Checked Tuesday morning, 7 July: sending 200 pounds from the UK to a Nigerian bank account, the gap between the best regular price and the worst came to 10,186 naira. That is about 5 pounds 60. Same money sent. Same morning. Five different apps.
Here is what each one delivered.
| App | 200 GBP arrives as | Visible fee | The catch |
|---|---|---|---|
| LemFi | ₦365,000 | £0 | Rate close to the real market rate, no fee. The exact live rate is only visible inside the app. |
| Wise | ₦362,864 | £1.77 | Real market rate, small visible fee, arrives in seconds. The safe default. |
| Xoom (PayPal) | ₦357,199 | £1.89 | Small visible fee, plus about 1.5 percent more hidden in the exchange rate. |
| Western Union | ₦354,814 | £2.99 | The biggest visible fee, plus about 1.6 percent more hidden in the rate. The least money arrived. |
| Remitly (first send only) | ₦375,726 | £0 | Beats everyone this week. Only on your first transfer, and only on the first 250 pounds. After that they price like the others. |
Rates checked Tuesday 7 July 2026, morning UK time. Wise’s number is from the Wise public price feed at 08:24 UTC. Xoom’s is from the same feed at 05:24 UTC. 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 installed, open it and check. It delivered the most naira on 200 pounds this week and it charges no fee.
If you do not have LemFi and do not want to set up a new app, use Wise. On this send Wise gave about 2,000 naira less than LemFi. The fee is visible, the rate is honest, the money lands 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 pounds, that hidden slice cost 5,600 naira with Xoom and 8,000 naira with Western Union more than Wise did. In pounds, that is about 3 pounds and 4 pounds 40, quietly taken.
If you are a new Remitly customer, their first-transfer rate really does beat everyone this week. It gives 375,726 naira on the first 250 pounds sent, with no fee. That is a one-off. After it runs out, Remitly prices like the others, so it is worth taking that first send and then checking again before you commit to them for the second.
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, the number a street changer in Lagos would give you, is higher, around 1,878 naira. That is why Remitly can afford to price their first-send rate at that level for one transfer only. No consumer app can offer that rate day in and day out, because they cannot legally source the amount of naira they need at it. If someone messages your family on WhatsApp offering to change your pounds for a rate that looks too good, that is where the number is coming from, and that is why no regulated app will match it.
Next Friday: 300 pounds to the Philippines.