Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

TransferWise changes name to Wise

wise.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

51–60 of 230 posts

Re: TransferWise changes name to Wise

#51

Post by aikinai »

fookyong wrote: post #16
jsnell wrote: post #8

This feels like an incredibly ill-advised rebrand. Everyone I know of who uses TransferWise uses it rarely, like once per year. They won't be slowly eased into the new name. They'll try using the service again for the first time in a while, and everything will have changed to look like a phishing scam. And this is a service where that trust is critical, since the interaction model of the service is so odd. I'm transf…

I and most people in my circle of friends use Transferwise on a daily basis, multiple times a day. It has replaced our "traditional" bank cards. FWIW, I totally understand the bigger picture goals they describe in this post and I wish them every success.

Honest question, what do you do with it multiple times a day? You use it as your regular bank and a debit card or something?

Re: TransferWise changes name to Wise

#53

Post by spicyramen »

jsnell wrote: post #8

This feels like an incredibly ill-advised rebrand. Everyone I know of who uses TransferWise uses it rarely, like once per year. They won't be slowly eased into the new name. They'll try using the service again for the first time in a while, and everything will have changed to look like a phishing scam. And this is a service where that trust is critical, since the interaction model of the service is so odd. I'm transf…

I think it depends,I was transferring for a year my money overseas and then yes rarely used it. I would think they want to capture the people that send money from high income countries to lower income and freelancers. Those are probably the core customers

Re: TransferWise changes name to Wise

#54

Post by chx »

crummy wrote: post #9

TransferWise makes it easy to forget how much of a pain it was to send money around internationally before.

That pain is so huge I just can't forget it. I am a Canadian resident , a dual Canadian-Hungarian citizen, my brother has accounts in Austria and Hungary, my clients are in the USA chiefly but also all over the EU. So international wires are quite a thing.

Here in Canada, the traditional way I could send money was going to a bank branch , fill out a very long form to be able to do a SWIFT transfer and pay through the nose for it.

Then came VBCE online, an FX company which was OK-ish except you needed to ask them to add everyone wiring you beforehands. And they demanded to have an up to date passport on file.

Then came transferwise and the world turned into a happy place.

Re: TransferWise changes name to Wise

#55

Post by atleta »

colincooke wrote: post #12

I love transferwise, depend on it often. I don't get the rebrand, their old name was descriptive, easy to google, and from all perspectives really good. The rebrand won't change me using it, but I really can't see the positive in this.

Yeah, pretty stupid name, if you want to google it. Why they made the change was explained in the blog post: the old name was too specific and describing only one of their services (the one that they have launched with), that is, international transfers. But they already provide foreign bank account numbers (a.k.a. borderless accounts, which I depend on a lot) and you can keep a balance, and convert money and they have a debit card as well. Almost like banking. And I'm pretty sure they want to get into banking.

Re: TransferWise changes name to Wise

#56

Post by mamborambo »

Although the rebranding is probably unnecessary, it is still a good move if the company has ambition beyond fund transfer --- perhaps into alternative financial services, non-bank assets, or other types of nomadic fund application. I have to agree there are too many geographical restrictions in today's financial systems, and if their strong brand position can help to loosen those grips a little, more power to them.

Re: TransferWise changes name to Wise

#57

Post by doctorfoo »

aikinai wrote: post #51
fookyong wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I and most people in my circle of friends use Transferwise on a daily basis, multiple times a day. It has replaced our "traditional" bank cards. FWIW, I totally understand the bigger picture goals they describe in this post and I wish them every success.

Honest question, what do you do with it multiple times a day? You use it as your regular bank and a debit card or something?

I use it as my primary spending debit card. I travel a lot, use it in random ATMs and I keep it topped up just enough that I wouldn't be devastated if the account contents were stolen. Also use the money transfer side monthly to pay rent in a foreign country.

Re: TransferWise changes name to Wise

#58

Post by MaheshC »

I use transferwise as my main bank. The one thing I need from them now is the possibility to invest my borderless account funds in ETF or other guaranteed capital investment vehicles. I hope this rebrand means they are heading in that direction.

Re: TransferWise changes name to Wise

#59

Post by Caligatio »

fastball wrote: post #46
wildfire wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the UK, EU and Australia - probably a few other places too - fees to transfer fund between do not exist (unless you are a business).

There is no fee to send money from your TransferWise Borderless UK account to another UK bank account.

There is, it's just really small: 34p or something.

EDIT: 32p - https://transferwise.com/gb/pricing/borderless-send?source=G...

Re: TransferWise changes name to Wise

#60

Post by Caligatio »

jen20 wrote: post #7
panarky wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What are the limitations?

One in the US is that you cannot use a borderless account for ACH transactions initiated by the counterparty (despite it presenting the details that make it look like you can).

I regularly push money into my TransferWise USD account from another USD account and they supposedly added direct debit support about a year ago.
Post reply on HN