Wise Review 2023: Pros & Cons and Is Wise Safe?

Wise Review: Features

What is Wise (Formerly TransferWise)?

Wise (Formerly Transferwise) was launched in 2011 with the goal to build a transparent and simple platform to send and receive money around the world, and to make international money transfer easier, faster and cheaper.

Wise is currently one of the best money transfer service providers in the market that offers very low-cost money transfer fees and mid-market exchange rates – the “real” exchange rate without any markups or hidden fees.

Today, Wise has more than 12 million trusted customers, sending money to more than 80 countries, with 95+ billion USD moved annually around the world. 

A question often arises among many users as to what is Wise money transfer, and is Wise safe?  

In this in-depth Wise review, we analysed all the 3 amazing Wise products, while also looking at the downsides.

• 💸 Wise Internation Money Transfer – 4.8/5
• 🏦 Wise Multi-currency Account – 4.5/5
• 💼 Wise Business Account – 4.6/5

Wise Money Transfer: Pros and Cons

---

💸 Wise Money Transfer Review

Wise Money Transfer Review: Credibility and Trust ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

With a rating of 5/5 for money safety, in this section of the Wise review, we will explain is Wise money transfer safe?

Wise rely greatly on building trust and credibility among customers, and they have proved it with their mission of transparent fee and their amazing money transfer service.

More than $8 Billion is transferred through Wise every month, and more than 10 Million users use Wise every year. 

Wise is rated 4.8 on Trustpilot with 153,000+ 5-star reviews.

Being a global FinTech company, Wise is heavily regulated in many countries and well regulated based on the law and guidelines laid by the local government. These regulations make Wise a credible money transfer provider that “safeguard” your money.

Is Wise Safe? 

To answer one of the most commonly asked question – is Wise money transfer safe? We will showcase the Wise licences in various countries globally, and how these frameworks (laid by the local regulatory body) makes Wise a safe and credible money transfer provider.

Wise (ex TransferWise) is a licensed financial body regulated by the (FCA) Financial Conduct Authority in the UK and The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) in the United States. Financial Customs and Excise Department (Hong Kong) and National Bank of Belgium (Europe) as an Authorised Payment Institution.

Likewise, in Australia, Wise is regulated by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC). In Canada, Wise is registered with the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC) as a Money Service Business (MSB) with registration number M15193392. 

In India, Wise works under the guidelines laid by the RBI (Reserve Bank of India). Wise is also regulated in Malaysia, Singapore, UAE, Japan, New Zealand, and Singapore.

Is Wise Money Transfer Safe and Trustworthy ? 

First and foremost, Wise holds its customers’ funds completely separate from their own business segregated accounts, as per FCA guidelines – a process that is known as “safeguarding”. Even if the company reaches insolvency, your money will be safe and would be returned to you.

Secondly, Wise has a 2-step login and verification process. It’s a part of the preventative measures that Wise takes to safeguard the personal data of its users.

Wise has more than two thousand employees across 9 different offices worldwide.  The employees rate the company highly on review websites like Glassdoor. They say that the company is doing an awesome job and is full of driven people. 

Try Wise

Wise Money Transfer Review: Fees and Exchange Rate ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

We rated Wise 5/5 on transfer fees and exchange rates because Wise is often one of the cheapest money transfer providers on many currency pairs.

Wise offers the best exchange rates and a small, transparent fee. Wise uses the mid-market exchange rate – the rates that you see on Google and other trusted places. Mid-market exchange is the mid-point of the “buy” and “sell” price of a currency, which is influenced by global and macroeconomic factors.

The mid-market exchange rate is often called an interbank exchange rate, which means the rate at which top banks swap currencies with each other (after making profits from the hidden markups on exchange rates)

Suppose, you have to send money from the US to India, for a $1000 transfer, you have to pay $2 for the ACH transfer + $7.56 for the Wise transfer fee, which is 0.95% of the total transfer amount. There is no conversion fee or hidden markups on the exchange rates.

Some transfers may even cost less. Here is a quick overview of the Wise fee for popular currency pairs.

Check out Wise calculator to get instant quote to send money abroad

Many top comparison platforms and Wise money transfer reviews considers Wise as one of the cheapest provider in the market.

Wise Money Transfer Review: Transfer Speed ⭐⭐⭐⭐

We rated Wise 4.5/5 on the money transfer speed because it is amazingly fast.

Wise international transfer is typically much faster than banks. Top UK banks takes around 3 to 4 business days to deliver international payments. Whereas, 40% of Wise international payments are instant! While 80% of the Wise money transfers are completed within 24 hours.

Despite such as amazing transfer speed on most currency pairs, for some countries, Wise money transfer make take up to 3 days to deliver the payments.

