WISE in KSA
 

Apology if this question was raised before. I am trying to take advantage of the good $US/GBP exchange rate. I have a $US account in KSA and want to use WISE to change a sum to GBP. I asked my bank manger and he said banks in KSA don't accept wise! anyone has experience? is there any other alternative? These guys have a really bad exchange rate compared to wise! is it also possible to receive fund from abroad using wise?

Thanks
Scott

Re: WISE in KSA
 

When he says they don’t accept Wise have you explored what he means ? …. Maybe worth exploring Revolut ?

Re: WISE in KSA
 

Consider opening a Revolut GBP account with a USD currency account add-on. Transfer in USD, convert to GBP then send to your UK bank account. Fees/ XR hit will be less than half the cost of a direct transfer.

Re: WISE in KSA
 

Thanks Johnnyboy

Is Revolut secured/save? I recall a few guys mentioned various view on transfer from SABB to Revolut

Re: WISE in KSA
 

The guy said it is not allowed by the central bank. I like to know if anyone in this forum has used it to transfer/exchange from KSA banks.

Re: WISE in KSA
 

If your bank manager has said that you can't send USD funds to Wise's USD account (usually located in US) then you can't do much about it. But as others have already said, Revolut is a far better option in that Revolut do NOT charge fees to convert between currencies (unlike Wise) and they also offer SAR as base currency (unlike Wise). Personally I don't think Wise are that competitive any more, even my UAE bank beats them for AED > GBP transfers. Its not Wise's exchange rates which are the issue but their commission % fees which are very high for certain currency deposits, eg AED.

Re: WISE in KSA
 

Revolut isn't a UK licenced bank, so you don't get FSCS protection. I've also read online complaints about Revolut accounts beng unilaterally frozen due to money laundering concerns and it taking a lot of time and effort to rectify the situation. Personally I wouldn't hold large amounts of cash in Revolut, but it has its use for moving funds to the UK at a more reasonable cost.

Re: WISE in KSA
 

Yeah that's a major disadvantage of Revolut at present but I believe they're in the process of getting UK FSCS certification. I only use them to exchange currencies (rather than use them as a savings pot) so lack of FSCS protection is no biggie for me.

As for Revolut accounts being frozen, i've read about some cases on MSE and in most situations folks have been breaching the account t&c's, eg using the account for business purposes or receiving payments from suspicious persons - all of which would also raise the red flag with other banks. Personally I've not had any issues at all with Revolut when making large transfers to/from UAE.