Wise Review (Transferwise): A smarter way to transfer money abroad

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Since Wise was founded way back in 2011 I've followed their progress. There are many firms that shout loudly about wanting to disrupt an industry. But most of the time, it is marketing hyperbole. However, in Wise's case they have actually disrupted how we send money around the world. They've done this by doing two things, making it cheap and making it easy.
Richard Berry
Richard Berry
Good Money Guide Founder

Wise Customer Reviews

4.5
4.5 out of 5 stars (based on 215 reviews)
Excellent71%
Very good18%
Average8%
Poor0%
Terrible3%

Great service

26th October 2024

Cost effective and efficient

Judy Anne MacArthur Clark

Leave a review

  • Tell us what you think of this company and help others make more informed financial decisions.

Great service

26th October 2024

Cost effective and efficient

Judy Anne MacArthur Clark

Ex pat on tour

26th October 2024

Best transfer rate by far for low value (£1000 to £100,000), low cost – pound to euro exchange rates; I wouldn’t use anyone else.

Adrian Holden

Simplicity

25th October 2024

It is so simple to use,the rates are great and takes seconds to reach my destination

Jackie etheridge

Okay value for money

25th October 2024

Better than competitors

HS

There for the long haul.

25th October 2024

I have found Wise reliable and very solid, with many international transactions completing in seconds!

Bernard Whiting

One of the better ones

19th October 2024

If only they were as cheap as they used to be

Paul
Verified

Misapplication of Sanction Rules

14th August 2024

This financial service banned my transfer to a person residing in the city of Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine. Their rationale was that, in their opinion, Zaporizhzhia is under sanctions. However, this is inaccurate. While the Zaporizhzhia oblast is partially occupied and the occupied areas are under sanctions, the city of Zaporizhzhia remains under governmental control. They have conflated these distinct situations. Despite providing them with numerous resources to clarify this, they have not reviewed them and now intend to restrict my account. This demonstrates a significant level of incompetence in the current political and legal situation.

Tim Polomani
Verified

5/5

2nd July 2024
Avery Wong

Wise has always been easy…

28th June 2024

Wise has always been easy to use to transfer funds and the rates are competitive. Once the money hits their account it is seamlessly sent to the recipient.

Maria Osmane

prompt

27th June 2024

prompt

freddy magdalani

Easy to use, fees are…

27th June 2024

Easy to use, fees are too high

Karen Blunt

OK does the job

27th June 2024

OK does the job

Caroline Yates

Good app and process but…

27th June 2024

Good app and process but there are a lot of layers of charges which make a transfer seem complicated

Stephen William Lacy

told me one thing delivered…

26th June 2024

told me one thing delivered another – service not usable

Alan Harrison

Simple process to deposit funds,…

26th June 2024

Simple process to deposit funds, move to a variety of other currencies and spend or transfer to banks in other currencies. Very low charges and money held in Wise account can be invested for you. Excellent bank Facility all round.

Alan Keith Brown

Very reasonable rates and quick…

26th June 2024

Very reasonable rates and quick transfer of funds

Janelle O’Keeffe

Very easy to use app…

26th June 2024

Very easy to use app for transferring and converting currency with clear fees and no hidden surprises.

Thomas Patterson

VERY GOOD

26th June 2024

VERY GOOD

PAUL PAPSON

No view

26th June 2024

No view

STEPHEN BURNS

Difficult to get proper support…

26th June 2024

Difficult to get proper support when needed.

Agostinho Santos

4/5

26th June 2024
Dr Patricia Norris

Great rates and decent app

26th June 2024

Great rates and decent app

Danny Lee

very useful services for movingoney…

23rd June 2024

very useful services for movingoney abroad and receive money from abroad

Giuseppe Trovato

5/5

21st June 2024
Gush verdding

Nice

20th June 2024

Nice

Peter koncek

Best in class

20th June 2024

Best in class

Angel Serrano Montilla

n/a

20th June 2024

n/a

Claudia Fernandes

Really easy service to use…

20th June 2024

Really easy service to use with reasonable fees. Having a virtual bank account in every currency I deal with makes paying and receiving money from abroad really easy. Auto conversion ensures that if one of my foreign virtual accounts doesn’t have enough funds then money is converted into it from one of my other virtual accounts

Richard Barnes

Absolutely, the best currency provider…

20th June 2024

Absolutely, the best currency provider available.

