5 things to check before you send your first transfer

First transfers fail for boring reasons: a misspelt name, an expired ID, a wrong digit in the account number. Run through these five checks and yours will sail through — most first sends complete within the hour.

1. Your ID is current and matches your account

Verification needs a valid government photo ID — passport, driving licence or national ID — plus occasionally proof of address. The name on your ID must match your Swiftsettle Pay account name exactly, including middle names. Expired documents are the number-one cause of first-day delays.

2. The recipient name matches their bank record

Banks reject mismatches automatically. Copy the full legal name from a bank statement, not from memory — accents, hyphens and second surnames all count. For cash pickup, the name must match the ID they'll show the agent.

3. You know the total cost, not just the fee

Judge the transfer by what arrives, not by the fee line. Compare the recipient amount against the mid-market rate you can check online: within 1% is excellent. Our estimator shows rate, fee and arrival together before you pay a penny.

4. The delivery method fits the urgency

Need it today? Pick cash pickup, mobile wallet or Express bank payout. Can it wait a day? Standard bank transfer costs less. The estimator's delivery estimate is honest — if it says minutes, it means minutes for 4 out of 5 sends.

• Urgent → wallet, cash pickup or Express.
• Routine bills → standard bank transfer.
• Monthly repeats → set up Regular Payments after the first send.

5. Tracking and support are switched on

Enable push notifications so you see each stage — funded, converted, paid out — without checking manually. And save our 24/7 chat before you need it: first-time senders with a question get answers in under two minutes on average.

The bottom line

ID, name, total cost, method, notifications — five minutes of checks for a transfer that lands first time. Welcome aboard.