Wise Customer Reviews
Leave a review and tell us what you think to help others make more informed financial decisions.
5/5
Pros:
Good income stream
Cons:
Sell my equity holdings that I ended up with
5/5
Pros:
Access to a new class of asset
Cons:
Nothing – they are brilliant
5/5
Pros:
Innovative option and access to an otherwise closed market
Cons:
More people getting access to the marketplace
5/5
Pros:
Easy to use platform
Cons:
none
5/5
Pros:
The only provider in this area.
Cons:
Market more.
5/5
Pros:
Ease of use
5/5
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
5/5
5/5
Pros:
Content, platform, app, fees combined
Cons:
Chart of historical value
5/5
Pros:
Great platform for otherwise inaccessible investments
5/5
Pros:
Innovative player allowing access to institutional market
Cons:
Broaden offering
5/5
Pros:
Great service
Cons:
More bonds on the market
5/5
Pros:
Returns
4/5
5/5
Pros:
access to market wouldnt have otherwise
Cons:
offer isa
5/5
Pros:
Its revolutionary idea and the possibility to invest in single name high yield bonds
5/5
Pros:
Ease of use of platform
Cons:
Nothing
5/5
5/5
Pros:
Everything
Cons:
No idea
4/5
Pros:
Innovation
Cons:
Less clunky
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
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
4.2Truely 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 Currencies | 50+ on offer |
|---|---|
| 💵 Min Transfer | £1 |
| 💰 Max Transfer | 1.2m EUR |
| 🛒Customers | 10 million+ |
| 🏛️ Founded | 2011 |
| 🏢 HQ | London, UK |
| ⚖️ Regulated | Yes- by the FCA |
Account Options | |
| 🧍 Personal Transfers | ✔️ |
| 👔 Business Transfers | ✔️ |
| 📅 Currency Forwards | ❌ |
| 💸 Currency Options | ❌ |
| 🤝 Personal Service | ❌ |
| 📱Phone Dealing | ❌ |
| ⌨️ Online Platform | ✔️ – very intuitive & easy |
| ⭐ TrustPilot Rating | 4.2/5 |
| 🌐 Website | Visit Wise |
Richard is the founder of the Good Money Guide (formerly Good Broker Guide), one of the original investment comparison sites established in 2015. With a career spanning two decades as a broker, he brings extensive expertise and knowledge to the financial landscape.
Having worked as a broker at Investors Intelligence and a multi-asset derivatives broker at MF Global (Man Financial), Richard has acquired substantial experience in the industry. His career began as a private client stockbroker at Walker Crips and Phillip Securities (now King and Shaxson), following internships on the NYMEX oil trading floor in New York and London IPE in 2001 and 2000.
Richard’s contributions and expertise have been recognized by respected publications such as The Sunday Times, BusinessInsider, Yahoo Finance, BusinessNews.org.uk, Master Investor, Wealth Briefing, iNews, and The FT, among many others.
Under Richard’s leadership, the Good Money Guide has evolved into a valuable destination for comprehensive information and expert guidance, specialising in trading, investment, and currency exchange. His commitment to delivering high-quality insights has solidified the Good Money Guide’s standing as a well-respected resource for both customers and industry colleagues.
You can contact Richard at richard@goodmoneyguide.com
