Wise Review: Our Definitive Review of Wise's Money Transfers in 2023
Wise is an excellent money transfer service (9.5/10) and one that the experts at Monito firmly recommend. Offering users a level of security and transparency almost unparalleled in the market (10/10), Wise Money Transfer provides a wide range of easy-to-use services and features (8.7/10), as well as some of the best fees and exchange rates available on the market (9.6/10). Unsurprisingly, all of this leaves Wise an extremely well-liked service in the eyes of its customers (9.3/10).
What Monito Likes About Wise
- Consistently one of the cheapest money transfer services of all;
- No exchange rate margin and fees are low and transparent;
- A well-designed mobile app geared toward sending and receiving;
- A large number of available pay-in options.
What Monito Dislikes About Wise
- Cash pickup services are not available.
- Transfers to some locations can take 2-3 days.
- Sometimes not cheapest if outside North America and Europe.
Category | Monito Score | Highlight |
|---|---|---|
10/10 | Trusted by over 10 million customers. | |
8.7/10 | Transfer process is fast and easy. | |
9.6/10 | Among the best fees on the market. | |
9.3/10 | Excellent Trustpilot and app store reviews. |
How We Review Money Transfer Providers
With more than 50 providers reviewed and 100 test transfers made over the past ten years, we pride ourselves on providing the best reviews of international money transfer services online. Curious how we make them and why you can trust us? Take a look at our process below:
Wise Review
Is Wise Available in Your Country?
| Wise |
Is Wise (TransferWise) Safe to Send Money?
Moving more than US$70 billion across borders for more than 10 million customers every year, Wise is without a doubt a trustworthy choice.
Is Wise legit?
Wise is a licensed Authorised Electronic Money Institution, which means it's regulated by the FCA (Financial Conduct Authority) and HMRC (Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs) in the United Kingdom where it's headquartered, as well as by the relevant authorities in all the countries in which it does business. For example, Wise Ltd Australia is regulated by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC).
In the US, it's registered as Wise Inc with the Financial Intelligence Unit (AUSTRAC) as a money remitter, where it's authorised by the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN). Wise Money Transfer is also licensed as a money transmitter in individual US states, meaning regulatory authorities fully supervise it in every state in which it does business.
Ed Robertson on Unsplash
Is Wise Trustworthy?
Wise Money Transfer also employs more than two thousand people from over 60 nationalities across its nine offices worldwide. Employees give the company close to a five-star rating on the employer review site Glassdoor and describe the team as a “great company that is doing an awesome job” full of “smart and motivated people,” a company that is “super customer-focused” with an “excellent culture.”
One employee wrote they are “Impressed by the professionalism everyone has, alongside an innate sense of trust and drive to achieve the mission”, and another said, “The product is honest, so there's no trying to cheat customers, it's work you can feel good about doing.“ Overall, it’s clear that employees love working there and feel that they are on a mission to send money as cheaply and conveniently as possible.
Is Wise Safe?
The short answer is yes, Wise is safe indeed. Offering institutional grade security for their service and take preventative measures, such as 2-step login and verification procedures, Wise holds its clients’ funds completely separate from their own business segregated accounts, as per FCA requirements. Should the company have any financial difficulties, then your money will be safe.
Is Wise Profitable?
Wise Money Transfer has raised over US$396 million from major investors, including Virgin Group / Sir Richard Branson, Andreessen Horowitz, IVP (Institutional Venture Partners), Max Levchin of PayPal, Sapphire and Seedcamp, which has helped the start-up sustain its phenomenal growth.
For example, in 2016, they saw a growth rate of approximately 150%, and in the 2017 fiscal year, their revenues more than doubled! Overall, the company reported revenues of £67 million (US$94 million) for 2017 and made an adjusted operating profit of £2 million.
So, is Wise safe? Absolutely. We wouldn’t hesitate to trust them even with transfers of large amounts. In fact, many of our team at Monito have used them ourselves for our own international payments.
Is Wise Good For Sending Money?
Opening and managing an account, contacting customer service, and funding a transfer with Wise is very convenient, although receiving options are quite limited.
Monito's Impressions During Our Test
Wise's website and mobile app — which was fast, user-friendly, and simple to use — particularly impressed us with its clean user experience and helpful prompts and tips.
We found the website to be approachable, and we liked the fact that it avoided complicated phrases and money transfer jargon. Aside from this, the other major feather in Wise's cap was its excellent transparency; we were impressed by the mid-market exchange rates and clear fee breakdowns on Wise's homepage, giving us a lot of confidence in the service.
What Is Wise?
Wise is an innovative international money transfer service that is often dubbed the “Robin Hood” of the money transfer industry. They focus on making bank transfers more affordable than traditional banks by charging low and transparent transfer fees and converting money at the mid-market exchange rate.
In other words, Wise charges no exchange rate margin, something that sets them apart from most other services. (As a comparison, banks usually give customers an above-market rate, the margin is part of their fees, and in general, they are not transparent about this.)
Wise Currency Exchange
Wise Money Transfer currently supports sending money to 71 countries and sending money from 43 countries. The company covers 1000+ routes (country combinations) across 57 currencies, and they are also one of the few companies offering the true mid-market rate.
Most currencies supported by Wise offer one option: a bank transfer from one bank to another. For some currencies, you can pay with debit and credit cards or use a SOFORT transfer option. Apple Pay or Android Pay is also available for certain currencies via Wise iOS and Android apps. In most cases, the recipient will get the money within one to two business days.
The Wise App Review
Wise's mobile app has great ratings on Apple’s App Store (4.8/5 stars from 38,700 ratings) and Google’s Play Store (4.5/5 more than 118,200 ratings.) According to many Wise customers, the app is "an invaluable tool for anyone moving money internationally".
