Giantaxe

Looks like this is a once-only process as I haven't been asked to do it again. A small new requirement on my last transfer was to select from a drop down the reason for my transfer - claimed to be for the US's "know your customer" requirements.

BristolUK

I've been using it for years and it worked very well, very small fee and compared to others a good exchange rate.
Listed comparisons, adjusted for fees and different exchange rates for the amount you actually receive, I give it top marks.

But I've made a bit of a discovery recently.

With the levels of security that banks and websites keep adding I have become a little concerned that signing on to Wise and my UK bank (that's two sign-ons) might become more problematic for me compared to just having the money deposited in my Canadian account and not having to sign in to anything to facilitate it.

So I arranged to have payments direct.

The rates I used to get on the day of using Wise to transfer were virtually the same as those quoted on XE.com. Any variation between the rate I got and the rate I saw was maybe $1 for every £1000.

So since changing I have received a couple of direct payments and using the amount in ££ being sent to me and the XE.com exchange rate on the day it arrives, the amount arriving is almost identical. Maybe about 60c less but that's using the gross payable in ££ which, with Wise, has the small fee deducted before the transfer. There's really only a few cents difference in the end result.

I now prefer the piece of mind.

I suppose if you have reason to keep a UK bank open - perhaps because you still use a UK credit card? - it's worth keeping with Wise, especially if you see a low exchange rate and you believe it will recover if you leave it a few days.
But that can work both ways of course.

durham_lad

The way I have it set up requires only one sign-in and I would have thought that the OP could do the same, however, having it paid directly to his foreign bank is best if the UK company managing his pension would do that.

My US SS is paid directly to my UK bank at a great exchange rate and works well, but my US pension provider doesn’t have that option so I have a Wise account with US account number that they pay it into. I then periodically transfer it from the Wise account to my UK bank without the need to log into the UK bank as that is set up in Wise as one of my approved target banks. I also do the transfer using my Wise app with Face ID as verification.

BristolUK

I'm one of those without a cell phone. I have no need of one*. My UK bank account keeps suggesting it's moving towards UK phone numbers and Wise wants to send me a text which my basic landline phone can't receive.

Everything's fine right now with audio version of text and codes via email.


*unless banks start insisting on one

durham_lad

I understand.

But you still could have your Wise account linked to your pension provider and your UK bank listed on your Wise account so that you only have to do one login, to your Wise account, to send the money over.

BristolUK

Maybe processes changed without me knowing but my UK bank is listed on the Wise account.
Edited to say.....Actually, scrub that. Canada bank is listed on Wise - UK bank always had to go under "other" as not in the Wise list.


Pension into the Bank, I open a tab for Wise and one for UK bank, log into both and switching between tabs, getting paranoid about the account numbers matching transfer from bank to Wise.
When I adopted that method, me initiating the transfer that way was the lowest fee.

I now have three UK sources (now getting state pension - yay) with different paydays, albeit one of them is quarterly. So faced with multiple log-ins in a month or just finding a common date I decided not having to do anything at all was preferable.

Discovering it made no difference in the end result was a bonus.

PominOz1

I've just tried to open a Wise account - absolute waste of time, I wouldn't recommend them to anyone.

When I input my email address at the start of the process all I received was an uncontrolled failure without an error message. When I contacted their (un)help desk with a screen shot all they said was that they couldn't help me as they couldn't find me in their system. So I tried again, same thing. I've requested a SAR under GDPR to find out what data they hold on me. Could anyone recommend a money transfer company (not the Post Office) in order for me to transfer my pension on a regular basis?

Many thanks.

calman014

This sounds a bit more like a technical problem somewhere along the line. Give it another try.

https://wise.com/help/topics/OQDKGx7...g-your-account

BristolUK

You're asking in the right place. And the right answer you'll get from about 90% of us will be Wise. (Transferwise)
Try using the site search function and you'll see.

PominOz1

Wise eventually stated after five emails that because my email address is "similar" (no further explanation) to one or more they already hold in their system that they needed me to contact them in London (and be re-routed to their call centre in India) for further verification. I've been down that path before and, believe me, it is agonising talking to someone who is in a public phone box on a busy thoroughfare and cannot speak
English.

Wise has lost my business.

quiltman

I've used wise for over 11 years now with no problems. Now and then, maybe 3 times a year it will send me a verification code. The only problem I have is that both my wife and I have Wise accounts for transferring pensions but Wise will NOT allow the same phone number on both accounts. My bank here, BPI, does allow the same number for our accounts. You will find it difficult to find a better transfer than Wise. Their new system now means money is in my bank here within a couple of minutes, whereas it used to take a couple of hours minimum.
To be fair to wise, it seems like your email address is very close to one already registered with them so they appear to be being careful to verify you. A pain ,I know but these days better to be sure?

BristolUK

The simple solution would seem to be a different email address to register.

I can't help thinking of those reviews you sometimes see about products where the "damning criticism" is nothing to do with the function of the product.

Lion in Winter

All financial-related companies have to be super careful these days in order to protect themselves and meet the standards of assorted regulators. If you think Wise can be tricky, try Lloyds Bank . Their call centers are in Scotland, so not an India issue.

To be fair, what would you be saying if your account and money were compromised or money lost or stolen because your identifying email address were very close to another one, and Wise didn't follow up with you to check if you are really you? Much as we might all like to just talk to one local person who can sort it all out, that just isn't the way business is done now. Personally, I have had zero trouble with Wise, and the additional ability to have a card that you can use in a huge number of countries, in local currency, is extremely useful if you travel in addition to the transfer capability.

MidAtlantic

+1

fidobsa

I'm increasingly coming to the conclusion that these Wise transfers are one of the most stressful activities in my rather mundane life. This time they were telling me I was using a new device and must verify it! I've used the same Samsung phone for at least the last 5 transfers. There were no pictures of bicycles though and things seemed to be working until I got to the payment authorisation bit. I got the text message from the bank but when I navigated back to the Wise tab I had been logged out! I had to start again from scratch but it worked the second time. I don't know why Wise can't pick up where they left off when they force you to log back in.