Riccardo Scotti

Good rates

20th June 2024

Good rates

Oyedeji Jaiyeola

Reasonable ok.

20th June 2024

Reasonable ok.

Ahmed Abdallah

excellent

20th June 2024

excellent

Maria Carminati

Very reliable and fast transfers

20th June 2024

Very reliable and fast transfers

Mark Mackay

I have had an account…

17th June 2024

I have had an account for several years. They would be my first thought when transferring currency.

Sharon Gray

Quick and easy to make…

15th June 2024

Quick and easy to make currency transfers at great rates.

Martyn King

Higher transfer fee than HSBC

15th June 2024

Higher transfer fee than HSBC

Sue Mahoney

Good all rounder

15th June 2024

Good all rounder

Richard Skinner

Good value and very efficient

15th June 2024

Good value and very efficient

K Jowitt

5/5

13th June 2024
Matthew Snazell

Much better value than my…

13th June 2024

Much better value than my bank + easy to use

Adrian Lawrence

5/5

13th June 2024
Babis Gakis

Works fine for me

12th June 2024

Works fine for me

Jeremy Cornish

4/5

12th June 2024
Jeremy Cornish

Good reliable and consistent

12th June 2024

Good reliable and consistent

Andrew coaton

Excellent service

12th June 2024

Excellent service

Richard Milner

Good

12th June 2024

Good

Donal Fingleton

Good value , A Bit…

12th June 2024

Good value , A Bit awkward to use but seems secure

James Charles Edward Kilcawley

Easy to use particularly in…

12th June 2024

Easy to use particularly in transferring small amounts

Edward Wal

Great

12th June 2024

Great

Robert Allen

Easy & good value

12th June 2024

Easy & good value

Raymond Forbes

Innovative products and good value

12th June 2024

Innovative products and good value

Francis Evans

Fast and inexpensive transfers

12th June 2024

Fast and inexpensive transfers

Roger Doery

Good overall

12th June 2024

Good overall

YADI JAYRAN-NEJAD

Quick, cheap, secure, professional

12th June 2024

Quick, cheap, secure, professional

Peter Wyatt

Excellent. Transparent. Innovative.

12th June 2024

Excellent. Transparent. Innovative.

Cecil Frank Scott

Straightforward

12th June 2024

Straightforward

Andrew James

A little more expensive than…

12th June 2024

A little more expensive than Revolut but wider range of currency holding accounts. Would still like to see more – eg ZAR.

Hamish Stevenson-Hamilton

Quick and cheap

12th June 2024

Quick and cheap

Jenny Riley

near instant currency transfer, wide…

8th June 2024

near instant currency transfer, wide range currencies

Alan Brown

Excellent value for FX transfers

6th June 2024

Excellent value for FX transfers

Kamaljit Singh

4/5

6th June 2024
Kristina Juodikyte

Very convenient and easy to…

6th June 2024

Very convenient and easy to use.

Adriana Farenga

5/5

6th June 2024
Adriana Farenga

3/5

3rd June 2024
Gabriel Antonie

Excellent

3rd June 2024

Excellent

Thomas Burmester

Losing their edge as they…

3rd June 2024

Losing their edge as they have increased their charged

Bhrat Patel

Great

2nd June 2024

Great

Victor Simon

Exchange slightly better than TorFX

1st June 2024

Exchange slightly better than TorFX

Gary Bennett

3/5

31st May 2024
Kornel Erdos

4/5

31st May 2024
Kornel Erdos

The app is very easy…

31st May 2024

The app is very easy to navigate

David Owen

Not used.

31st May 2024

Not used.

