Wise (formerly TransferWise)

Wise.

Received an email a few days ago that they have a new name.

Yes indeed :wink:

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I have both business and personal account with (Transfer)Wise and I have been a happy client/customer for over two years. I had test-tried it together with Revolut and YouTrip for work purposes and it won over both (YouTrip is crap, btw, apart from the slightly better exchange rate). Both app and online platform are well designed (I can switch between business and personal account with a tap/click), fees (exchange, processing, etc.) are way better than the banks that I have tried and processing is from fast to instantaneous.

Exactly. I think that it will never happen in my lifetime :rofl: To avoid red tape, mafan and the likelihood of me shouting at the bank officers, I chose the complicated-but-in-fact-simpler way of withdrawing cash with my (Transfer)Wise debit card and depositing it immediately into my Taiwanese bank account through the same ATM. The fee for converting SGD (in my case) into NTD plus withdrawal fee is still much lower than the banks that I have compared it with if I used their credit card instead. So another brownie point for (Transfer)Wise.

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Their new Logo

How did you apply for their debit card? Were you in Taiwan ?

Taiwan not listed.

I got mine in Germany.

Reminder:

If your TransferWise card expires in a few months, you should order a free replacement now.
After March 22 it will cost 5 Euro.

(select it is damaged, and you still can use the old one before new arrives)

Nice for small amounts. But withdrawals over 200 GBP cost 1.75% with the TransferWise card.

TransferWise sounds so much better.

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No, I applied two years back when I was still living in Singapore. It is not available in Taiwan. However, you can “virtually” apply for it in your home country (if you are from US, EU, etc.), have it shipped to your residential address there and then have someone send it to Taiwan.

I know. What I meant is that, even after factoring in the withdrawal fee, it is still cheaper. I always withdraw the maximum amount of 20,000 NTD.

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Nothing is available in Taiwan.

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Were you a resident of Germany when you applied for the card at that time? Or did you simply have to indicate in your (Transfer)Wise account that your home country is Germany? I can ask friends in Berlin to receive a card for me and send to Taiwan, but I am not a resident there (i.e., do I have to upload to Wise an Aufenthaltstitel or something like that)

When you wire to a non-TWD account in Taiwan using Wise, do you have to indicate the purpose of the funds? When I receive funds in Taiwan from abroad, my Taiwan recipient bank will call me and I will drop in to a branch and go through an awkward process of declaring what the purpose is. I usually say its for repayment of loans from abroad or family funds for living expenses here (is there a better one that won’t attract any attention?)

As I explained in this thread, I now send transfers to my HSBC account in HK and then use their internal transfer network to move the money to my HSBC Taiwan account. But I do not hold the NT$ 3,000,000 minimum balance so they charge me NT$ 1,000 a month to maintain it. If I can simply transfer HKD or Euros directly to my multicurrency account in a Taiwan (non-HSBC) bank for less than a couple thousand NT$, then I might just close the HSBC Taiwan account again

Yes

You just need an address in Germany where you can receive the letter with the bank card under your name.
They don’t check your residency.

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Thank you! I will order mine now :+1:

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Of the many nonsenses of Taiwan, this is one of the few that I really cannot get myself to accept. Having to drop by and fill up forms every time that I receive a transfer from overseas, regardless of the amount, in the 21st century and in a so-called first-world high-tech country, is ridiculous. This is why I’d rather withdraw NTD from my Wise account and immediately put it back into the same machine to top up my local account. No need to deal with people, two minutes at the most and probably a similar amount in commissions.

And don’t get me started on the opposite way around: transferring funds overseas :face_with_symbols_over_mouth:

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Just FYI, you don’t actually need a (Transfer)Wise card to use the service. I believe you can register with a Taiwanese address to send USD (for example, but I’m guessing also EUR etc.) to your multicurrency account with a Taiwanese bank like Mega.

I don’t know the specifics of what documents you need nowadays to open an account (I set mine up years ago), but I have balances in GBP, USD, etc., no card, and it’s registered to my address in Taiwan.

I absolutely love transferwise. The only downside is no interests in their accounts but the interest in the UK is so low it doesn’t even matter. I haven’t seen those high interest savings accounts outside the US.

The app is so easy to use and customer service is faster than bank with email, chat, and call IME.

I have a Barclays account that I don’t even use here.

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Hi, I bought something for 13,900TWD on momo with my Wise card.

Exchange rate looks good, but I was charged a USD 4.39 fee. Anyone knows if the fee is normal. Can I make it lower for some future purchase?

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wise.com/us/pricing/card-spending?source=USD&target=TWD&payInMethod=BALANCE&targetAmount=13900

1622511519993

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