, about £30.55 all in. Its Edge, Edge Up and Edge Explorer accounts pay no fee. On Nationwide's everyday FlexAccount, the fee on the slip is £15 and the rate costs about £4 more, about £19 all in. Barclays shows no fee on the slip. Its cost on £200 is all inside the exchange rate, about £6.
HSBC's own page charges £5 online on this send. The £5 does not apply if you are a Premier or Private Banking customer, or use a Global Money Account. The Wise price comparison shows about £4 more inside HSBC's rate, so about £9 all in at that rate. HSBC has two exchange rates, so check yours in the app.
On the same send, Wise takes £1.59 all in and uses the real exchange rate. If your bank is the only account you have, move £200 into Wise, Remitly or WorldRemit once and send from there.
Check that the GCash wallet is still Fully Verified
A GCash wallet can only take money from abroad if the account is Fully Verified. Before you send, ask the family member to check that the wallet says Fully Verified. GCash can drop a Fully Verified wallet back to Basic if the owner misses a request to update their details. GCash sends that request by text message and in the app inbox.
A Basic wallet can receive only 5,000 pesos a month, about £60. GCash also says money sent from abroad has to be claimed in a Fully Verified account.
What the family member does depends on what the app says. If the wallet still says Fully Verified and GCash has asked for an update, they tap Profile, then their name, then Update Account Information, and follow the steps. GCash says the update may take up to 3 days, and it sends a text message when it is done.
If the deadline has passed and the wallet already says Basic, the update is not enough. They have to verify the account again. They tap Profile, then Verify Now, then scan one valid government ID and take a selfie. GCash says the result comes by text message after 3 days. GCash explains both steps on its 
help page for downgraded accounts and its page on how to verify an account. These times are from GCash's help pages on 6 November 2026.
Wait for that text message before you send. Money sent from abroad cannot be claimed into a wallet that still says Basic.
Once the wallet is Fully Verified, the monthly limit is high. A Fully Verified adult wallet can receive up to 1,000,000 pesos a month, about £11,790, on GCash's own limits page as of 6 November 2026. GCash changed its limits on 1 October 2026. The old limit of 100,000 pesos a month now applies only to GCash Jr., the account for children aged 7 to 17. The limit still counts every padala from every sender, and it is shared across all the GCash accounts on one person's profile. These limits are new, so check the current one in the app before a very large send.
The July 2026 change worth knowing
In July 2026, the Philippine banking regulator's new rules on transfer fees took effect. BPI made person-to-person transfers over InstaPay and PesoNet permanently free from 1 July. GCash and Maya both cut their InstaPay fee in the first week of July.
This is the fee to move the padala from GCash or Maya to BDO or BPI over InstaPay. It was 15 pesos before July, and it is 10 pesos now. The saving on one move is small.
Friday evening sends to a bank account
A send to a bank account can go through PesoNet instead of InstaPay. If that happens on a Friday evening UK time, the family will not see the money until Monday. To sidestep this, send to GCash or Maya on a Friday, and let the family member move it into the bank on the Monday if they want to. That way the family has the money over the weekend.
What to do this month
For £150 to £500 to a family member on GCash or Maya, open Wise, or Remitly if you have never used it before.
For a bank-account send to BDO, BPI, UnionBank or Metrobank, Wise on a weekday morning is the safest choice. Type the recipient's full legal name.
For a relative who prefers cash in hand, use WorldRemit or Remitly to a Palawan, Cebuana or MLhuillier counter close to where they live. Make sure the name on their photo ID matches the name on the send.
Before your next send, ask the family member on GCash to open the app and check that the account still says Fully Verified. If GCash has asked for an update, they make it before the deadline. If it already says Basic, they verify the account again, and you wait for GCash's text message before you send.
Rates, fees and GCash limits quoted here were checked on Friday 6 November 2026. The app prices, the Santander and Barclays prices and the cost inside HSBC's rate are from the Wise price comparison. It last read Santander and Barclays on 3 November and HSBC on 30 October. Nationwide's figures and HSBC's £5 fee are from the banks' own pages.
Corrections
- 2026-11-05: An earlier version of this page said Remitly's first-transfer promotion is usually the best delivered amount for the first £1,000 you send. Western Union's new-customer price to a wallet was higher on most of our checks at £200 and £500 on 5 November, so the page now compares Remitly with Wise only, and says the rate is for your first transfer, up to £1,000, paying by Easy bank transfer.