Peter H Smith

Reliable transfer service

30th May 2024

Reliable transfer service

Lori Ho

Ok

30th May 2024

Ok

Dan

average support

30th May 2024

average support

Leslie Walton

1/5

29th May 2024
Dennis culton

brillant and fastest transactions

29th May 2024

brillant and fastest transactions

traceylee hayew

Efficient and quick service

29th May 2024

Efficient and quick service

Aubdool Soormally

Good service

29th May 2024

Good service

Mr Alon Richardson-Hunt

Excellent service, downloading is very…

29th May 2024

Excellent service, downloading is very easy

Norman Crowe

Great service and delivery on…

29th May 2024

Great service and delivery on time

Rajkamal Gupta

OK

29th May 2024

OK

Gulam Sumar

Super fast and reliable

29th May 2024

Super fast and reliable

Barry Hochfield

No comment, sorry.

29th May 2024

No comment, sorry.

Josef Demkanin

Uselss

29th May 2024

Uselss

BARRY ADAMS SMITH

good

29th May 2024

good

patrick freer

No thoughts

29th May 2024

No thoughts

Peter Blight

4/5

29th May 2024
Nikita Williams

Brilliant, cheap and simple…

26th May 2024

Brilliant, cheap and simple to use

Malcolm MacLennan

Wise is a great platform,…

25th May 2024

Wise is a great platform, easy to use, transfers are fast. Well integrated into banking apps. Low fees and good range of currencies available at fair exchange rate

Daniel Gallagher

Provide the best rates. Fast…

25th May 2024

Provide the best rates. Fast service.

Steve Wall MBE

Gave confidence

25th May 2024

Gave confidence

David Steed

OK

25th May 2024

OK

Janwalmsleyprice

NA

24th May 2024

NA

Aditi Sharma

simple in use, good platform…

24th May 2024

simple in use, good platform for currency exchange and money transfer

Cyryl Filip Zakrzewski

A

24th May 2024

A

Richard Allen

5/5

24th May 2024
Sandeep Paul

Good but getting less competitive

24th May 2024

Good but getting less competitive

Salman Hussain

Cheap transfers

24th May 2024

Cheap transfers

Robert Jacobs

x

24th May 2024

x

Robert Deriawish

Better than my bank

23rd May 2024

Better than my bank

Greg Struthers

Perfect

23rd May 2024

Perfect

Adel Fouad

Best FX and banking services…

23rd May 2024

Best FX and banking services for UK and abroad. Cheapest fees for transfers and using card abroad.

Bomy Gandhi

A superb service in every…

23rd May 2024

A superb service in every way. Would not hesitate to recommend

Julian Hermele

Brilliant at small and medium…

23rd May 2024

Brilliant at small and medium transfers

John Allington

Great value, execution and service.

23rd May 2024

Great value, execution and service.

Wolf-Rüdiger Feiler

Stopped using, switched to HSBC…

23rd May 2024

Stopped using, switched to HSBC global money which is as competitive now

Juliana Almeida

Easy to use, good…

22nd May 2024

Easy to use, good rates

Tim Poole

SO easy to move money…

22nd May 2024

SO easy to move money around accounts and currencies

Mick Walsh

no comment

22nd May 2024

no comment

alister l

x

22nd May 2024

x

Charles Mitchell

Excellent have used card in…

22nd May 2024

Excellent have used card in 2 countries worked well

Nigel Hugh Pereira

Great fx payment service and…

22nd May 2024

Great fx payment service and very competitive on price

David Brunsdon

Great, low-cost transfers, multiple currencies…

22nd May 2024

Great, low-cost transfers, multiple currencies available.

Petros Koustenis

Excellent

22nd May 2024

Excellent

Michel Hunter Stevens

Efficient, Low cost, Simple to…

22nd May 2024

Efficient, Low cost, Simple to use, Multi acct access

Michael Lane

Cheap and efficient

22nd May 2024

Cheap and efficient

Richard Warrell

Reliable and cost effective.

22nd May 2024

Reliable and cost effective.

Mohammed Amin

Very easy and quick to…

22nd May 2024

Very easy and quick to use

David Lawrie

great alternative

22nd May 2024

great alternative

Patrick Calija

Trustworthy and honest.

22nd May 2024

Trustworthy and honest.

