How to Send Money by Post or Mail
Can you send money in the post? Technically, yes -- in most countries it is legal to mail cash, cheques, or postal orders. But whether you should is a very different question. Physical mail offers no guarantee that your money will arrive, no insurance on cash, and no way to recover funds if the envelope is lost or stolen. For small domestic amounts, it can work. For anything larger or international, it is almost always the wrong choice. Many people ask: can I send money by post to a family member or friend? The answer is yes -- but the caveats are important.
The risks of sending money through the mail are real and well-documented. Royal Mail and other postal services explicitly warn against putting cash in envelopes. If it goes missing, you have no recourse. Cheques are safer in theory but can take 5-7 business days to clear and can still be intercepted. Postal orders are the most secure physical option, but they come with purchase fees, are limited in value, and are increasingly difficult to cash outside of their country of issue.
If you want to safely send money to someone, digital transfer services like Wise, Remitly, and Xe offer a faster, cheaper, and far more reliable alternative. Wise delivers money in minutes to most countries using the mid-market exchange rate with a transparent fee of 0.4%-2%. Remitly offers instant delivery to mobile wallets and bank accounts in over 170 countries. Xe covers 130+ currencies with same-day transfers on major routes. None of them require an envelope.
This guide explains exactly what options exist when you want to send money by post or mail, the risks attached to each, how to do it as safely as possible if you have no other option, and why digital alternatives beat postal methods on every metric that matters -- speed, cost, safety, and reliability.
Can you send money by post?
Yes, you can send money by post in the UK and most other countries. The most common options are: cash in an envelope, a personal cheque, a bank draft, or a postal order. Each carries different risks and costs. Whether it is a good idea depends on the amount, the destination, and the urgency. Can I send money by post to someone abroad? In theory yes -- but the risks multiply significantly once you cross international borders.
Can you send money in the post internationally? In principle, yes. In practice, it is far more complicated. Many countries restrict or inspect incoming mail for undeclared cash. Currency controls in some countries mean foreign cash received by post can be confiscated at customs. Even postal orders are not universally accepted abroad. If you need to send money internationally, a digital transfer service will always be the safer, faster, and cheaper option.
Can you send cash in the post?
You can legally put cash in an envelope in the UK and send it, but Royal Mail strongly advises against it. Cash is not covered by Royal Mail's standard compensation scheme. If the envelope is lost or stolen, you cannot make a claim. Special Delivery (tracked, signed) offers up to £750 in compensation for items -- but this cover does not extend to cash, only to the envelope as an item. The moment you put notes inside, you are sending uninsured value through the post.
If you must send cash by post, use a padded envelope, consider hiding the cash inside a card or folded paper so it is less obvious, and always use Royal Mail Special Delivery for tracking. Even so, the risk of loss remains entirely yours. For anything over GBP 20-30, a bank transfer or digital service is strongly recommended.
Can you send a cheque by post?
Cheques sent by post are legal and relatively common in the UK, particularly for paying bills, sending gifts, or settling invoices. A cheque is safer than cash because it is made payable to a named recipient -- if intercepted, it is much harder to cash fraudulently. That said, cheque fraud does exist, and a stolen cheque can sometimes be altered and cashed. Always cross the cheque ('Account Payee Only') and avoid sending to an address you are not confident about.
The bigger downside to cheques by post is timing. Standard First Class delivery takes 1-3 days. Once received, cheques take a further 2-3 working days to clear in the UK. In total, you are looking at 3-6 days before the recipient can actually use the funds. Compare that to a Wise transfer, which arrives in seconds to most UK bank accounts with no clearing delay.
Can you send a postal order by post?
A postal order is a prepaid payment instrument issued by the Post Office. You pay face value plus a handling fee (currently 85p for orders up to GBP 4.99, scaling up to GBP 3.50 for orders between GBP 50 and GBP 100) and the recipient cashes it at a Post Office. Postal orders are the safest way to physically send money through the mail because they are made out to a named payee and can be replaced if lost (with proof of purchase).
