What is TransferWise?
The company TransferWise was established in 2010 by two Estonians with a strong financial and business backgrounds – Kristo Kaarman and Taavet Hinrikus (which is one of the founding members of Skype). The purpose of the company was to create borderless money and to facilitate transparent, convenient, and instantaneous money transfers between countries.
As the company grew, new features were introduced, such as multi-currency accounts, debit cards and business accounts. The company now does much more than money transfers for their 10 million customers (businesses and individuals), therefore, they have decided to change their name from TransferWise to Wise.
What is Wise?
Wise is the new name of the company formerly known as TransferWise. The name represents a community of people and business without borders, that live, work and travel all around the world.
Important to mention is also the fact that this new name and logo will not affect in any way the existing customers. They are and will be able to log into their Wise account with the same email address and password. The company mission stays the same – to make money borderless and the core experience of using Wise is to remain faster, more convenient and cheaper than anything else on the market.
How does TransferWise/Wise work?
Everything is simple and straightforward. To get set up you only need to:
- Go to wise.com or download the app and register for free – all you need is a Google or Facebook account
- Select the amount you want to send – all fees as well as the exchange rate (if applicable) will be displayed upfront. If you want to receive money, order a card, or make bigger transfers you will also need to verify your identity by uploading a photo of your ID.
- Top up your account with your credit/debit card, Apple pay or bank account
- Add the recipients bank details to send money or share your account details to receive money
- You are done! Wise will notify you when the transaction is completed, but you can also track all transfers from your account.
How does Wise make a profit? Simple, they take a very small percentage of the transaction, rather than having the customers pay bank or transfer fees, which can be up to 5% of the transferred amount. As a reference point – a Wise transfer is 7 – 8x cheaper than a bank transfer.
Is TransferWise/Wise safe?
Yes, Wise is very safe. All payments require authorization with 3-D Secure authentication. Apart from that, you can turn on notification for all your purchases. Without any extra costs you can freeze and unfreeze your debit card from your Wise account or app.
Wise is regulated by the FCS and other authorities around the world, which help to ensure high safety standards. The customer’s money is kept separate from the accounts used to run Wise, meaning that Wise does not touch your money and it remains safe regardless of what happens to Wise. They are committed to keep customer data safe, therefore, they are very transparent regarding data collection, processing, and data storage.
How does Wise (TransferWise) borderless account work?
The borderless account is now known as the multi-currency account, only the name changed, all functions remain the same. The multi-currency account and the debit card work as substitute for international banking. When it comes to international transfers, traditional banks can often have many hidden exchange mark-ups, fees and delays and for many years customers accepted it as the status quo, but this is where TransferWise (now Wise) joined the game and disrupted the traditional practices. Wise makes your money borderless and offers:
- account details to get paid in +30 countries
- +50 currencies to safely hold your money in your Wise account
- Instant and very cheap money transfers
- Multi-currency direct debits and much more.
Wise (TransferWise) personal account and debit card:
With a Wise personal account, you can:
- send and receive money
- hold multiple currencies for free and convert money at the real exchange rate only when you need them
- when relocating you can receive the salary, pension or other directly on your Wise account (getting paid like a local)
- shop on overseas online stores and pay for your items at the real exchange rate
The Wise debit card is the perfect card for travelers and people with very active lifestyle. The card is free of costs, however, you do need to deposit 5£ (or the equivalent of that), amount that can be spent in the local currency, wherever in the world you are. The debit card can be used in more than 200 countries and if you need to withdraw money from the ATM you have 2.3 million ATM’s to choose from. In supported countries Google Pay and Apple pay is also enabled.
Wise (TransferWise) business account:
Wise is an authorized financial services provider. The Wise business account enables business owners to operate internationally without the typically high fees and complicated processes often enquired at local banks.
There are many advantages of the Wise business account, such as:
- Invoice payments with extremely competitive exchange rates (up to 19x times cheaper)
- All the features (IBAN, sort code and routing number and other) to bank in another country within one account
- Secure transactions, End-to-end encryption = bank-level security
- Possibility to get a business debit card with no foreign transaction fees
- Batch Salary payments – up to 1000 people at once
- Receive money from overseas and move money between account – fast and cheap
- One time set-up fee of 16 £ (or equivalent in other currency)
How does the Wise (TransferWise) app work?
The Wise app can be downloaded in Google Play and in the App Store. It is well-structured and easy to use. From the app you can send and convert money, view your account details, PIN code, freeze or unfreeze your card and many other actions.
TransferWise/Wise login:
To log in into your Wise account is just as simple as logging into any other account – you need to use your password and emails address.
Wise (TransferWise) exchange fees:
Wise uses real exchange rates – this means that Wise uses the midpoint between the Buy and Sell rates on the global currency market, which are continuously changing. A useful feature is also the alert to get notified when exchange rates are better.
Wise takes a percentage of the wire transfer fee, therefore the exchange and service fees vary based on the amount and the country where you are sending the money.
What limits do Wise (TransferWise) transfers have?
Wise transfer limits are currency and payment method specific and can be checked on the Wise website.
Referral program Wise (TransferWise):
Wise has a referral program named “The invite program”, where if you invite friends to use Wise, they will get a discount on their first transfer, but you will also get rewarded. One reward program is for instance is that you get 50£ (or the equivalent in your currency) when 3 invited friends have signed up and made an international transfer of at least 200£ each. To count for your referral program, it needs to be a single transfer of that amount. To invite friends, you only need to go your invite page (or invite icon in the app) where you will find your invite link which can be send over email, Messenger, WhatsApp or simply copied and send to your friends via the preferred communication media.
TransferWise/Wise reviews:
When it comes to reviews, Wise is very appreciated, they have a rating of 4.7 stars on TrustPilot, and received the mark “Excellent” in 86% of votes. In the comments we can see that they are appreciated for the quick and reliable service, for the app functionality, for the easy and smooth business account set-up and many more.
Wise (TransferWise) customer service and contact:
In your account you can find a wide range of topics very well explained, however, if you do not find the answer to your question there, just move to the section “Contact us” to start chatting with an agent. Wise offers global customer support in a wide range of languages. You can get in contact with the Wise team via chat, email, or phone. The chat is the recommend channel, as you get assistance in 2-5 minutes.
— from the terms of a microloan to repayment and resolution of disputes;
— selection of the most optimal loan offers;
— assistance in obtaining money with a negative credit history.