TREVOR BELL

5/5

22nd May 2024
Henry Webster

Good value

22nd May 2024

Good value

Paul MERRILL

Good rates and fees but…

22nd May 2024

Good rates and fees but minimal display sometimes makes navigation unclear

Rodney Townson

Absolutely brilliant!

22nd May 2024

Absolutely brilliant!

shane o’mahony

Good

21st May 2024

Good

Yohay Elam

super easy for transfers, also…

17th May 2024

super easy for transfers, also they are almost always cheaper then traditional brokers.

Jasper Martens

4/5

17th May 2024
Nuria Tain Novo

5/5

17th May 2024
Ive Ferreira

The Wise platform enables hassle…

16th May 2024

The Wise platform enables hassle free international currency transfers which arrive in seconds, and good transparency around fees.

Joanna Green

4/5

28th February 2023
GMG Awards Voter: [118255400165]

3/5

28th February 2023

Pros:

Bonds

GMG Awards Voter: [118254761493]

5/5

27th February 2023

Pros:

access to bond market

Cons:

include an app, provide ISA wrapper support

GMG Awards Voter: [118253924165]

3/5

22nd February 2023

Pros:

Bot

GMG Awards Voter: [118249937572]

5/5

22nd February 2023
GMG Awards Voter: [118249767711]

5/5

18th February 2023
GMG Awards Voter: [118247313173]

4/5

17th February 2023

Pros:

Access to bonds

GMG Awards Voter: [118246922046]

5/5

15th February 2023

Pros:

Access to a unique investment product.

Cons:

Offer ISAs.

GMG Awards Voter: [118245184455]

4/5

15th February 2023

Cons:

Yes

GMG Awards Voter: [118244887140]

5/5

16th January 2023

Pros:

Uniqueness

GMG Awards Voter: [118220513182]

5/5

28th February 2022
GMG Awards Voter: [13362465036]

5/5

24th February 2022

Pros:

Smart

Cons:

Better app

GMG Awards Voter: [13355826828]

5/5

24th February 2022

Pros:

Simplicity

Cons:

Perfect as is

GMG Awards Voter: [13355678708]

4/5

11th February 2022

Pros:

Speed

Cons:

­ƒñÀÔÇìÔÖÇ´©Å

GMG Awards Voter: [13324438006]

5/5

23rd January 2022
GMG Awards Voter: [13279523975]

5/5

23rd January 2022
GMG Awards Voter: [13279522686]

5/5

19th January 2022

Pros:

Access to bonds, good training course and range of bonds to trade

GMG Awards Voter: [13270131477]

5/5

17th January 2022
GMG Awards Voter: [13265221943]

5/5

17th January 2022

Pros:

Easy to invest, never a problem, easy to speak to an agent, brilliant service.

Cons:

Nothing

GMG Awards Voter: [13264842062]

5/5

17th January 2022

Pros:

Ease of use

Cons:

Broader selection of bonds

GMG Awards Voter: [13264621090]

1/5

17th January 2022

Pros:

Different

Cons:

Nothing

GMG Awards Voter: [13264274894]

5/5

16th January 2022

Pros:

Best selection of bonds

Cons:

Provide ISA/LISA

GMG Awards Voter: [13264096785]

5/5

16th January 2022

Pros:

Unique access to corporate bonds

Cons:

Greater choice of Euro denominated bonds

GMG Awards Voter: [13263543311]

5/5

16th January 2022

Pros:

Excellent fractional product. Unique.

GMG Awards Voter: [13263496925]

5/5

16th January 2022
GMG Awards Voter: [13262938165]

5/5

15th January 2022

Pros:

Easy Access to Fixed Income market. Platform is good.

GMG Awards Voter: [13262108584]

5/5

15th January 2022
GMG Awards Voter: [13261803203]

5/5

14th January 2022
GMG Awards Voter: [13261356254]

5/5

14th January 2022

Pros:

Access to bond

Cons:

none

GMG Awards Voter: [13260916190]

5/5

14th January 2022

Pros:

Access to products

GMG Awards Voter: [13260713106]

5/5

14th January 2022

Pros:

Risk diversification

Cons:

Nothing

GMG Awards Voter: [13260683240]

5/5

14th January 2022

Pros:

The only company that I can buy these fantastic bonds

Cons:

They are already doing a great job

GMG Awards Voter: [13260683154]

5/5

14th January 2022

Pros:

Easy to use

Cons:

Develop an app

GMG Awards Voter: [13260615822]

5/5

14th January 2022

Pros:

Fractional bonds! Thanks for making them accessible to the public.