However, postal orders have significant limitations. The maximum single postal order is GBP 100. You can buy multiple orders to send larger amounts, but the fees stack up quickly. Internationally, UK postal orders are only accepted in a limited number of countries. And the process is slow: you physically go to the Post Office, buy the order, post it, and the recipient queues at their Post Office to cash it. For anything above a small domestic payment, the friction and cost make this a poor choice compared to digital alternatives.
How to safely send money through the mail
If you have decided to send money by post and have no access to digital alternatives, here is how to safely send money through the mail and reduce the risk of loss or theft as much as possible. No method eliminates risk entirely -- but following these steps gives you the best chance of the money arriving intact.
- Use a postal order rather than cash -- it is the safest physical payment instrument. Postal orders are named to the recipient and replaceable if lost with a receipt.
- If you must send cash, use Royal Mail Special Delivery -- fully tracked, signed for, and offers compensation up to GBP 750 for the item (not the cash, but it deters theft).
- Conceal the contents -- do not put cash in a transparent window envelope. Use a plain sealed envelope inside a card or folded paper.
- Cross any cheques 'Account Payee Only' -- this restricts them to the named payee's bank account and makes cheque fraud significantly harder.
- Keep your proof of postage -- if anything goes wrong, you will need this to make any claim or report to Royal Mail.
- Never send large amounts -- if you are considering posting more than GBP 50 in any form, use a bank transfer or digital service instead. The risk simply is not worth it.
Even with all these precautions, how to safely send money through the mail is ultimately a trade-off between convenience and risk. For recipients without bank accounts, physical postal methods sometimes cannot be avoided. For everyone else, there is a better way.
A Wise transfer to a UK bank account arrives in seconds with full tracking, a confirmed delivery notification, and a transparent fee of around 0.4%. Compare that to posting a cheque that takes 5-6 days to clear with no tracking and no insurance on the value.
How do I send money via email?
How do I send money via email? This is a question that confuses physical post with digital email -- but it is worth answering both interpretations. In the digital sense, several services let you initiate a money transfer using just the recipient's email address, without needing their bank account details.
PayPal is the most widely known option: you log in, enter the recipient's email address, specify the amount, and the money is sent to their PayPal account instantly. The recipient can then withdraw it to their bank. This works domestically and internationally, but PayPal charges a 3-4% currency conversion fee for cross-currency transfers on top of a transaction fee -- making it one of the more expensive ways to move money internationally.
Wise also allows you to send money to an email address -- the recipient gets notified by email and sets up their Wise account to receive the funds. Remitly uses email or phone number to identify recipients for certain delivery methods. So how do I send money via email in practice? Download Wise or Remitly, create an account, enter the recipient's email, specify the amount and currency, and pay by card or bank transfer. The recipient gets a notification and accesses the funds digitally -- no physical mail involved, no waiting 5 days for a cheque to clear.
Risks of sending money by post
The risks of sending money by post are significant enough that most financial advisers recommend against it for any amount worth worrying about. Here is what can go wrong:
- Loss in transit -- Royal Mail handles around 25 million items per day. Even with a very low error rate, letters go missing. There is no insurance on cash, and limited compensation on items sent without Special Delivery.
- Theft -- postal theft does happen, both by opportunistic sorting staff and by sophisticated mail interception. Envelopes that look like they contain cash are targeted.
- Delays -- strikes, seasonal backlogs, and international customs hold-ups can delay postal items significantly. A cheque that arrives a week late could cause problems if the recipient needed the money urgently.
- No recourse for cash -- if you send GBP 200 in an envelope and it disappears, you have no legal claim. Royal Mail's complaints process will acknowledge the loss but cannot return value it has no record of.
- International complications -- many countries have restrictions on the import of foreign currency. UK postal orders may not be accepted at all. Cash in foreign envelopes may be confiscated at customs without any refund.
- Clearing delays on cheques -- a cheque posted Monday may not clear until the following Wednesday. If the recipient needs funds quickly, this is useless.
Compare alternatives to sending money by post
Before you head to the Post Office, it is worth checking what a digital transfer would actually cost. For most corridors, Wise, Remitly, and Xe are dramatically cheaper and faster than any postal method -- and your money arrives in minutes, not days.
