Wickalaa

Hi all, has anyone else been having issues with TransferWise and their “immediate” transfers over the last week?
I made some payments early last week From the UK and they still haven’t been received into my Sabadell account as yet because they were sent via SEPA instead.
When I queried it with TransferWise, they told me they had a technical issue but it’s now been resolved - but I’m not convinced. I’m a bit worried as I need the funds in Spain to complete my house purchase shortly

Can they be trusted?

stevesainty

I have used them for years and all has been well. I had a couple of transfers that took a few days, rather than same day. I queried these at the time, and was advised not to do transfers to Spain on Mondays or Fridays. That seemed to have worked.

However, I rarely do direct transfers as I have a Borderless account with Transferwise. When the exchange rate is up, I transfer from my UK sterling account to my borderless euro account and that takes just seconds. When I need money in my Spanish account I transfer euros from my Borderless account, into my Spanish account, this transaction also takes just seconds. The borderless account is now set up for direct debits now too, another advantage.

Wickalaa

Thanks Stevesainty,

Useful to know about the Monday/Friday issue Re transfers - I’m starting to learn about Spain and it’s bureaucracy!
I’ll look into the borderless account, it could be useful for me going forward.

cheers
Andy

DavidKS

I use CurrencyFair and have recently experienced a delay of a couple of days

Loafing Along

For the first time had a delay this week when transferring to my Transferwise card account . They pointed out the normal service is 48 hours ( it actually arrived after 24 hours ) maybe they are a victim of their own success.

DavidKS

It might be something to do with Covid-19 and staff

spainrico

Never had a problem and last time it took under 10 seconds (once the transaction started) to move pounds to Euros in my Sabadell account. But that was a few months ago.

I have never heard of the Monday/Friday thing.

Joppa

Transferwise, unlike most other currency services, use 'matched bargain' basis, i.e. matching members transferring in the other direction, so for example if you are moving sterling to euro, your transaction is matched to another member moving euro to sterling. Because of this, at certain times there is a slight delay in your transaction going through, for example when a lot more people want to move sterling to euro, but the delay is usually short.

johnnyone

I have a borderless transferwise account but have only used it to transfer funds to my Spanish (Caixa) bank.

I am very wary of Spanish banks. Their charges are high but they are not particularly helpful and closing an account might be more trouble than its worth.

​​​​​​i) If I set up direct debits for my utilities etc can I close my Spanish bank account?
ii) Was setting up your dd's straightforward?
Thanks in advance

stevesainty

I have not used the DD service myself yet but I have heard from others who have had no problems. If you have a live Chat with Transferwise, or email or telephone their support service, they will give you chapter and verse. They are very friendly to talk to on the phone. I believe that you can give up your Spanish bank and use Transferwise, but I still bank with Sabadell as well.

spainrico

I thought Spanish utilities could only be paid from a Spanish bank account.

stevesainty

I have a Belgian IBAN number on my Euro account with Transferwise, and this can be used to set up Direct Debits to Spain.

Here is one of the FAQ answers from Transferwise Borderless, https://transferwise.com/help/17/bor...r-bank-details

What if my EUR bank details aren't working?

We recently started giving users a new IBAN, starting with "BE". It lets users set up Direct Debits and get paid faster. But some people have had problems using these details. Here's what to do if something goes wrong.

A merchant is blocking my Direct Debit

Despite the Euro single market, some merchants won’t allow Direct Debits from Euro accounts in another country. For example, a Spanish gym might not accept your IBAN because it's based in Belgium.

Merchants are required by EU law to accept IBANs from other members of the European Economic Area (EEA). So, if someone doesn't accept your IBAN, please let us know using this form.

You can also report merchants who don't accept your IBAN to the relevant authority in your country.

jonboy

I sent money to my Spanish flat's management account via Transferwise on 12th August and it arrived in less than a minute.

jonboy

In the past money sent to Ireland has taken a day and to Malaysia has taken 3-4 days.

Joppa

Probably to do with the amount of traffic for the currency pair. Clearly there is more movement between sterling and euro than sterling and ringgit, so easier to pair up.