Wise.com Reviews

Wise.com ( formerly TransferWise ) is a company that states their aim is to help customers beat bank transfer fees, allowing their users to participate in a peer-to-peer money transfer services that charges the lowest rates available.
How Does Wise Work?
The basic details of how this service works are for members very straightforward and easy to understand.
Members create a profile, then enter the amount of money they would like to transfer and the destination of where they would like to send this money, and whether they would prefer a debit card or bank transfer.
At this point, the member has done everything they need to do, and Wise.com will take care of the rest. “The rest” is where it gets interesting.
Wise.com promises to charge much smaller fees – up to 10x less – than a traditional bank when it comes to transferring money to another country and exchanging it to another currency.
Because instead of creating a straightforward transfer and exchange, Wise.com uses an algorithm to tap into a peer-to-peer market.
According to The Economist, this idea was born when the creators of TransferWise used each other to “transfer” money into the currencies of the countries they lived in and avoided the 3-6% rates charged by traditional banks.
So what TransferWise does is to take your money which is originating in Canada and being sent to Britain, and it finds someone in Britain who is sending their money to Canada.
Then, instead of actually transferring the money across borders, it simply pays the money out of the relevant national accounts.
Wise.com can add 19 different currencies to their account and convert between over 50 different currencies.
There are nine currencies that Wise.com can only send out via local transfer, like Indian Rupees, Singapore Dollars, and more.
Certain currencies have some restrictions in certain areas. For example, if you wish to send more than 1 million JPY to Japan, this can only be done via the SWIFT network, which carries an additional charge.
Cost/Price Plans
Wise.com says that not only do banks charge fees for their transfer and exchange services, they may also charge up to 5% in hidden fees. Wise.com states that the use the real mid-market exchange rate, with no hidden commissions – all fees will be shown up front.
The website says that smaller transfer amounts will be charged a nominal flat fee, while after a set threshold a .5% fee will be charged.
This holds true for most currency exchanges, though unfortunately the United States banking system is particularly complicated and fees charged for USD transfers are likely to be different. Their website provides a detailed chart explaining these differences and what, if any, additional fees will be applied.
Refund Policy
Generally speaking, financial companies do not offer traditional Refund Policies for their services.
This company may offer a Cancellation Policy, though this isn’t clear, so any customer who feels that circumstances have occurred which justify a refund of any associated fees should contact their Customer Service team as soon as possible.
Customer Service Contact Info
Customers who would like to contact Customer Service with any questions, concerns, or complaints can do so by phone at 888-908-3833 or by email at [email protected].
Is Wise.com Safe?
We believe the services that Wise.com offers is both safe and convenient, and that the services fees the company charges are transparent.
There are many different financial and business publications which seem very excited about this service and the possibilities it offers users for affordable options in money transferring.
While there are some user reviews which detail bad experiences, like having their account canceled without an explanation or having mistakes made which result in having their transaction failing, which can cause problems for any number of reasons, the truth is that this company appears to have overwhelmingly positive reviews for their services.
Competitors and Alternatives?
In addition to using your own personal bank to make money transfers, there are many different large scale national services who will help you with this process, the most well-known of which includes Western Union, MoneyGram, and PayPal, among others.
If you have any experience with Wise.com or their services, please leave your reviews below.
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Wise.com Customer Reviews
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Be careful and sensible with Wise
I do not recommend Wise for sure!
I will tell my story with Wise (unfortunately it will not be love story):
2of July 2022 - I started using Wise.
5th January 2023 - my account was blocked after I send all documents, that prove my source of funds (in my case it was my husband`s proofs of being Individual Entrepreneur and Tax Declaration, our certificate of marriage).
5th of January 2023 - I left an appeal, that was promised to be answered during 20 working days.
30 of March 2023 - no answer from Wise.
Wise blocked all my money (my and my family) - rather big amount and left us in bad situation as we are Ukrainians and had to leave our home.
Wise does not answer for almost 3 months now.
I warn everyone to be very careful about this "bank", they can be fraud as I am not sure if I have my money back as there is no answer for 3! months already.
I do not recommend Wise for sure!
I've used WISE to send funds from Canada to a family member in the USA, Feburary 14, 2023. He was out of country for more than a week so WISE could not deliver the payment. It was cancelleD after a week by WISE.
They offered to send me a refund, and have asked for my banking information about 6 times since March and still waiting (June 17th, 2023) for them to refund my money.
I've phoned twice and sent my banking information but still waiting, last phone all was June 9th, 2023.I've used Paypal, etc., and NEVER had this problem getting my money back. I'm now feeling that I've be defrauded by WISE.
