Remitly is a money-transfer service. It facilitates cross-border transfers to 175+ countries. Remitly functions as a digital-first payment transmitter and servicing company that partners with global payout networks. Remitly Global, Inc. is listed on Nasdaq under the ticker RELY. It earns revenue by charging transfer fees and collecting exchange rate margins on currency conversions.
The pages below are the about page, the U.S. licenses page, and the sending-limits help article, as fetched in October 2026. A fee table that did not appear on those pages is not restated.
What the product is structurally
Remitly transmits money. The licenses page lists U.S. state money-transmitter licenses under NMLS 1028236. The same footer gives the registered address as 401 Union Street, Suite 1000, Seattle, WA 98101. Remitly operates structurally as a regulated digital money services business and licensed payment institution. In the United States, Remitly, Inc. is a Treasury money services business and a money transmitter, NMLS No. 1028236, and its licenses page says it can transmit money in every state and Washington, D.C. The same page says it operates in every Canadian province and territory. Remitly U.K. Ltd is an electronic money institution authorized by the FCA, register number 1047222. Remitly Europe Limited is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland, company number 629909. It does not hold a commercial banking license and does not offer standard demand deposit checking or savings accounts. Instead, it acts as a routing bridge connecting sender bank and card accounts with foreign payout networks.
The corporate architecture relies on relationships with global commercial banks and retail payout entities. The platform integrates its digital backend with partner retail locations for cash pickup payouts. Additionally, it maintains direct API connections with regional mobile money providers in developing markets. This framework enables the platform to settle transactions without maintaining its own physical retail branches.
The licenses page is a state-by-state list. It names the state agency and the license number for each state. It does not describe a bank account in the customer’s name.
The payout network is not itemized on the about page. The sending-limits article says the amount depends on the delivery method, the sending country, and the destination. That is a corridor rule, not a catalog of partners.
The service is a licensed transmitter. The sender’s payment is a transfer, not a deposit account at Remitly.
How it works in practice
The sending-limits help article is titled “How much can I send?” It says the amount a sender can pay a recipient varies by delivery method, by the country the sender pays from, and by the destination. Payout methods are structured to accommodate different local financial infrastructures in receiving countries. For bank deposits, the system transfers funds directly into the recipient’s regional bank account. In regions with high unbanked populations, senders can deposit funds directly into recipient mobile wallets. Supported mobile services include GCash in the Philippines. GCash’s help note says the wallet must be active and fully verified to receive an international remittance.
For cash pickup, the platform issues a unique reference number to the sender. The recipient can present this reference code and a government ID at a partner retail location to collect cash. Partner payout agents include regional bank branches, grocery chains, and local exchange storefronts. In Mexico, a help note updated August 9, 2025 says QR-code pickups work at 2,000+ Elektra and Banco Azteca locations. The recipient still shows a government ID.
The article’s contents name four further questions. They cover a per-transfer amount, a limit on what a recipient can receive, the information required to send more, and what happened to older sending-limit tiers.
The October 22, 2026 text of that page shows those headings. It does not show the numeric answers under them. This review does not fill those answers from an older page.
A sender still completes identity checks before a larger limit applies. The help article lists that as its own question. The fetched text does not list the documents.
The transfer is priced per corridor. The limit page describes the cap as something that changes with the route.
Fees and pricing mechanics
Remitly charges transaction fees and exchange rate markups determined by the transfer corridor and the options the sender selects. The help center says the fee and the exchange rate are shown in the transfer summary before the sender pays. Remitly says it does not charge a fee to the recipient. Speed depends on the destination and the delivery option. The help center does not publish a standing Express or Economy fee table.
The exchange rate offered on transactions includes an exchange rate markup over the mid-market rate. This markup spread varies based on the currency pair, the amount, and the options selected. New customers may see a promotional exchange rate or a reduced fee on a first qualifying transfer.
Funding via a credit card can add a fee from the card issuer, which Remitly’s fee article says is separate from Remitly’s own fee. The help center does not state that every credit-card funding is coded as a cash advance. Senders can fund with a debit card or a bank account when those methods are offered on the corridor. Remitly does not add its own recipient fee on top of the fee shown before send.