GMG Awards Voter: [13260578431]

5/5

14th January 2022

Pros:

Transparent, easy to use. Robowise

Cons:

Apply a monthly top up option. Better marketing and increased refer a friend fees

GMG Awards Voter: [13260522278]

5/5

14th January 2022

Pros:

simplicity

GMG Awards Voter: [13260522227]

5/5

14th January 2022

Pros:

Trade bonds in smaller sizes

GMG Awards Voter: [13260503507]

5/5

14th January 2022

Pros:

Only way to by bonds as consumer

Cons:

improve website

GMG Awards Voter: [13260468953]

5/5

14th January 2022

Pros:

Unique niche market.

GMG Awards Voter: [13260434881]

5/5

14th January 2022

Pros:

Access to high-yield corporate bonds, can buy fractional bonds

Cons:

Provide mobile app

GMG Awards Voter: [13260408077]

5/5

14th January 2022

Pros:

Security

GMG Awards Voter: [13260344844]

5/5

14th January 2022

Pros:

Asset class offered

Cons:

Can’t think of anything

GMG Awards Voter: [13260326208]

5/5

14th January 2022

Pros:

Specialised product for general public

GMG Awards Voter: [13260324337]

5/5

14th January 2022
GMG Awards Voter: [13260265324]

5/5

14th January 2022

Pros:

Access investments that would not usually be available

GMG Awards Voter: [13260248559]

5/5

14th January 2022

Pros:

Provides access to an asset class I could not otherwise invest in (directly)

Cons:

Better news feed

GMG Awards Voter: [13260213838]

3/5

14th January 2022
GMG Awards Voter: [13260205538]

5/5

14th January 2022
GMG Awards Voter: [13260204924]

5/5

14th January 2022

Pros:

Access to corporate bonds on an innovative platform

Cons:

Bring back the offer of ISAs

GMG Awards Voter: [13260179924]

5/5

14th January 2022

Pros:

Good income stream

Cons:

Sell my equity holdings that I ended up with

GMG Awards Voter: [13260155985]

5/5

14th January 2022

Pros:

Access to a new class of asset

Cons:

Nothing – they are brilliant

GMG Awards Voter: [13260129912]

5/5

14th January 2022

Pros:

Innovative option and access to an otherwise closed market

Cons:

More people getting access to the marketplace

GMG Awards Voter: [13260111751]

5/5

14th January 2022

Pros:

Easy to use platform

Cons:

none

GMG Awards Voter: [13260098308]

5/5

14th January 2022

Pros:

The only provider in this area.

Cons:

Market more.

GMG Awards Voter: [13260092597]

5/5

14th January 2022

Pros:

Ease of use

GMG Awards Voter: [13260088280]

5/5

14th January 2022

Pros:

It’s opened up the corporate bond market to me, where I would’ve been excluded because I don’t have 100k spare to invest in one company

Cons:

More different companies, preferably ESG

GMG Awards Voter: [13260080054]

5/5

14th January 2022
GMG Awards Voter: [13260079365]

5/5

14th January 2022

Pros:

Content, platform, app, fees combined

Cons:

Chart of historical value

GMG Awards Voter: [13260074038]

5/5

14th January 2022

Pros:

Great platform for otherwise inaccessible investments

GMG Awards Voter: [13260073531]

5/5

14th January 2022

Pros:

Innovative player allowing access to institutional market

Cons:

Broaden offering

GMG Awards Voter: [13260069042]

5/5

14th January 2022

Pros:

Great service

Cons:

More bonds on the market

GMG Awards Voter: [13260067950]

5/5

14th January 2022

Pros:

Returns

GMG Awards Voter: [13260066555]

4/5

14th January 2022
GMG Awards Voter: [13260063201]

