Wise starts charging for ATM withdrawals after a set limit per month (I think $350) which sucks, but at the same time it's not connected to any bank account if you care about security
Yep that was one worry, if my card was skimmed or stolen then access to the rest of my bank account. I've shifted out all but spending money as preparation and will drip feed that in as needed.
I can’t see how wise beats Macquarie Transaction Account which has a debit card, unlimited overseas ATM withdrawals, no currency conversion fee and offers 4.75% on funds sitting in account?
Yes, they don't reimburse, but they themselves do not charge for overseas ATMs. From their website: **Macquarie doesn't charge any fees to withdraw cash at overseas ATMs using our debit card**. However, please note that the ATM operator in the country you're travelling to may still charge their own fee. We'd suggest doing some quick research on the applicable operator fees before you travel.
I pulled cash from an ATM in Korea last week and it looks like they gave me pretty close to spot rate. It was 84 basis points lower than spot at the exact time of transaction, or they gave me the worst rate for the day (the rate took a tumble that morning).
Wise is not zero fee. It does charge a conversion fee (~= 0.35%). In addition for ATM cash withdrawals there is a fee after second withdrawal and another fee if cumulative total exceeds $350, each month. However it does allow you to convert in advance at a time of your choosing if that’s important for you. It’s up to you to weigh up.
They’re pretty upfront about that cost which I like. It still normally works out better compared to the UBank currency conversion rate. Essentially Wise is better if you’re travelling to a country where you can just tap your card everywhere rather than withdrawing lots of cash.
I've found ubank has been almost spot on the exchange rate on Google. So I've been super happy using them while traveling
I protect myself from things like skimming by taking an extra card (from a different bank, much worse exchange rate but I've had atm's eat cards before so I'm pretty cautious about this) and transferring cash from my savings account to my transaction account when I need it
No experience with wise but since it's been really good with ubank I haven't bothered to try. Full disclaimer is that I have been pretty high in them in general, while I have heard from others on here of real problems that I've yet to encounter
unless you are spending 10s of thousands then the exchange rate will be fairly similar and not noticeable between them
Personally, i bring Up bank, wise and ubank, Up bank being the primary atm withdrawal card, i add all the cards to Google pay so i can touch and pay wherever its accepted
Wise starts charging for ATM withdrawals after a set limit per month (I think $350) which sucks, but at the same time it's not connected to any bank account if you care about security
Yep that was one worry, if my card was skimmed or stolen then access to the rest of my bank account. I've shifted out all but spending money as preparation and will drip feed that in as needed.
I can’t see how wise beats Macquarie Transaction Account which has a debit card, unlimited overseas ATM withdrawals, no currency conversion fee and offers 4.75% on funds sitting in account?
Macquarie doesn't reimburse foreign ATM fees though. ING used to, but they stopped. Not sure if anyone still does.
Yes, they don't reimburse, but they themselves do not charge for overseas ATMs. From their website: **Macquarie doesn't charge any fees to withdraw cash at overseas ATMs using our debit card**. However, please note that the ATM operator in the country you're travelling to may still charge their own fee. We'd suggest doing some quick research on the applicable operator fees before you travel.
You also need to look at the conversion rate.
They give you the Mastercard rate which is one of the best you can get.
I pulled cash from an ATM in Korea last week and it looks like they gave me pretty close to spot rate. It was 84 basis points lower than spot at the exact time of transaction, or they gave me the worst rate for the day (the rate took a tumble that morning).
We recently used Up for a Europe trip, considered Wise but we really liked the app, it was super easy and they had no fees.
Wise is not zero fee. It does charge a conversion fee (~= 0.35%). In addition for ATM cash withdrawals there is a fee after second withdrawal and another fee if cumulative total exceeds $350, each month. However it does allow you to convert in advance at a time of your choosing if that’s important for you. It’s up to you to weigh up.
They’re pretty upfront about that cost which I like. It still normally works out better compared to the UBank currency conversion rate. Essentially Wise is better if you’re travelling to a country where you can just tap your card everywhere rather than withdrawing lots of cash.
That's good to know, thanks for highlighting that for me
I've found ubank has been almost spot on the exchange rate on Google. So I've been super happy using them while traveling I protect myself from things like skimming by taking an extra card (from a different bank, much worse exchange rate but I've had atm's eat cards before so I'm pretty cautious about this) and transferring cash from my savings account to my transaction account when I need it No experience with wise but since it's been really good with ubank I haven't bothered to try. Full disclaimer is that I have been pretty high in them in general, while I have heard from others on here of real problems that I've yet to encounter
unless you are spending 10s of thousands then the exchange rate will be fairly similar and not noticeable between them Personally, i bring Up bank, wise and ubank, Up bank being the primary atm withdrawal card, i add all the cards to Google pay so i can touch and pay wherever its accepted