How Long Does Wise Money Transfer Take?

On an average, Wise money transfer make take up to 1 business day to deliver your international payments, but the exact time depends on the currencies routes – the sender’s and recipient’s country. Wise international transfer also depends on the payment method, such as bank transfer or debit/credit cards.

Here are some of the estimated delivery time of USD and GBP to various popular countries (for different payment method)

Before you decide to send money abroad with Wise international transfer, you’ll see the transfer delivery time on the calculation table. Once you transfer your money, you can also track your payments on Wise app or website.

Wise Money Transfer Review: Support and Customer Service ⭐⭐⭐⭐

In this Wise review, We rated Wise 4/5 on customer support.

Wise takes pride in its “human to human” customer interaction, and not using automated systems or bots to offer customer support. Wise Customer support is available 24/7 in 14 different languages.

Wise hardly receives any complaint on its most popular service – the Wise money transfer (Wise reviews on Trustpilot has a rating of 4.8/5 with a total of 150k+ 5-star ratings)

However, Wise gets some complaints about the Wise multi-currency account on their social media pages – where some Wise users have complained about transfer speed, account verification, and account deactivations, – which is mostly not in control of Wise.

While most of the account deactivations happen due to the anti-money laundering (AML) procedures, there are some cases where an unintentional AML check that may lead to temporary deactivation that may cause troubles to the Wise users. Users can always appeal unnecessary deactivation, and Wise claims to solve your case within 60 days.

---

In this Wise (ex TransferWise) review, we mostly covered the Wise money transfer service. Now let us review another amazing products by Wise – The Multi Currency Account, Wise Debit Card and Wise Business Account.

🏦 Wise Multi Currency Account Review

Final Score: 4.5/5

Wise multi-currency account give you your very own bank account details for 10 currencies with Zero Fee. This means you can have your own local USD, GBP, EUR, AUD account with local bank details.

Wise Multi-currency Account is tailored made for frequent travels or for some who do a lot of international transactions or someone who needs a local bank account as a non-resident (even without a local proof of address proof).

Wise account comes with a Visa debit card which is no doubt the best travel card in the market. You can easily manage your funds across borders with the Wise Multi Currency Account.

• With the Wise multi currency account, you can hold or exchange up to 54 currencies. 
• Local bank details for up to 10 currencies (including USD, GBP, and EUR)
• You can send money to more than 80 countries with a low transparent fee and spend in local currency in these countries with the Wise multi currency debit card. 
• You can shop through overseas online stores and pay in the local currency. This will help you to avoid the dynamic currency conversion fee. 
• With the 3-D secure authentication, get instant notifications, when you make an international payment. 
• You can use your Wise multi currency card in more than 170 countries. One of the best features of this card is that you can freeze or unfreeze it whenever you want. 
• Pay your bills remotely with ease in more than 52 countries. 
• Work anywhere in the world and link your account with Amazon, PayPal, GPay and more.

---

💼 Wise Business Account Review

Final Score: 4.6/5

Wise business account allows you to send international payments to 80+ countries. Wise business account comes with some great business-friendly features such as integrations, APIs for payment automation, batch payments, automatic reconciliation with cloud-based accounting software and much more.

In this Wise review, we will also talk about Wise business account to help you decide if Wise for Business is the right for your business

• One-off payment of 31 USD for full account functionality
• No monthly fee and minimum balance maintenance
• It is 19 times cheaper than PayPal and 6 times cheaper than traditional banks.
• Registering with Wise gives you local bank details of 10 different countries.
• This makes payment for your customers easier. 50% of the payments are instant or arrive within an hour. 
• Add team members with full or limited access.
• Automate payment workflow with APIs. 
• Make batch payments to up to 1000 people at once in different currencies. 
• Wise business debit cards allow your business expenses online without any fee.
• Also earn cashback of up to 1% on all business debit card transactions.

---

How Does Wise Money Transfer Work ?

Step 1 – Create a Wise Account

Create a Wise account on the Wise website or on the Wise app. To register for the Wise account, you will need a valid photo ID to verify your account to send money abroad.

Step 2 – Confirm the Exchange Rate and Fees

Use the Wise calculator above or on the Wise website to confirm the exchange rate and Wise international transfer fee to send money aboard.

Enter the amount that you need to send, select the currency and the delivery method. You can also pay by debit or credit cards. 

Step 3 – Fill the money transfer details 

Select who are you sending the money to and add the local bank details such as account number and name of the person or the business that you want to pay to.

Step 4 – Review and Pay 

Once you have entered all the details, take a second look to make sure everything has been entered correctly. Then click “Confirm and Continue” to complete the international money transfer using Wise. 

---

Wise Review: FAQs

---