37 days, 4 emails, 1 in-app message, 3 phone calls, 2 escalations, measly $75 transfer still pending
I'm a very patient and understanding person, but after 37 days, 4 emails, 1 in-app message, and 3 phone calls resulting in 2 escalations, my measly $75 transfer was *still* pending...
...until I canceled it moments ago. After that experience, why should I ever use Wise again?
I submitted all of the information that Wise asked for: name, address, verified my phone number, social security number, passport, verified my selfie, everything. All three customer service reps told me everything looked fine and normal (two of those reps escalated my transaction).
Yet after 37 days and several hours of my time, my effort still wasn't enough for Wise to complete my tiny $75 transfer.
See attached screenshot as evidence.
Stay away!
Terrible company. Froze my account with my vacation money while I was traveling south east asia. Trapped me in a foreign country for two months and ticking resulting in me losing my job, not seeing my kids and not being able to pay my bills back home so my life is completely destroyed because of them and if I don't find a way to get home I'll probably die hungry in a tropical country. No help from their so called customer service. Without a shadow of a doubt my biggest mistake of my life was to trust wise when my life had to handle different currencies on a daily basis.
Fraudantly setup account.
Someone setup an account without my knowledge. I was able to get in through the password reset option and change password. Way too easy! Tried to set 2 step. Didn't work. Closed account. Send request to block all accounts in my Email name.
Their security is poor. No account like this should use an Email for the account name.
scam
they will not let me withdraw my own money!!!
SCAMMERS!!
Seems to work perfectly well, and instantly, for me.
I have used the service, and found it to be very clear and quick. It's also the cheapest way for me to transfer funds.
I set up my account, then paid them £20 to verify my source bank account. Took a couple of minutes. Sent passport scan & selfie. Another few minutes, and verified. Given my account details for deposits.
Sent another £20 just to verify I had details correct. Instant receipt. Sent the rest of the £5,000. Again, instant.
Transfered to euros. Instant! Great fee about 0.4%.
Transfered to my European bank. Took a day, but that's perfectly usual with my bank there.
I don't know what the issues are with people getting locked out of their accounts. It doesn't seem likely to me. Perhaps dodgy transactions? Also, I see a lot appear to be due to being scammed. Perhaps scammers are making fake login pages or emails?
Anyway, I'm happy enough. I'll be buying a debit card for £7. It uses the currency account that you pay in, meaning no transaction fees at all for any currency you hold.
Fraud - no help from customer service.
I got scammed using Wise.com. Several red flags but no one stepped in from Wise to help stop this fraud. When I got notice from my bank re a transfer, I immediately called Wise but phone calls to their customer service said they're busy so send them an email. Email took time to process so lost the time to take action to stop the transfer. Horrible fraud prevention and customer service. Their customer service is non-existent.
Don't ever use it.
Stay away
Rip Off
I ordered a driver's seat switch car part on eBay. I called 1844-283-3496 to check the status of the part. I was given this number when I googled the customer service phone number for eBay. I called it and gave the guy the part number he put me on hold and came back to the phone and says my order was canceled and that it had gone to the wrong address. I'm in texas he said it went to Ohio.
So then he tells he was going to put the money back and gives me the last 4 digits of my card but then he transfers me to another guy to confirm my order and card number , so this man gets on the phone and says to confirm your card info I need your card number so I gave it to him.
Then I get this message across my saying 912.00 was just declined on my card .I asked did you just try to run $912.00 on my card you were suppose to be putting money back on my card. he said don't worry about that give me your card number again . I said no. Then he started calling me a stupid and other expletives. I hung up. Later that day I tried to use my card and it was declined so I contact the bank and they told me It was declined due to suspicious activity a charge of the amount of 912 00 was trying to be charged. They caught it and didn't pay for it . i received an emailChase debit or ATM card
Card ending in: ****
Cary Hullender:
Did you or someone you authorized use your Chase debit or ATM card for:
Declined Transaction
Wise US Inc $912.33 11/19
yes,I recognize it
- Your card remains active.
- If a purchase was declined, you will not be charged unless you try again.
No, Something's Wrong
- We will close your current card and send you a new one.
- If you need to speak with us, please call the number on the back of your card.
We need the fastest way
Scam!! They deactivated my account without reason!!
What a scam!! I transferred money to multiple accounts due to strong usd and planning to use them to travel and they suddenly deactivated my account!! I probably have about $20k - $30k in yen, gbp, euro
Hacked
I have been using the service for 3 years successfully and with real sense that it is cheap, efficient and safe.
