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The Friday Number

The Friday number: £200 to Nigeria this week

On £200 sent from the UK to a Nigerian bank account, open LemFi if you have it and Wise if you do not. Checked Tuesday morning, 7 July, LemFi delivered 365,000 naira with no fee, and Wise delivered about 2,000 naira less. The gap between the best regular price and the worst came to 10,186 naira, which is about £5.60.

#AppArrives asBehind the top

1LemFi₦365,000₦ 10,726.00£0 fee, and a rate close to the real market rate.

2Wise₦362,864₦ 12,862.00£1.77 visible fee, the real market rate, and the money arrives in seconds. Use Wise if you do not want to set up a new app.

3Xoom (PayPal)₦357,199₦ 18,527.00£1.89 visible fee, plus about 1.5 percent more hidden in the exchange rate.

4Western Union₦354,814₦ 20,912.00£2.99 visible fee, the biggest here, plus about 1.6 percent more hidden in the rate. The least money arrived.

5Remitly (first send only)₦375,726£0 fee, and it beats everyone this week. That is only on your first transfer, and only on the first £250.

Rates checked Tuesday 7 July 2026, morning UK time. Wise's number is from the Wise public price feed at 08:24 GMT. Xoom's is from the same feed at 05:24 GMT. Western Union's was last sampled by that feed on Friday 3 July. LemFi's rate is from a third party (Sendrater) that reads the LemFi app's rate feed; the number in your own LemFi app when you tap send is the one that binds. Remitly's numbers are from the Remitly UK site.

What to actually open

If you already have LemFi installedOpen it and check.It had the best regular price on £200 this week and it charges no fee.

If you do not have LemFi and do not want to set up a new appUse Wise.On this send Wise gave about 2,000 naira less than LemFi. The fee is visible, the rate is close to the market, the money arrives in seconds.

Do not open Western Union or Xoom for a bank transfer this size unless there is no other option.The visible fee looks small. The real price is hidden in the exchange rate. On £200, that hidden slice cost about 5,400 naira with Xoom and about 5,800 naira with Western Union more than Wise did. In pounds, that is about £3 and £3.20.

If you are a new Remitly customerTheir first-transfer rate really does beat everyone this week.It gives 375,726 naira on £200, with no fee. That is a one-off, so it is worth taking that first send and then checking again before you commit to them for the second.

For the whole route in one place, including the 2026 catch to check before your next send, see how to send money to Nigeria.

One thing the table cannot show

Nigeria has two live exchange rates. The official rate, which is near what Wise shows you, sits around 1,830 naira to the pound this week. The parallel market rate is the number a street changer in Lagos would give you. If someone messages your family on WhatsApp offering to change your pounds for a rate that looks too good, do not send.

Next Friday: £300 to the Philippines.

Corrections
  • 2026-11-05: An earlier version of this page gave 5,600 naira for Xoom and 8,000 naira for Western Union, about £3 and £4.40, as the amount hidden in the exchange rate. Those were the whole shortfall against Wise with the fee inside, and the hidden part was about 5,400 and 5,800 naira, about £3 and £3.20.
  • 2026-11-05: An earlier version of this page said a street changer in Lagos would give you a higher rate than the official one, around 1,878 naira. That figure was what a pound costs to buy, not what a person changing pounds gets, so the figure and the word "higher" are gone.
  • 2026-11-05: An earlier version of this page's summary said the £5.60 gap was taken quietly in the exchange rate. £2.99 of it was Western Union's visible fee, so the line is gone.
  • 2026-11-05: An earlier version of this page called the £5.60 gap the one between the best app and the worst, and said LemFi delivered the most naira. Remitly's first-send price was higher, so both now say regular price.
  • 2026-11-05: An earlier version of this page said LemFi's exact live rate was only visible inside the app. LemFi's public calculator shows it with no account, so the line is gone.
  • 2026-11-04: An earlier version of this page said no consumer app can offer the parallel market rate day in and day out, because apps cannot legally source the naira. We have no source for this, so the line is gone, along with the same reason given for Remitly's first-send price and for no regulated app matching a WhatsApp rate.
  • 2026-11-04: An earlier version of this page said Remitly prices like the others after the first send. We have no source for this, so the line is gone.
  • 2026-11-04: An earlier version of this page said Remitly's 375,726 naira was on the first £250. It was on £200.

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