Wise Is the International Payment Card and Money App I Use Every Day
Wise, from someone who earns, lives and pays in three different currencies
A UK business, an address outside the UK, and suppliers who invoice in whatever they feel like. Wise is what makes that arrangement cost a sensible amount of money rather than a stupid one.
This is not a review of every money app. It is an account of what a multi-currency account is actually useful for once you have lived on one for a while, and the four things about it I would want to know before I opened one.
Why I use it
The pitch everyone repeats is the mid-market exchange rate, and it is true, but it undersells the point. The real difference is that the cost is visible. A high street bank quotes you a rate with the margin already buried inside it, so you never see what the conversion cost. Wise shows the rate and the fee as two separate numbers, and once you can see a cost you can decide whether to pay it.
The second thing is timing. Holding balances in several currencies means you convert when the rate suits you rather than at the moment a payment happens to land. Over a year of invoices that is not a rounding error. Neither of these matters much if you deal in one currency and stay in one country, which is the honest test of whether this page is about you.
What you get
Balances in multiple currencies
Hold, convert and spend across currencies from one account, and convert on your own timing rather than at the moment a transaction forces it.
Local account details
Real account details in several currencies, so a client can pay you domestically rather than making an international transfer. This is the feature freelancers underestimate: it removes the excuse for paying you late and badly.
Transfers priced in the open
The rate and the fee are shown separately before you send. Whether it beats your bank depends on the corridor, but you can at least compare properly, which you cannot do with a rate that has the margin hidden in it.
The card
Spends from the matching balance where you have one and converts automatically where you do not. Useful abroad, and useful for online purchases priced in a currency that is not yours.
The app
Balances, transfers, card controls and instant notifications. Unremarkable in the way financial software should be, which is the highest compliment available in this category.
A business account exists too
Separate from the personal one, with accounting integrations and multi-user access. Worth looking at properly rather than running company money through a personal account, which is a mess at year end.
What I would flag before you open one
The first of these is the one that matters, and most pages recommending Wise leave it out entirely.
It is not a bank
Wise is a regulated e-money institution, not a bank, and that is a real distinction rather than a technicality. Your money is safeguarded in segregated accounts rather than covered by the FSCS deposit guarantee that applies to a UK bank account. That is a reasonable arrangement for money passing through, and a poor one for money sitting still. I use it as a place funds move through, not as somewhere savings live.
Cheap is not free
There is a conversion fee on every exchange, it varies by currency pair, and less liquid currencies cost more. ATM withdrawals are free only up to a monthly allowance before charges start. It is usually cheaper than a bank. It is not the free service the enthusiasm around it sometimes implies, so check the quote for your actual corridor rather than assuming.
Compliance checks can hold your money
An unusual transfer can trigger verification, and while it is being reviewed the money is not going anywhere. This is true of every regulated payment provider and it is not a scandal, but it is a reason not to route a payroll run or a deadline-bound supplier payment through a single account with no fallback.
It does not replace a banking relationship
No credit, no overdraft, no lending, and no manager to call when something unusual needs arranging. For a business of any size this sits alongside a bank rather than instead of one, and treating it as a full replacement is how people end up stuck.
Who it suits
- ✓Anyone earning in one currency and living in another
- ✓Freelancers invoicing overseas clients who would rather pay domestically
- ✓Businesses paying suppliers or contractors in more than one country
- ✓People who travel enough that card conversion fees have become a real number
- ✓Anyone moving between countries who needs money to work before residency does
- ✓Students and anyone else receiving support from abroad on a regular schedule
Getting started
Opening the account is free and takes minutes. Send one real transfer you would have made anyway, compare it against what your bank quoted, and decide on that rather than on anybody's review.
Visit WiseReferral link. I may receive a benefit if you sign up and make a qualifying transfer, at no cost to you. I pay Wise's normal fees like everyone else, and nobody there has reviewed or approved this page.
Working out where to base yourself?
Currency handling is the easy part of moving countries. Tax, cost of living and residency are the hard parts, and I have built tools for comparing those properly rather than by anecdote.
Relocation & money tools