Currently, my normally used accounts are no longer available and the support says I have to re-enter the data and await a new certification. That seemed unusual to me as it is that same account I have used for years, accessed by the same computer with the same verification phone.
It is now 5 days and I cannot do any transactions yet as they have not sent the small deposits I must again identify.
I suspect that they were hacked and are compromised and will stop using them until I have some sense of normalcy.
It is too risky with all the access codes they have. I've changed access codes to the accounts I had allowed them to debit from.
Created an account on September 18, 2022. My password has been canceled or invalidated twice, so I had to create a new password. A new password is only good for a couple of days! It’s been several days and I have not been able to get back into my account. I have requested a new password 10 hours ago, there has been no response. I would tend to agree that they have been hacked or at the very least their iOS Apple app is garbage.
They are likely having these problems because they don’t take cyber security seriously (which is no doubt very expensive due to State sponsored hacking, ie., the CCP) or they are idiots. I deposited $20 as requested but $40 was deposited, the second deposit transaction I did not make!! When a bank or any other large company has your $$$ and they repeatedly make unforced errors, it does not particularly inspire confidence.
So at this point I do not know what to think. I am appalled at the poor service and performance of wise.com. The name of this company is most ironic and shameful. I urge everyone to stay away; they have competition.
Wise Payments Ltd appears to be a Criminal organization
I have just experienced the same SCAM as many others have reported on here and other sites. I.E. I opened an account, I sent $1,500 CDN to Wise Payments Ltd by Interac e-transfer (so as to convert into other currency to make an international purchase), my bank confirmed the funds were SUCCESSFULLY deposited to WISE, then Wise sent me a clearly suspicious email saying the transfer would be delayed while they did some 'checks' (DESPITE THAT MY BANK ALREADY CONFIRMED THE FUNDS WERE DEPOSITED), THEN the next morning MY ACCOUNT WAS DEACTIVATED.
I have No Access to my account and thus NO ACCESS TO MY MONEY. The only recourse they suggest on their website is to send in an APPEAL - I did this 24 days ago and have heard NOTHING. I was hopeful that by sending several emails I would hear something but nothing. The customer service people I've spoken to are all new young employees (no one has worked more than a few months and they claim to have no access to my account!).
I have contacted FINTRAC - Canada's financial intelligence unit - of which Wise claims to be a member (reg #M15193392). If this is not resolved by WISE, they will be investigated by FINTRAC. I will be contacting the Canadian Anti-Fraud Center and the RCMP. It appears that they commit these scams intermittently so as to appear legitimate and try to garner positive reviews and to hide the fact that they are stealing and/or embezzling many customers money.
PS The billionaire CEO Kristo Kaarman is being investigated by the UK's tax regulator the FCA for 'deliberately" defaulting on the payment of 720,00 pounds in taxes.
Wise.com is a scam
Wise.com's Mishandling of my US$2,000 Transfer from Paypal. I would like to report Wise.com's weird payment behavior to you as follows: I have been Wise.com's client since April this year. Wise.com, formerly Transferwise.com is a payment service registered in the UK and I have conducted some investigations before becoming its client.
On May 20 I have withdrawn US$1965 (after deducting US$35 of transaction fee) from Paypal to deposit it to my USD account of Evolve Bank & Trust opened through and trusted at Wise.com. However, a week was gone, my money has still not shown on my Evolve Bank & Trust account at Wise.com. Therefore I have contacted all parties involved in the transaction, incl. Paypal - the Payer, the Evolve Bank & Trust, the bank where my account is actually opened and Wise.com, the payment solution provider that has provided me that account during my registration.
Paypal replied on May 29 that they have made the payment successfully and considered the case as settled. To Evolve Bank & Trust I have submitted my question via their online form and they replied on June 1 & 2.Basically they said that they are a partner bank of Wise.com but they do not have access to my account, albeit under their bank name. As such they suggested me to contact Paypal and Wise.com to find out the reasons, which I have done already, but with no results.
As far as Wise.com is concerned I have talked to its Help Center people a couple of times since May 25 via their Help Center, in chat, per site document uploading or through online email submittals. While chatting on May 25 & 26, I was informed that no incoming funds transfer were detected in my account, my emails and document submittals got no feedback of whatsoever, till this moment when I am writing this email.
Therefore I have conducted some researches of other ways of finding a solution, and finally I found their customer complaints email address at [email protected] and wrote an email to them on June 1.This mail did get replied a couple of hours later, see the email exchange between me and Wise.com's [email protected].