The about page, the licenses page, and the sending-limits article do not publish one fee for every corridor. They do not publish one exchange-rate margin.
A transfer quote is the place Remitly shows the fee and the rate for that payment. Those three pages do not reproduce the quote. A card payment can also draw a cash-advance fee from the sender’s card issuer. That fee is not a line on the licenses page.
There is no single public fee schedule on the pages fetched for this review. The cost of a transfer is the quote on that transfer.
Limits, eligibility, and availability
Eligibility to send money using Remitly is restricted to residents of supported sending countries. A help article updated September 16, 2026 lists per-transfer limits for the United States, Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, listed eurozone countries, and other send markets including Brazil, Israel, New Zealand, Singapore, and the UAE. Senders must register an account and complete identity verification before initiating cross-border transfers. Recipient eligibility is determined by the local laws of the 175+ countries on the about page.
Sending limits are set per transfer, and they depend on the sending country and whether identity checks are complete. Remitly’s sending-limits article says customers who were previously Tier 2 or Tier 3 moved to these newer limits. The same article says a receiving country or delivery method can set a lower cap than the sender’s limit.
| Sending country | Per-transfer limit, as of September 16, 2026 |
|---|---|
| United States | 100,000 USD |
| Canada | 140,000 CAD |
| Australia | 45,000 AUD |
| United Kingdom | 75,000 GBP |
| Eurozone | 85,000 EUR |
The help article says the eurozone figure covers the countries it lists, and that the amount can vary by country, delivery method, and the exchange rate.
The sending-limits article says limits vary by delivery method, sending country, and destination. The rendered page lists a section for the amount per transfer and a section for what the recipient can receive.
It also lists a section titled “What happened to Remitly’s sending limit tiers?” The numeric tiers are not in the text that loaded. An older daily table is not copied in here.
The about page says payouts reach 175 or more countries. That count is a coverage figure. It is not a list of open payout methods for each country.
A corridor can differ by delivery method. The help article states that dependency and does not print the grid. Remitly carries specific tradeoffs, including premium costs for payout flexibility and transaction error delays. While the app is highly rated, the exchange rate markups are often higher than mid-market specialist rates. This pricing makes it less competitive for bank-to-bank transfers of stable currencies compared to digital-only neobanks. Additionally, a help note updated January 15, 2026 says USDC can be sent from the United States to Argentina or Nigeria, funded by a bank account or a card. The same note says transfers from Alaska, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Texas are rejected.
Incorrect recipient details represent a common cause of transaction delays and cancellations. If a sender misspells a recipient’s name, cash pickup agents will decline to release the funds. Correcting these errors requires the sender to cancel the transaction before the recipient receives or collects the funds. A help note updated August 17, 2026 says a bank-account refund can take up to 10 business days, and a Visa or Mastercard refund can take up to 10 business days.
The published help page describes a variable limit. It does not, in the October 2026 fetch, print a dollar maximum.
Tradeoffs, risks, or limitations
The quote is corridor-specific. Two payments of the same amount into different countries can carry different fees. How remittance companies charge separates that cost into a fee and a spread.
The limit page’s answers did not load as numbers. A reader who needs the current maximum has to open the section on Remitly’s site. This review does not substitute a figure from memory.
State licenses allow Remitly to transmit money in the listed states. They do not insure the transfer the way a bank deposit is insured. A compliance hold stops a payout until the item is resolved. What delays a remittance describes that hold.
Related pages: remittance and money-transfer apps. The recipient must bring a government-issued photo ID and the reference number provided by the sender. The name on the photo ID must match the name entered by the sender exactly. Cash pickup is collected when the transfer status is Ready for Pickup. The recipient has 60 days before an uncollected cash pickup is canceled.
Can I cancel a Remitly transfer?
You can cancel a transfer through the mobile app or website before the funds are delivered. If the recipient has collected the cash or the bank deposit has settled, the transfer is irreversible. A canceled card payment is refunded to the original card. Remitly’s August 17, 2026 refund note says Visa and Mastercard refunds can take up to 10 business days. A cancel before the debit posts can show as a reversal instead.