How Wise Money Transfer Works
Step 01
Check Wise's rates
Use Monito's comparison engine to see how Wise's fees and exchange rates weigh up against the rest and ensure they're the cheapest option for you.
Step 02
Create a Wise account
Sign up for Wise on the web or the mobile app using your email address. You’ll need to provide Wise with your full name, residential address, and date of birth.
Step 03
Set up a transfer
Enter the amount, destination, and delivery method. You can fund your transfer with a bank transfer or using a debit or credit card.
Step 04
Add a beneficiary
Enter your recipient's name, email, and bank information. Within the Eurozone, only an IBAN is needed. Provide a SWIFT/BIC code and bank account number for other countries.
Final step
Review and pay
Try Wise ❯Review your amount, exchange rate, arrival time, and beneficiary. Confirm and continue to send money from your bank account to the details on the next page.
Wise's Fees & Exchange Rates
Wise is consistently one of the cheapest and most competitive on Monito’s search engine results.
Are Wise's Exchange Rates Good?
What's perhaps most noteworthy about Wise's pricing is that the service will convert your money using the mid-market exchange rate. This means that the Wise exchange rate is the fairest, most accurate exchange rate you can hope for, with the only way the service makes its money being the commissions and fixed fees noted above.
Wise Guaranteed Exchange Rates
What's more, Wise will automatically lock the exchange rate for a specified time frame (24 hours for most countries and 48 hours for several others), meaning you'll not be exposed to exchange rate fluctuations after having confirmed your money transfer. All in all, while this is a reliable way to ensure that your recipient receives a specific amount, be aware that Wise Money Transfer must receive your money within the specified time frame, or else the exchange rate (and therefore also the amount received) will no longer be guaranteed.
Wise's Transfer Fees: A Percentage Commission Fee
Wise fees are low and fully transparent. They charge a commission fee (i.e. a percentage of the transfer amount) and a fixed fee for some country combinations. The minimum Wise charges depend on the currencies you're sending from, and to and certain currencies have variable fees depending on the total amount being sent.
For example, from transfers from British pounds to Euros, you'll pay around 0.35% of the transfer amount with a fee of £0.80. In the reverse Euro to British pound transfer, the pounds will cost around 0.5% of the transfer amount with a flat fee of €2. When sending Danish kroner to Euros, you'll be charged around 0.5% of the transfer amount on the initial DKK 50,000 and then 0.3% on anything over that amount.
Wise Calculator
To get a sense of how costly Wise's fees are, take a look at their dedicated fee calculator tool, or see the table below for a rougher idea of how the platform applies fixed and commission charges on a US$2,500 transfer (or currency equivalent) to several destinations around the world:
Destination |
Fixed Fee
USD
|
Commission Fee
On a $1,000 wire transfer
|
Total Fee
On a $1,000 wire transfer
|
|---|---|---|---|
$4.25 | $6.82 | $11.07 | |
$4.31 | $4.77 | $9.08 | |
$4.28 | $6.04 | $10.32 | |
4.87 | $20.10 | $24.97 | |
4.69 | $5.94 | $10.63 |
Quoted: 9/2/2023 09:00 GMT +02:00
Other Fees at Wise
In most cases, Wise uses a savvy network of local accounts around the globe to collect and send funds, thereby skipping the SWIFT network and its pricey steps and waiting times. As a result, you can expect to incur no charges from the sending or receiving banks and no correspondent bank fees along the way.
If you’re paying by credit card, you will be charged a credit card fee of between 0.3% and 2% depending on the currency you’re sending from and the type of credit card you are using. Debit card payments are free from certain currencies but sometimes incur a debit card fee of between 0.15% and 2%.
According to millions of searches on Monito, here's when we think you should (and shouldn't) use Wise:
- Sending from Europe to North America? Use Wise, it's always very cheap!
- Sending from North America to Asia? Compare providers, Wise often isn't the cheapest.
Be Careful of SWIFT Bank Transfers
Despite the bank account network mentioned above, Wise does transfer some currencies via the international SWIFT network, which most banks will charge a fee to receive. If you’re sending to these currencies, make sure you check with the receiving bank how much they charge for incoming SWIFT payments. The currencies concerned are the Japanese yen, the South African rand, and outbound transfers of US dollars.
If you live in the US, we recommend avoiding receiving payments via the SWIFT network as your bank will likely charge you hefty fees to get the job done. You’ll only want to send USD to Wise via SWIFT if your payment is coming from outside the US.
Compare fees & exchange rates cheaper than Wise:
Wise.com Customer Reviews
Wise has received overwhelmingly positive reviews from customers across all platforms. On Trustpilot, around 85% of 116 thousand customers who gave their feedback rated the service five out of five stars. Among the hundreds of Wise.com reviews we surveyed, the following key themes emerged from Wise customers:
Positive Wise Reviews
- Trustable service;
- Fast, transparent, and inexpensive;
- Simple, easy-to-use, and self-explanatory;
- User-friendly and with no hidden fees;
- A helpful and knowledgeable customer service.
Negative Wise Reviews
- Sometimes there is a delay;
- Some frustrations with the required documentation required to verify identities.
FAQ About Wise
See How Wise Compares Overall With Alternatives
Wise Money Transfer Reviews and Comparisons with Wise Alternatives
Why Trust Monito?
You’re probably all too familiar with the often outrageous cost of sending money abroad. After facing this frustration themselves back in 2013, co-founders François, Laurent, and Pascal launched a real-time comparison engine to compare the best money transfer services across the globe. Today, Monito’s award-winning comparisons, reviews, and guides are trusted by around 8 million people each year and our recommendations are backed by millions of pricing data points and dozens of expert tests — all allowing you to make the savviest decisions with confidence.
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Our recommendations are always unbiased and independent.