What they said is basically that the transfer of my money from Paypal was completed and the money is at their hand, but they have never informed me of anything since the money has reached them. They said they need some extra checks, but the mechanism of the so called "extra checks" was never implemented, even since [email protected] has promised to enable the mechanism on June 1/2 as stated in their mail. And since then, I have repeatedly ask them to move ahead with their so called checks, however, all my requests were simply ignored and hence I have never heard from them since June 2. I can find no way to trigger the extra check mechanism as they told me.
I don't know what they are doing or want to do against my money, which I earned back 5 years ago with my translation services for a US company called Morningstar. And now my US$ 1965 from Paypal is still at Wise.com's disposal, and my account does not show any evidence of the transfer as indicated by the account statement on June 6.I have no way to get an answer from them, as all my emails get no answers, and their Help Center seems not operational as well.
Apart from the email entry, the chat and telephone functions are all greyed out, there is no way to contact them physically. But emails won't get answered at all. Therefore I have now no way to get any replies from Wise.com. They simply seem to have disappeared from the world.Then what they want to do with my US$1965? Do they want to retain my money forever as their own? Can anyone else do such thing as Wise.com is doing against people like me? My money was legally earned through my expertise service.
I am a linguist cum IT engineer with IC design and web/mobile development as my key expertise right now. I have discontinued with my language services a couple of years ago for various reasons, although I am proficient in English, German and French since the early 1980's. I am not a rich person, just on contrast, I am very poor, because I am not earning money through illegal ways. Therefore US$ 2000 is a big money to me. If someone steals that amount of money from me, that equals the killing of mine. I don't think anyone in the world can keep my money without my agreement for any reason.
I consider this act of Wise.com a crime, and therefore I want to seek justice with relevant financial and government authorities in the countries involved with this case. I hope God and justice will finally prevail and evil=doer like Wise.com will get severely punished. How severe they shall be punished, we shall work out a scheme together.
Wise stole my savings.
Greetings.
I am going to tell you my story of a person who was cheated by Wise. I am a refugee and needed to reinvest some money because of the conflict in Ukraine.
I topped up my wise account, and when I tried to send the money, they first froze the transaction for a couple of weeks. I could not get any answer from the support team but "Wait. We are working". Then they closed my account.
I tried to request my money back, but they ignore every letter I send them, leaving me alone without money.
Don't use wise.com service . there is no option for no star ?
Don't use wise.com service . thier customer service is non responsive , and unprofessional.
after doing 100+ transaction in the last 3 months they start to pause transaction and hold your money for up to 26 days, for no apparent reason .. they even held funds for humanitarian aid to Ukraine citizens .. !! thanks paypal and western union to resolved the issue ..
Why Wise is not a reliable bank? My wife opened a Wise account and transferred her money to it. After one year, Wise wanted to verify again her address again. My wife undertook to send them all the requested documents but in the meantime, Wise blocked her Mastercard and her bank account. She no longer has access to her account and pay her bills.
She has been fighting for two weeks and she has no news from Wise. She can't do anything.. she is worried about her money. We have never had this kind of problem in our 30 years of experience with banks! Even when there are payment problems (which there are not), you can still access your account and use your money.
Do you accept that your bank account is blocked, that you can't consult your account or pay your charges anymore...? Well, Wise can block your account and your money for a simple administrative question and without you being in the illegality.
Wise is a scam, a rubbish company. Stay away from it and sue it for stealing our money!
Variable Exchange Rate
Wise will keep you money.
I would give it no stars
Do not use this company at first everything is okay, then when you next make a transfer they kept the money. You can complain all you like but you will never get you money back. Nice way for Wise to increase it's income. It's happened to other members of my family and friends what is worse I recommend wise to them.
The only people wise help are themselves.
They stop access to your funds with out any warning. They will not refund your money. Have a complaint lodged with Financial Services hope this company is made to cease trading.
A Wise Man avoids WISE.COM
I am going to report Wise.com to the US government's FTC Department of Consumer Affairs. You are operating a very questionable business, in my opinion, a "scam" operation. You closed my Wise account holding over $200 in it.
Now, with the account closed, I have no means to log into it. Wise has a posted message: "Sorry, we deactivated your account."
Nice and right title!
Lack of support
The worst thing is that your account will be closed without telling you any reason, and will choose when have just received the money, and you will not be allowed to log in to view it after it is closed. My account has been closed for three months and I still haven't gotten a refund.
same here....
@YoungKo did you get refund yet?