Best alternatives to sending money by post
The good news is that the alternatives to sending money by post are faster, safer, and almost always cheaper. For domestic transfers, your bank's faster payments system is free and instant. For international transfers, specialist services like Wise, Remitly, and Xe beat banks on cost and typically match or beat postal methods on everything else. Here is how each compares.
Wise
Wise is one of the most cost-effective ways to transfer money internationally, using the real mid-market exchange rate with a transparent fee of 0.4%-2% depending on the currency pair and payment method. For domestic UK transfers, Wise is often free or costs just pence. Compare that to a postal order: GBP 3.50 in Post Office fees plus the cost of a stamp, and the recipient still has to physically queue to cash it.
Wise covers 80+ countries and 40+ currencies. Transfers to major bank accounts -- UK, EU, US, Australia -- typically arrive within seconds to a few hours. The recipient gets a push notification the moment the money lands. No lost envelopes, no cheque clearing window, no queuing at the Post Office. If you have been wondering whether to send money in the post or use a service like Wise, the numbers make the decision straightforward.
- Mid-market exchange rate -- no hidden markup on the rate
- Transparent fee -- 0.4%-2% shown upfront before you confirm
- Instant delivery -- most transfers arrive in seconds or hours, not days
- Fully tracked -- real-time status updates from send to receipt
- FCA regulated -- funds safeguarded under UK financial regulations
Remitly
Remitly is built for speed and simplicity on international transfers. Its Express delivery option gets money to a recipient's mobile wallet or bank account in minutes in over 170 countries. For cash pickup, Remitly has a network of thousands of locations globally -- so even if the recipient does not have a bank account, they can collect the funds in person rather than waiting for a postal order to arrive.
Fees are competitive and the Remitly app is clear about what the recipient will receive before you send. For the UK-to-Philippines corridor, for example, Remitly's Express service sends GBP 500 with a small fixed fee and the recipient gets the funds on their GCash mobile wallet within minutes. A postal order or airmail envelope to the Philippines would take 2-3 weeks -- if it arrived at all.
Remitly's Express option delivers money to mobile wallets and bank accounts in 170+ countries, often in under 5 minutes. Cash pickup is also available for recipients without bank accounts.
Xe
Xe is the strongest option when you need to send money to a less common currency or destination. It covers 130+ currencies -- more than most competitors -- and offers same-day delivery on major corridors. Xe is particularly well suited to larger transfers, where its competitive exchange rates and no flat fee structure mean you keep more of your money. Xe is fully regulated and backed by EuroNetWorldwide, a global payments company.
If you were considering sending money through the mail to an unusual destination, Xe almost certainly covers it digitally. You create a free account, enter the recipient's bank details, confirm the rate, and the transfer is sent. The recipient gets notified when funds arrive. No postal fees, no customs risk, no waiting.
Xe covers 130+ currencies and offers same-day delivery on major corridors. No flat fees -- just a competitive spread on the exchange rate, displayed before you confirm.
What about sending money through a bank?
For domestic UK transfers, your bank's Faster Payments service is free, instant, and the obvious first choice -- far better than posting a cheque. For international transfers, banks are a step up from postal methods in terms of reliability, but they are significantly more expensive than specialist services.
Most UK banks charge GBP 15-25 as a flat SWIFT fee for international wire transfers. On top of that, they apply a 2-4% exchange rate margin above the mid-market rate. On a GBP 500 transfer, that can mean GBP 20-40 in hidden exchange rate losses on top of the wire fee -- GBP 55+ total in costs. Compare that to Wise, which does the same transfer for around GBP 5-10. The bank wins over a postal money order, but loses to every specialist service.