5/5

14th January 2022

Pros:

access to market wouldnt have otherwise

Cons:

offer isa

GMG Awards Voter: [13260061246]

5/5

14th January 2022

Pros:

Its revolutionary idea and the possibility to invest in single name high yield bonds

GMG Awards Voter: [13260060653]

5/5

14th January 2022

Pros:

Ease of use of platform

Cons:

Nothing

GMG Awards Voter: [13260061536]

5/5

14th January 2022
GMG Awards Voter: [13260053079]

5/5

14th January 2022

Pros:

Everything

Cons:

No idea

GMG Awards Voter: [13260048166]

4/5

14th January 2022

Pros:

Innovation

Cons:

Less clunky

GMG Awards Voter: [13260047391]

5/5

14th January 2022
GMG Awards Voter: [13260046996]

Wise Expert Review

In this review of Wise, I tell you why they are such excellent money transfer app, what we dislike about them and how they compare on service and price to the best money transfer apps for sending money abroad.

Wise Review
Good Money Guide Recommended 2024

Name: Wise

Description: Wise is a low cost international money transfer app that helps people send money abroad for much less than it would cost to do it through their banks. Wise was launched as Transferwise in 2010 as a peer to peer currency network, but has since grown to provide money transfers to over 15 million customers sending more than £9 billion a month.

Are Wise a good money transfer app?

Yes, Wise is one of the cheapest and easiest ways to send money abroad. Highly recommended.

But in a nutshell… Should you use Wise? Yes. Are they cheap? Yes. Is it easy to use? Yes. Are they safe? Yes.

The only reason not to use them really, is if you already bank with Starling whose fees are pretty similar and don’t want another app on your phone…

Pros

  • Cheap
  • Easy
  • Fast

Cons

  • Phone support hard to find
  • Only suitable for smaller transfers
  • Pricing
    (5)
  • Currencies
    (4.5)
  • Online Platform
    (4.5)
  • Customer Service
    (4)
  • Research & Analysis
    (3)
Overall
4.2
 

Truely disruptive

A few years ago, just before Wise was founded me and some friends all clubbed together to buy a friend of mine who was living in Munich some time in a music studio for his birthday. His girlfriend arranged it from Germany and asked us to all send over €30. It was an absolute nightmare. I was banking with Natwest and they were going to charge me £20 as a minimum fee for sending the money to a European bank account. So that was out of the question. Next I tried PayPal, but they were still a ridiculously expensive. So what I did, in the end, was, as I was working in The City, on Lower Thames Street, at lunch I went to one of the Euro cash machines next to the Tower of London and withdrew €30 in cash, put it in an envelope and send it with a little note through the office post room. If I hadn’t managed to post to from work and had to buy stamps instead, I probably wouldn’t have bothered at all.

There really was no way to send a small amount of money abroad, unless you had the time and inclination to inconvenience yourself and the receiver by visiting a Western Union shop.

Thankfully then along came Wise. It was a boom time for money transfer apps and Transferwise as they were then called were by no means the only one touting for business. But what Wise had above all others was an excellent story.

How does Wise work?

Wise works by matching up buyers and sellings of currency in different countries, rather than by physically transferring money internationally. Wise is not a bank, and does not have a banking licence in the UK (it is a Money Service Business), so your money is not protected by the FSCS. But, if you have a Wise card you can still get a sort code and account number, so even though Wise is not officially a bank, it may as well be becuase it acts in pretty much the same way.

The story was the circumvention of “evil” banks by transferring money abroad using peer to peer networks. Which was basically Transferwise saying that if you need to transfer €30 to Germany there is probably someone in Germany who wants to transfer €30 to England. So instead of doing two foreign exchange conversions and two bank transfers, we’ll just match your €30 with their €30 and there is no need to do any FX, and therefore far fewer fees to pay.

They also had some fantastic marketing, for example stripping off to their pants in front of the Bank of England to protest rip-off banking charges. It was a stroke of genius, really, as there are two things that the British really like. One is seeing naked people. The second is hating banks.

