Wise April 2024 Review: Pros & Cons (2024)

If you’re looking for an international money transfer service that’s cheap, Wise might not be the best pick. Wise is upfront about the fact that it’s not always the least expensive option, and the potentially higher cost might turn off some people.

However, some users might find a higher fee is a worthwhile tradeoff for a potentially speedy Wise transaction. Another advantage: Wise stands out from some of its competitors by not marking up exchange rates to fatten profits. The company boasts that it avoids “unfair” exchange rates charged by banks.

Each month, London-based Wise processes more than £8 billion (nearly $9.7 billion USD) worth of international transactions. Over 13 million people and businesses use Wise, which was founded as TransferWise in 2011.

Signing up for a free account takes just a few minutes, and Wise walks you through each step. In addition to entering personal information—your name, date of birth, address and phone number—you can register for an account using your Apple, Facebook or Google account. This login alternative isn’t available with most money transfer services.

Once you’ve registered for an account, Wise might need to verify your identity, typically by uploading a picture of your photo ID and proof of your address. This step usually takes two business days to complete. The need to verify your identity depends on where you’re sending money from and how much money you’re sending; Wise doesn’t verify your identity documents until you initiate your first transfer.

Debit Card

If you have a Wise account, you can sign up for a Wise debit card, which can be used in many, but not all countries. The card has a one-time fee of $9 USD. Each month, you can make two ATM withdrawals of up to $100 each month at no charge. After that, the fee is $1.50 USD per withdrawal. A 2% fee is charged on any withdrawal above $100.

The card also can be used to make online payments, and for Apple Pay and Google Pay transactions.

Multi-Currency Account

This free account lets you send, hold and receive money in a number of currencies.

Large Transfers

Wise charges lower fees if you send large sums of money (over the equivalent of £100,000 per transaction in U.S. dollars) at one time or several times a month.

Wise Assets

Through the Wise Assets program, you can invest money from your Wise account in the iShares World Equity Index Fund—its holdings include stock in Apple, Microsoft and Tesla.

Transfer fees depend on the amount being sent, the type of currency the recipient will get and the payment method. For example, a recent check found that the fees for sending $1,000 USD from the U.S. to Mexico (with the recipient getting Mexican pesos) ranged from $9.12 for a bank account to $46.19 for a credit card.

Wise’s fee is a percentage of the amount being sent.

To calculate the cost of exchanging money from one currency to another, Wise relies on what’s known as the mid-market exchange rate, also called the “real” exchange rate.

When banks buy currencies, they might pay a so-called “buy rate.” And when they sell currencies, they might pay a so-called “sell rate.” The mid-market rate splits the difference between the buy and sell rates. Bottom line: The buy and sell rates include a markup, which eats up more of a sender’s and recipient’s money than the mid-market rate does.

If you’re sending money in the same currency from one Wise account to another, there is no fee to convert the amount, but Wise charges a nominal fee to complete the transfer. Otherwise, there’s a conversion fee.

Below is an example of the cost to send $1,000 USD via Wise from the U.S. to Mexico, based on recent research:

Wise lists 50 countries where you can send money from the U.S. You also may be able to send money to someone in another country if the recipient’s bank account is in U.S. dollars, euros or British pounds. Overall, money can be sent to more than 80 countries, which is fewer than some of Wise’s competitors.

It takes anywhere from a few seconds to five business days to receive money through a Wise transfer, depending on the currency being sent. The company says half of its transfers arrive within an hour.

A recent check showed these the ranges for estimated delivery times of U.S. dollars via four payment methods to four countries, with the times fluctuating based on the payment method:

• India: Few seconds to one day
• Greece: One to two days
• Mexico: Two hours
• Thailand: Eight hours

Navigation of the Wise website and app is user-friendly, with no glitches during our test of the platform. However, because of the number of countries and currencies available, it can feel a little overwhelming to keep track of the basics (such as fees and exchange rates) for each type of transaction.

To use the free Wise app for an iPhone or iPad, your device must be equipped with iOS 14.0 or later. It’s available in 15 languages. The free Wise app also is available for Android devices; the Google Play page for the app doesn’t list specifications for running the app or the number of languages that the app supports.

Wise uses HTTPS encryption and a two-step login process to protect data. The company says it will never “misuse” or sell customer data. However, the App Store page for the app indicates some types of data may be collected and linked to your identity, such as contact information, financial information and search history.

Two tests of Wise’s customer support were disappointing.

When browsing the Wise website, a phone number for customer support was nowhere to be found. Worse yet, a message popped up on the webpage for Wise’s help center that said the support team was “really busy” and that it might be easier to try again later. Even more aggravating: After being questioned whether we still needed help, clicking on the “contact us” button brought up the same “busy” message.

Granted, this test took place on the Fourth of July, a federal holiday in the U.S., but what if you need an urgent answer to a question but customer support isn’t available?

Less than two weeks later, we again tried to contact customer service (on a Saturday). When we visited Wise’s online help center, we came across the following message about the live chat function being “closed.”

We then attempted to call Wise’s customer service department, but an automated message informed us the phone lines were “closed at the moment.” We were directed to find another way to contact Wise or to visit the Wise website to find out when the phone lines are open. Email turned out to be one of the contact options, but we couldn’t find any information on the Wise website about hours of operation for the customer service team.

By the way, Wise prides itself on not using automated systems to answer customer service calls. Its agents do business in a total of 14 languages.

Here’s how Wise stacks up against three of its competitors.

Wise vs. OFX

OFX enables someone to send money to people in 190 countries, while Wise is limited to fewer than 100 countries. Perhaps the biggest difference between the two is that OFX does not charge transfer fees and Wise does charge them. Yet Wise stands out because it does not mark up the exchange rate for transfers; OFX hits customers with exchange-rate markups. Also, Wise offers a debit card and a multi-currency account, neither of which is available from OFX.

Wise vs. Remitly

Remitly allows delivery of cash to a home or business, while Wise does not. But Wise does provide the option to send money via Apple Pay or Google Pay, a feature that isn’t available from Remitly. Meanwhile, Remitly’s Express option enables speedy transfers (within minutes using a debit card), whereas a Wise transfer may take up to two business days.

It’s also worth noting that Wise is up front about not being the cheapest option for money transfers. So if cost is an issue, Remitly might be a better choice.

Wise vs. Xoom

A Xoom user can add cash to a prepaid mobile phone account or can pay international bills; neither of those features is available from Wise. In addition, Xoom allows cash to be picked up or delivered, something that isn’t offered by Wise.

At the other end of the spectrum, Wise’s offerings include a debit card and a multi-currency account, as well as features such as Apple Pay and Google Pay, while Xoom has none of those. Perhaps most importantly, Wise takes a smaller cut of your money on large transfers compared to Xoom.