Wise Currency Exchange Review: Who's Cheapest?

Wise isn't exactly a newcomer to the currency exchange game. They've become one of the most popular services for international money transfers thanks to upfront pricing and exchange rates that are nearly always better than their competitors.

What Is Wise?

Wise is an online platform that makes it easy to send money abroad. They specialize in international wire transfers, multi-currency accounts, and FX currency exchange. While other banks and providers often hide extra fees within exchange rate markup, Wise focuses on letting customers know what they will pay upfront.

Why Wise Became Popular

Banks and money services have long profited off of foreign exchange rates. When sending money overseas, your recipients were often charged more than you realized.

Wise attempted to change all of this by embracing transparency from the start. For most transfers, you will be able to see the exchange rate, total transfer fee, and how much your recipient will receive before you pay.

What Is the Mid Market Exchange Rate?

Wise loves to brag about their mid market exchange rate. This refers to the real exchange rate you will commonly see on Google Finance, Bloomberg, or apps like XE Currency. Major banks often markup this rate then add additional hidden fees to currency conversions.

Instead of baking the Wise service fee into the exchange rate, they typically provide users with the mid market rate.

How Does Wise Make Money?

Wise doesn't exactly give their exchange rate away for free. They still charge a fee for each transaction. This amount varies by currency pair, chosen payment methods, and how much you are transferring. Wise will always show you how much you will pay before you initiate the transfer though.

Wise vs Traditional Banks

Most banks will markup the exchange rate and then charge additional transfer fees. Depending on the route you send money, it can be difficult to know exactly how much your recipient will receive.

When using Wise, you will typically know this information up front. In many cases, your recipient will actually receive more money than if you had used your bank's international wire transfer service.

Where Can I Save Money With Wise?

If you send money abroad regularly, then Wise could save you a significant amount of money. Whether you're an international freelancer or just helping family overseas, Wise makes it easier than ever to see how your money is spent.

Common use cases include:

• International freelancer payments
• Overseas tuition payments
• Family support
• Remote worker income
• Business payments

Wise Multi-Currency Account

One of Wise' secret weapons is their multi currency account. Not only can you send and receive international payments, but you can also hold money in multiple currencies at once. Digital nomads, remote workers, and anyone that travels abroad or works in multiple countries can benefit from a Wise multi-currency account.

Transparent Than Their Competitors?

Overall transparency is another area where Wise excels. Before you send money with Wise, you can typically see the service fee, estimated exchange rate, expected delivery information, and approximate amount the recipient will receive. This level of transparency is not offered by most banks or money services.

How Does the Exchange Rate Impact Total Cost?

When looking for the cheapest way to send money abroad, many people only consider the transfer fee. What they often fail to realize is exchange rate markup is usually where providers make the most money. Sure you might pay a lower fee with one provider, but if their exchange rate is secretly inflated, you will actually be losing money.

Is Wise Safe?

Wise has established itself as a reliable and safe platform for managing money abroad. Building a reputation for secure transactions and ease of use has helped the company exponentially grow their customer base.

Who's Really Cheapest?

So how can you really know which provider is cheapest? By comparing how much your recipient actually receives! Some services may have lower fees but higher exchange rates. Wise makes it easy to know exactly how much your recipient will receive before you send.

At the end of the day, Wise will usually be one of the cheapest ways to send money abroad. But that doesn't mean another provider won't be cheaper in certain scenarios. Before you choose who to use, compare exchange rates, fees, speed, and how much your recipient will receive.