- 2026-11-05: An earlier version of this page said Santander loses another £5.50 inside the exchange rate, about £30.50 all in. The figures are about £5.55 and about £30.55.
- 2026-11-05: An earlier version of this page told you to send to the same recipient you always send to, and to send earlier in the week, on a send to GCash or Maya. No provider page ties the same recipient to fewer checks, and a wallet send does not wait for a banking day, so both lines are gone.
- 2026-11-04: An earlier version of this page said HSBC shows no fee on the slip and that its cost on £200 is all inside the exchange rate. HSBC's own page charges £5 online on this send unless you are a Premier or Private Banking customer or use a Global Money Account, and this page now says so.
- 2026-11-04: An earlier version of this page gave Santander's £25 fee as if every account pays it. Edge, Edge Up and Edge Explorer accounts pay no fee, and this page now says so.
- 2026-11-04: An earlier version of this page said the Philippine regulator's new rules on transfer fees took effect on 1 July 2026. 1 July is BPI's own date, so the page now says the rules took effect in July.
- 2026-11-04: An earlier version of this page said sends late on a Friday evening may route through PesoNet, that the money then arrives on Monday afternoon, and that the UK app does not say which network it used but still says the money has been sent. No source supports these lines, so they are gone. A weekend send through PesoNet arrives on the next banking day, Monday.
- 2026-11-04: An earlier version of this page said Philippine banks strictly match the name on a transfer, that a name mismatch can stop the money, and that the fix is a notarised affidavit in front of the bank. No bank's page supports these lines, so they are gone. The page now gives WorldRemit's advice on the name.
- 2026-11-04: An earlier version of this page said Nationwide loses another £5 inside the rate, and gave its £15 fee as if every account pays it. Nationwide's own figures put the rate cost at about £4, and FlexOne, FlexStudent and FlexGraduate accounts pay no fee, so this page now prices the FlexAccount.
- 2026-11-04: An earlier version of this page said Western Union and MoneyGram charge higher fees on this route and hide the difference in the rate. Those lines did not rest on a cash pickup price, so they are gone.
- 2026-11-04: An earlier version of this page said Remitly prices like the others after its promotion, at a level no regulated app can sustain, that WorldRemit's fee is not shown until you enter the amount, and that Barclays and HSBC have narrowed. No source supports these lines, so they are gone.
- 2026-11-04: An earlier version of this page said a UK app cannot see the wallet's status, that GCash's request is easy to miss and a common reason a send stops, that counters are in almost every town or everywhere, and that the fee cut helps families who keep money in a bank. No source supports these lines, so they are gone.
- 2026-11-04: An earlier version of this page said most family wallets are Fully Verified, that GCash is the default in most Filipino families under fifty and the reason UK apps compete, and that the old fee led many families to leave money in the wallet. No source supports these lines, so they are gone, and the page now gives the fee before and after.
- 2026-11-04: An earlier version of this page said GCash sends the result of a new verification after 7 days. GCash's page now says 3 days, and this page matches it.
- 2026-11-04: An earlier version of this page said WorldRemit is often faster for larger sends, that a name mismatch holds the money for two to three working days, and that the fix for a mismatch takes a week. No source supports these times, so they are gone.
- 2026-10-24: An earlier version of this page said a wallet dropped to Basic could be fixed for free in a few minutes with Update Account Information. GCash says a Basic wallet has to verify again, and GCash sends the result by text message after 7 days. The page now gives GCash's steps and times for both cases.
- 2026-10-24: An earlier version of this page said a verified GCash wallet could receive up to 100,000 pesos a month, and that linking a UnionBank or BPI account raised this to 500,000. GCash changed its limits on 1 October 2026: a Fully Verified adult wallet can now receive up to 1,000,000 pesos a month, 100,000 applies only to GCash Jr., and the bank-link step is no longer on GCash's page. The section now covers the current limits and the Basic downgrade that stops sends.
- 2026-10-12: An earlier version of this page said Santander "quietly keeps around £30 of your money in a worse exchange rate and calls the transfer free" on a £200 send to the Philippines. Santander charges a visible £25 fee on the slip for an electronic international transfer, plus a ~2.83% markup inside the exchange rate; the ~£30 figure is right but the fee is on the slip, not hidden in the rate. The sentence has been rewritten to show the £25 fee and the ~£5 rate loss as separate costs.