Method | Cost on GBP 500 | Speed | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|
Cash by post | Stamp (GBP 1.35) | 3-7 days (no guarantee) | None -- no insurance on cash |
Postal order | GBP 3.50 fee + stamp | 3-7 days + cashing queue | Good -- replaceable with receipt |
Cheque by post | Stamp only | 5-8 days (incl. clearing) | Moderate -- fraud risk if intercepted |
Bank SWIFT transfer | GBP 20-40 in fees + FX | 1-5 business days | High -- regulated, traceable |
Wise | ~GBP 5-10 (0.4%-2%) | Seconds to hours | High -- FCA regulated, fully tracked |
Remitly | ~GBP 3-8 fixed fee | Minutes (Express) | High -- regulated, real-time tracking |
Xe | ~0.3%-1.5% spread | Same day on major routes | High -- EuroNet regulated, traceable |
Frequently asked questions
Can you send money in the post?
Yes, you can send money in the post in the UK. Options include cash, personal cheques, bank drafts, and postal orders. However, cash is not insured by Royal Mail and cannot be claimed if lost. Postal orders are the safest physical option as they are made payable to a named recipient and can be replaced with proof of purchase. For amounts over GBP 30-50, a digital transfer service is almost always safer, faster, and cheaper than posting money.
Can you send money by post internationally?
You can send money by post internationally, but it comes with significant risks. Cash may be confiscated at customs, and many countries have restrictions on importing foreign currency through the mail. UK postal orders are only accepted in a limited number of countries and cannot be cashed in most international Post Offices. For international transfers, digital services like Wise, Remitly, or Xe are faster, safer, and far more reliable than any postal method. Wise covers 80+ countries and delivers in minutes at 0.4%-2% fees.
Can I send money by post safely?
You can reduce the risk of sending money by post, but you cannot eliminate it. The safest approach is to use a postal order rather than cash -- postal orders are named to the recipient and replaceable if you keep the receipt. If you must send cash, use Royal Mail Special Delivery for tracking and some level of compensation (though cash itself is not covered). Always cross cheques 'Account Payee Only' to prevent fraud. That said, if you have access to digital banking, a bank transfer or Wise is unambiguously safer than any physical method.
How do I send money via email?
To send money via email, the most common options are PayPal and Wise. With PayPal, log into your account, click 'Send & Request', enter the recipient's email address, and specify the amount. The money arrives in their PayPal account instantly. With Wise, you can send to a recipient's email and they receive notification to claim the funds. Remitly also uses email or phone number to identify recipients in some cases. PayPal charges a 3-4% currency conversion fee for international sends, making Wise or Remitly more cost-effective for cross-currency transfers above GBP 100 or so.
How to safely send money through the mail if you have no other option?
If you have no access to digital alternatives and must send money through the mail, follow these steps to do it as safely as possible: use a postal order rather than cash; if cash is unavoidable, use Royal Mail Special Delivery for tracking; conceal cash inside a greetings card so the envelope does not look like it contains money; cross any cheques 'Account Payee Only'; keep your proof of postage in case you need to raise a complaint. Never send large sums in the post. If the recipient does not have a bank account, a Remitly cash pickup transfer is safer than postal delivery.
Is it illegal to send cash in the post?
It is not illegal to send cash in the post in the UK. However, Royal Mail strongly advises against it and explicitly excludes cash from its compensation scheme. This means if you send cash and the letter goes missing, you have no legal claim and no refund. Some postal services in other countries do prohibit cash by mail, so check the rules of both the sending and receiving country before attempting an international postal cash transfer.
How long does it take to send money by post?
Sending cash or a postal order by post within the UK typically takes 1-3 days via First Class or 1-2 days with Special Delivery. If you are sending a cheque, add 2-3 working days for the bank to clear it after receipt -- so the recipient can access funds in 4-6 days total. International post takes longer: EU countries 3-5 working days, rest of world up to 2+ weeks. Compare this to Wise (seconds to hours), Remitly Express (minutes), or Xe (same day on most routes). Digital is faster by a significant margin in every scenario.
Can I send a cheque in the post?
Yes, you can send a cheque in the post. It is safer than sending cash because the cheque is made payable to a specific person and is harder to cash fraudulently if intercepted. Always write 'Account Payee Only' between the two parallel lines on the cheque to restrict it to the named recipient. Use First Class or Special Delivery to send it. Note that UK cheques take 2-3 working days to clear after the recipient deposits them, so the total time from posting to cleared funds is typically 5-7 days. Digital transfers through Wise or your bank's Faster Payments service are significantly quicker.
