Unfortunately banks in practice do the same, they just don't disclose it. Wise will give you a better exchange rate (the "real" one I believe), but you will have to pay a, unfortunately, percentage based fee for the transfer.

Banks will give you a worse exchange rate, which in practical terms means you will lose a percentage based amount on the exchange rate, but fee for for the transfer is not percentage based.

So the question becomes: is the percentage fee Wise adds to the transfer smaller or bigger than the percentage fee banks add to exchange rate? I am not sure about really large amounts, but for the smaller amount I've compared Wise's percentage fee is lower than the banks percentage fee.

Another benefit of Wise is that you can see the what the exact cost will be /before/ you do the transfer. For large amounts you may be able to contact your bank and ask for a guaranteed exchange rate, and then compare that to Wise at real-time. I belive you can also contact Wise and negotiate a discount, but I have not tried that.

I have used Wise for small ($ hundreds) transactions for both business and personal use. It is fine, albeit the limitations on cash withdrawals can be annoying.

For business I do relatively regular transfers (USD 20-40k to CAD at a time). I don't use my Canadian bank's FX service, as it borders on highway robbery. Instead I use www.KnightsbridgeFX.com. Lately I have been regularly comparing KnightsbridgeFX rates to what Wise can quote (fx middle rate + % fee). Each and every time on a sum of USD 20-40k the difference is < USD 35 one way or the other. I have been tempted to switch my business accounts to Wise entirely, but have not pulled the trigger yet.

Would not recommend Wise at all . . . I opened the account, cleared KYC, sent the funds (pretty significant amount) and then had my account deactivated (with no communication from Wise and no real way to engage with them). About a month later my money (minus bank fees) was returned (again with no communication whatsoever).

I would have issued proceedings for the bank charges / complained to their regulators (but they are not fully regulated like a traditional bank, so beware), but the exchange rate had moved in my favour, so I came out ahead if you discount all the stress.

I saw hundreds of similar stories online as well.

Thanks. The anti-money laundering red tape may be an issue as the amount is quite significant (will buy a decent property in many areas). Wise is quoting a 0.6% fee and claims savings about 2-2.2x this fee.

I have never had any delays with smaller amounts on Wise. I can't comment on what Wise is likely to do or not do with a txn in, I am guessing, 6 figures USD equivalent. They do have a web page dedicated to the topic https://wise.com/large-amounts/, where indeed the additional documentation is mentioned. My guess: If Wise deems a transaction suspicious or warranting additional questions, then so will a bricks-and-mortar traditional bank. One may have some KYC edge over the other, if you have been their client for a significant amount of time, but not by much. Likewise, any follow-up and communications from each of these institutions will likely be similar and very limited, as clear AML regulations prevent these institutions from even telling you that it is an AML-related issue. My suggestion: Go with the better rate, but give yourself extra time.

That's the bottom line.

A little bit background:

Here is one thing to remember - in the US banks in general do charge quite steep outgoing wire fees (like USD $42 for BoFA) but do not charge an exchange fee. This is not the case with banks in other countries where fees are multi-layer.

When you send for example $10K from a bank in country A/currency A to a Bank B/currency B there might be the following fees involved:

1. Bank A's outgoing wire transfer fee. (like $20-$45)
2. Bank A's currency exchange fee - often a percentage of the total transfer amount, like 2-3%, so in this case it will be like $200-$300
3. Intermediate bank fee - $15-$25
4. Bank B's incoming wire fee - $15-$30

All these fees above make transfers via banks quite expensive.

However, if a bank does not charge a currency exchange fee, then using wire/SWIFT is better starting from $5000. For smaller amounts Revolut/Wise and other fintech alternatives make sense.

P.S. There is one more way to completely get rid of fees, but I would not recommend it to an 'average' person. It involves opening Interactive Brokers account, transferring source currency funds there, convert it using interbank exchange rates (either market rate or use all the trading tools - limit, limit stop, trailing limit stop, etc), then withdrawing funds at the destination bank's account. This will work if both source and destination bank accounts and IB account belongs to the same person and IB is quite anal, like Wise with KYC.

One more thing to add - DO NOT use any company/service if they are not registered in the country from where you will be sending money and don�t have a physical office there.

For this (and other) reasons stay away like from hell from Revolut and InstaRem. There are more than enough horror stories on Reddit, especially for Revolut.

I'm a long time user of Revolut and Transferwise. Their apps are really advanced and seeing exact costs of all FX transactions down to the penny is a huge convenience.

For large amounts, nothing beats the security and pricing of a "traditional" bank transfer. I've had to do this many times, eg for sums required to buy property. Bank beats Revolut beats Transferwise. But for small every day purchases and transactions, Revolut/Transferwise is much more convenient.

These stories are almost always lacking detail and context. Reddit is skewed towards younger crowd with ...er...less secure profiles, so it would not surprise that their anonymous accounts report being entangled in situations that doesn't pass KYC muster. Revolut and the like hold various financial charters and licenses, and so are not fly-by-night operations.

I have used Wise, CaxtonFX and XE Money and been happy with all of them - saving a ton over traditional banks with transfers of around $25,000. For smaller amounts I have used Revolut but won�t touch them now, at least until they file their overdue accounts and dig themselves out of their regulatory issues.

My most recent small transfer I made was using my regular Starling account and it was cheap and efficient.

I think this depends on the country, plus on your setup/leverage with the given �traditional� bank. Here in Canada banks charge the proverbial arm and a leg in their spread. Wise charges a % fee, which effectively works like the spread, but in my experience is still significantly lower than traditional banks. Bottom line: Shop around. The nice thing with Wise is that one can easily do an on-line simulation of what the costs will be.

I have first hand account of friend of mine from Singapore to have his whole funds (about $4000) locked in Revolut for 4 months for receiving money (about $700) from a relative in India. That was enough for me to stay away from them.

I'll add another data point as a user in the USA.

I've found Wise to be quick and efficient for small transfers for our small business. I created the account because of the exorbitant cost of wiring money to a designer in Europe; we just don't have the easy, cheap bank transfer options in the USA that they do over there, and Wise was a fine solution for us for accepting honoraria in local currency, and for paying the occasional service provider. I keep a small amount of funds in any local currency I could imagine us using to avoid paying exchange costs.

For large transfers, I still use my bank. I feel more secure this way.

It helps that we've reached a tier with the large bank where fees are reduced and customer service is more personal. Keeping funds above a certain dollar amount is the qualifying event for status at the bank. You might ask your local bank if they have preferred customer pricing or anything like that; it does reduce the percentage fee I pay for currency exchange...

When I compared pricing for a small amount of Danish Kroner for a July 2023 trip, it was cheaper to order some cash from the brick & mortar bank than it would be to use my Wise card at an ATM upon arrival. Again, though, preferred pricing, so YMMV.

Just a word of warning. Yet another major investor in Revolut has significantly reduced their valuation of it yesterday (this time it was Molten Ventures). It�s not a bank so you don�t get those protections.

Got URL for that?

This. For small amounts I will continue to use Wise. I find their rates to be excellent and their website to be secure and user friendly.

When I transfer anything important, I'll use my bank.