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I prefer N26 or Revolut. Better fees and service.
Hi Taras,
Sure, lots of options, but all these things tend to depend on what our particularly needs are. When I went through the whole thing two years ago, Wise was the best for AAC’s business needs, but that might be different for others, or may have changed. Key point is that there are now alternatives to getting screwed by banks when doing FX.
Seems like N26 don’t offer credit cards to Canadians. Point being, each of us must figure what’s best for us. After short glance Revolt looks more in line with what Wise offer.
I’ve used Wise for some years. Never had an issue. The cards work just as any normal Visa card. The previous one was Mastercard, which was no difference. I also like the online virtual cards that can be deleted after a transaction where one might not trust the receiving entity. You get a new virtual card immediately. Different number.
For foreign payments or transfers it’s normally much faster than any bank method. Way cheaper too, of course. My experience is with Euros to and from Norwegian Kr, Swedish Kr, US Dollars and English Pounds. Takes seconds. The method they use, bypassing the whole transfer system and rather match currency needs directly means there must sometimes be longer delays, but I’ve never had that.
My conclusion might change with new providers arriving, but now it’s 100% positive. I use Wise quite often.
Hi Stein, thanks for the confirmation – it sounds very useful. John refers above to a credit card and you refer to a normal Visa card – sounds like a credit card. But on the Wise NZ website they refer to a Visa or Mastercard debit card, which would work the same for money transfers, but you have less protection. With credit card the money is paid from the bank’s credit account and you settle this later. With a debit card the money comes straight from your account so less secure if the goods aren’t delivered or the transaction was bogus. As I understand the practical difference, with credit cards the bank has the responsibility to recover the money. With debit cards you have the responsibility to recover the money (whilst the bank will “assist” you – good luck with that…! Still interested, but can you confirm you can get a credit card in Norway (not debit)? Thanks. Rob
Hi Rob,
Very good point, and I think that’s the case with all Wise cards and pretty much all their similar competitors. Definitely a down side of these services that must be balanced against the many up sides. Kinda like boats, I think, there’s always a down side.
I used Transferwise as it was then called in 2018 to purchase my Ovni 385 in The Netherlands. It worked perfectly, converting U.K. pounds to euros saved a fortune compared to the banks.
While provisioning the boat in Europe took euros from local ATMs. I guess to safeguard your money you transfer just the amounts you think you need as you need them.
I believe the two guys that started it developed Skype.
Revolut is better for non-Americans, as Wise being US-based, won’t let you use it in Cuba 😉
Good to know. We are looking for a decent option before we take off in the spring. There are a lot of options and confusing inducements on the credit card side, of which we have many already, so I wonder if a debit card on a carefully monitored account might make more sense. We have no current plans to visit America…might suck a balloon into the strainer…