They weren’t the first people to cause a scene to turbocharger their business. Specsavers tried to sue Glasses Direct after they dressed up as sheep outside their shops in 2006 claiming that their customers were being “fleeced”. And a few days before Transferwise got naked, Betfair had driven a massive Octopus through central London, and guess what, it broke down slap bang in the middle of Oxford Street, causing outrage and loads of free press coverage for their World Cup offers. The similarity doesn’t end there either, Betfair is a P2P sports betting platform where you bet against other players rather than evil bookies, who like evil banks just want your money.

Of course, just as with Betfair, liquidity gaps need to be filled when there isn’t someone on the other side of your transaction and whilst Betfair still used traditional market makers, Transferwise used firms like Currency Cloud (now owned by Visa) to ensure that customers always got the best price even.

Richard Branson was also an investor. So there you go. If he likes the product. Why shouldn’t you?

Over the years, Wise as grown by doing the two things I mentioned earlier really well.

Customer service

We’ve scored Wise down a bit on customer service because they don;t provide a telephone number, so you cannot contact Wise by phone.

This is fine for small transactions because they handle millions per day, but if you are sending a larger amount of money abroad you are better off using a currency broker, where you can phone up an account executive or dedicated dealer, who can provide updates on your transfer or help out immediately with any issues.

But all in all, Wise customer support, is fairly efficient.

Is Wise safe?

Wise are about as safe as you can get for sending small amounts of money abroad.

Wise are now listed on the LSE (LON:WISE) with at market cap at the time of writing of £8.2bn., Admittedly, that is about 12% down from where they IPO’d, but even though lots of tech firms listed in 2021, it was a pretty bad time to come to market, and most have performed poorly since then because of overall market conditions and over ambitions venture capitalists wanting a return on their investments.

Using a money transfer app that is publically listed, is a great way to see how healthy the company is. If the Wise share price starts to go down, then this could be an indication that they are running in potential financial problems and be a sign to use a different app.

Apps & platform

Wise makes it incredibly easy to transfer money abroad. It’s hard to say too much about the app because it only really does one thing, and that’s help you send small amounts of money abroad. And it does that really well. If you have a large amount of money to send you are better off with a currency broker because they can help with market timing, and lock in exchange rates with forward contracts and currency options. Plus if you ask them nicely and are transferring enough money, they will undercut Wise’s exchange rates and fees. Remember, that in FX, everything is negotiable.

But if you are not transferring a small amount of money overseas, Wise is one of the cheapest money transfer apps out there. And more importantly, they display their fees clearly on their website and app, although everyone now has to do this because the FCA got very upset with people not displaying true FX transaction costs.

Pricing

Wise are not the absolute cheapest out there though. At the moment, Atlantic Money will do GBPUSD transfers at the interbank rate plus £3. But to be honest, I don’t think that is sustainable and it’s only one corridor versus Wise, which offers 21 currencies. You also get the feeling that the money transfer market is saturated now, which is why Wise are starting to offer other products like multi-currency bank accounts and investing. If you want to know more about Atlantic Money, you can read my interview with the founders Neeraj Baid and Patrick Kavanagh (who helped build Robinhood) and make up your own mind about if that’s the right service for you.

Research & analysis

Wise doesn’t really have any currency forecasts, which is fine because exchange rates are very hard to predict. But it would be nice to have at least some commentary on the markets.

We’ve given Wise a mid-ranking for research and analysis as they do provide lots of excellent guides online and they have a good insight tab on the app which can help you see where your money is being spent.

If you want currency forecasts you can read our regularly updated analysis on if now is a good time to buy USD or EUR.

Wise Facts & Figures

💱 Total Currencies50+ on offer
💵 Min Transfer£1
💰 Max Transfer1.2m EUR
🛒Customers10 million+
🏛️ Founded2011
🏢 HQLondon, UK
⚖️ RegulatedYes- by the FCA
Account Options
🧍 Personal Transfers✔️
👔 Business Transfers✔️
📅 Currency Forwards
💸 Currency Options
🤝 Personal Service
📱Phone Dealing
⌨️ Online Platform✔️ – very intuitive & easy
⭐ TrustPilot Rating4.2/5
🌐 WebsiteVisit Wise

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