What is the cheapest way to send money without using post?
The cheapest way to send money domestically in the UK is your bank's Faster Payments service -- it is free and instant for most accounts. For international transfers, Wise is consistently among the cheapest options, charging 0.4%-2% with the mid-market exchange rate and no hidden markup. Remitly is highly competitive for popular corridors (UK to Philippines, US to India, etc.) with fixed low fees on its Economy service. Xe works well for larger amounts or less common currencies. All three are far cheaper than bank SWIFT transfers (GBP 15-25 flat fee + 2-4% FX margin) and far safer than any postal method.
Can you send money by post to someone without a bank account?
Yes -- postal orders and cash by post are sometimes used when the recipient does not have a bank account, as they can be cashed at a Post Office. However, digital alternatives now cover this use case too. Remitly offers cash pickup at thousands of agent locations worldwide -- the sender pays digitally and the recipient collects cash in person without needing a bank account. Western Union and MoneyGram operate similarly. This is faster and safer than postal cash, and is available in many more locations than Post Office branches abroad.
How much does it cost to send a postal order?
UK postal order fees are set by the Post Office and charged on top of the face value. As of 2026, the fees are: 85p for orders up to GBP 4.99, GBP 1.30 for GBP 5-10, GBP 2.10 for GBP 10.01-50, and GBP 3.50 for GBP 50.01-100. The maximum value of a single UK postal order is GBP 100. If you need to send GBP 500, you would need five postal orders at GBP 3.50 each in fees (GBP 17.50 total), plus postage. A Wise transfer of GBP 500 to a UK account is typically free or a few pence via Faster Payments -- and arrives instantly.
Is Wise safe to use instead of posting money?
Yes, Wise is safe to use. It is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in the UK and by equivalent regulators in every country it operates in. Client funds are held in ring-fenced accounts, separate from Wise's own operating capital, meaning your money is protected even if Wise were to face financial difficulties. Over 16 million customers use Wise globally, with more than USD 10 billion transferred monthly. It is unambiguously safer than sending cash or a postal order through the mail.
Do banks charge for domestic money transfers?
Most UK banks offer free domestic transfers via Faster Payments for personal accounts. Business accounts sometimes incur small fees per transaction. For international transfers, virtually all UK banks charge: typically GBP 15-25 as a flat SWIFT fee, plus a 2-4% exchange rate margin. On a GBP 1,000 international transfer, that can mean GBP 40-65 in total costs. Wise does the same transfer for around GBP 10-20, with a transparent fee shown upfront. Sending a cheque by post is free bar the stamp, but takes 5-7 days and offers no FX conversion.
What happens if money sent by post goes missing?
If cash sent in the post goes missing, you have no recourse. Royal Mail's compensation scheme does not cover the value of cash inside envelopes. If you used Special Delivery, you can claim compensation for the item itself (the envelope) -- but not for cash contained within it. If you sent a cheque or postal order and have proof of posting, you can report it to Royal Mail and request a replacement postal order (with a fee) from the Post Office. The lesson: sending significant amounts of money through the mail is fundamentally unsafe. A Wise or bank transfer with a confirmation number and tracking is always recoverable and auditable.
Sending money by post or in the mail has its place -- for small domestic amounts, a cheque or postal order is a perfectly functional method. But can you send money in the post and expect it to be fast, insured, and cost-effective? No. For anything beyond a nominal sum, a digital service like Wise, Remitly, or Xe is the straightforwardly better choice. Use the comparison tool above to see exactly what your transfer would cost before you queue at the Post Office.
Mohammad Humaid
Verified AuthorMo is the founder of MoneyTransferStore. As an expat who has experienced the challenges of sending money across borders himself, he set out to help others like him avoid hidden fees and unfair exchange rates on international transfers. With a background spanning fintech, payments, and Web3, Mo brings years of practical experience to building a platform focused on transparency and trust.
