I don't understand what TransferWise offers beyond what PayPal does. Why not just send yourself money using 2 PayPal accounts? Are they cheaper or faster?
You might also consider "more legal" as a factor. I don't believe PayPal wants you to have two accounts with different currencies.
Ok. But what would be the problem? If you legitimately have two bank accounts in two countries in two different denominations, what's the problem with having two different PayPal accounts connected to the different bank accounts? I don't know what would be illegal about that.
I used to study remittance flows for a living. This was a problem that was (is?) begging to be solved. Incumbents like Western Union have always been very expensive and borderline evil. There are well known “corridors” of remittance flows that are still yet to be captured - like Kerala (India) Saudi Arabia (Middle-east more generally); Mexico US; US LatAm etc. My guess is TransferWise captured the UK Poland corridor…
It actually got most of the GBPEUR, not just for Poland.
It might have got most of GBPEUR retail, but the vast majority of that flow by volume is traded in placed like Interactive Brokers, or over the phone between guys who need to swap a few million here and there.
TransferWise held up a few thousand dollars I was sending to a friend in Europe who had been stranded. It wasn't like they just didn't send it for 24 hours, it took TransferWise three weeks to make whatever determination they were going to make, and cancel the transfer instead of sending it to my friend. They also made some incredibly bizarre accusation when canceling the transfer, that they believed the money was for "contraband" (drugs? guns? TransferWise didn't say). Considering my friend is the youth pastor in my hometown, well... So I'm not sure where TransferWise got their information, but there you have it: They held my money for three weeks before canceling the transfer for incredibly dubious reasons.
For everyone that's interested in TransferWise, I'd recommend Revolut ( https://www.revolut.com/ ) instead. They have no fees for transactions or currency changes (up to a quite high limit), as well with a lot more features (international prepaid MasterCard that charges no fees ever being my favourite one, and you can go to ATMs for free as well). I've been a happy customer of them for quite some time and I have abso…
For holiday money, Revolut is #1, zero question. But if you need to move £1m from a house sale when emigrating, then it may not work so well.
I wish they would issue credit cards soon. Every time I pay with credit card while travelling, my bank charges 1.5% for each transaction, in addition to bad conversion rate.
I agree, most people are just not aware. I like the machines I've seen in airports and train stations that offer currency conversions. They have 'No Fees! No commission!' posted all over them -- ignoring the fact that the bid-ask spread they're charging is 15-20%. Again, criminal.
Sad but true. :( That said, people do pay for convenience, which I assume is the main function of those cash machines. If I end up in a foreign country that I haven't visited before, I'll likely withdraw some cash (not much) from one of those machines just to be safe. You never know when your credit cards might stop working.. (I've had my main card blocked randomly while travelling and it frankly was a pain)
Just withdraw cash on a credit card from a regular ATM. Most "normal" credit cards charge on the order of 3% over spot on the FX, some cards further charge a flat fee, but this is still better than those markups.
It's even possible to get cards that doesn't charge a fee and gives you spot FX, even for cash withdrawal (Halifax Clarity in the UK is one). That leaves any fee the ATM might charge you, but if you can find one that doesn't, this is a supremely efficient way of getting cash abroad.
I wish they would issue credit cards soon. Every time I pay with credit card while travelling, my bank charges 1.5% for each transaction, in addition to bad conversion rate.
If you're American, there are cards that don't have a foreign transaction fee, like the Capital One Quicksilver Visa or Chase Amazon Visa. Schwab's checking accounts are also great for this, the ATM card reimburses ATM fees and has no foreign transaction fee for pulling out cash.
Pretty much all the airline cards have zero foreign currency fees. They still have less than perfect exchange rates though.
You might also consider "more legal" as a factor. I don't believe PayPal wants you to have two accounts with different currencies.
Ok. But what would be the problem? If you legitimately have two bank accounts in two countries in two different denominations, what's the problem with having two different PayPal accounts connected to the different bank accounts? I don't know what would be illegal about that.
It would correlate strongly with people trying to evade taxes and/or launder money. PayPal doesn't like to facilitate illegal activity. I'm not theorizing about this -- I have first hand knowledge.
For everyone that's interested in TransferWise, I'd recommend Revolut ( https://www.revolut.com/ ) instead. They have no fees for transactions or currency changes (up to a quite high limit), as well with a lot more features (international prepaid MasterCard that charges no fees ever being my favourite one, and you can go to ATMs for free as well). I've been a happy customer of them for quite some time and I have abso…
I researched this recently, as they both seem to cover similar markets, but they are not targeting the same market. Revolut is more like a “traditional” bank, whereas Transferwise is a remittance service, generally bank account to bank account. Some people don’t want a new bank account and just want to transfer money, so Transferwise is a better fit for them.
Well, it's not really a bank account but a kind of "wallet", and the setup process reflects this (having gone through N26's, bunq's and Revolut's, definitely Revolut's is quicker and less fussy). However, they do provide you with personalized IBAN numbers to top up your wallet, which really blurs the difference between those two concepts. And BTW, Revolut also supports bank account to bank account transfers in multiple currencies.