Wise formally Transfer Wise - foreign exchange card

[jimc91]

Thought I’d take a moment to review the currency exchange card I have been using on my current France trip. I opened the account a while back when the company was called Transfer Wise but it’s now just Wise. I think from memory it was free and I joined via the app.

The card allows you to open upto 40 different currency accounts; I have Sterling, Euro and Dollar


The cost for changing money is low; to change £100 to euros today would cost me 43 pence and the exchange rate would be 1.15687 which is very competitive.




When using the card in France via an atm or a pin machine my euro account gets deducted the exact amount of euros I have spent, no fees from my euro account.
The transaction gets notified to me immediately so I know before I leave the bar if I have been had over. You can download statements etc like any other online account




Each currency account you open gets it’s own account number so if someone needs to pay you euros from a euro country or you need to buy something online in euros you can do so without worrying about exchange rates. You can transfer money back to your Sterling account whenever the rate is favourable. The uk account is protected by the fca rules. It’s been great on this trip - hope this helps peeps looking for an easy way to transfer foreign exchange

 

[archersam]

Nice review,

I used to use a Caxton pre=pay card a lot back in the days when I had to text it to load it and check balances etc as that was when NatWest charged for card use overseas etc.

Since all that stopped I don't bother anymore however the odd card withdrawal fee at the wrong cash machine does often annoy me so maybe something to look into again particularly as it is clearly easy to move money back and forth which was a PITA with the Caxton and I was restricted to certain limits on movements.

 

[kipperman]

What’s the advantage over a Metro bank card for cash ( at least in Europe) or a Halifax Clarity card for CC transactions- both fee free and standard interchange rates?

 

[jimc91]

What’s the advantage over a Metro bank card for cash ( at least in Europe) or a Halifax Clarity card for CC transactions- both fee free and standard interchange rates?

No experience of those and if you’re happy with them that’s great but the review was for those thinking of having one simple card for holidays. As a top it up debit card for my European trips I have found the transfer wise card to be excellent as it’s so transparent . I also used my hsbc card to take out £100 whilst here and only got 109 euros and £2.19 fees which is in comparison very poor.

 

[AussieMick]

I am travelling in The Netherlands, Belgium and France at the moment and use a wise card as well. Better exchange rate than any of my bank debit or credit cards and very low fee to transfer from Australian dollars to Euros.My bank cards say they are fee free but they give you a lower exchange rate. So far I have been pretty happy using it.

 

[keith baker]

I use a chase debit card to withdraw cash abroad and get MasterCard exchange rate and no fees... Except most ATMs in Europe (except PTT in France) charge an extra 4-5€ so will look at wise thanks.
I also use Halifax clarity for purchases.

 

[Ayjay]

We use Barclays Reward (visa) credit cards which have the thumbs up from Martin Lewis. We also keep Halifax Clarity (Mastercard) credit cards as backup (which was the previous recommended card from him). I've always found it useful to have both a Visa and Mastercard option just in case one of them hits issues.

 

[AussieMick]

I agree. Always take a few different cards just in case .