this post was submitted on 26 Jan 2025
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Privacy
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I've used wise.com for this sort of thing for many years (since they used to be called transferwise). Can spin up as many virtual visa cards as you need (I think it's max 10 active at once). I also have a physical debit card with them which will do conversions at foreign points of sale from my local currency using the mid market rate and fees much lower than visa/master. Never had an issue with them, though this is more a sort of obfuscation rather than privacy
Just recently jumped ship from Revolut to Wise, because the former does not support de-googled android anymore. I love the fact that Wise can be fully managed through the web app.
Planning a trip to Japan soon and would like a credit card to pay for accommodation (I don't have a credit card yet). Wise seems to be what I want but I'm not sure:
I'd recommend searching about their fees this because it's going to vary a bit based on your local currency. Their documentation on the topic is easy to read and answers your first two questions better than I could put it.
I've rarely had to interact with support so I couldn't give a useful response about that in earnest. They do have local support in the two major countries in which I've interacted with them and it's been fine.
The KYC process is standard for a digital money account AFAIK. I signed up in 2017 originally to handle a one-off transfer between local bank accounts in different countries, so I'd not have bothered investing much time in it if it was a hassle. I haven't had to re-identify myself or think about it since, despite migrating across several countries, starting to use the physical card etc. I imagine I gave them my government ID though.
Thank you for the thoughtful reply! One more question: Can you really manage everything using the website? Just sounds too good to be true!
Checked out the support pages. It does get a bit complex trying to figure out if they charge for adding money via bank transfers. But I got to it! For other people wondering (only valid for EU folks):
Turns out they take the customary 1.75% on using the card to get cash from ATMs (and even take 0.50€ on top after the second time). That makes them slightly worse than established banks for this purpose.
However they offer pretty low fees on transactions with the card. While established banks still take 1.75% on every transaction, Wise currently takes 0.46% on exchanges from EUR to JPY. They don't seem to skew the exchange rate like PayPal does either. The only drawback is they're free to change their fee any time, while most normal banks haven't deviated from 1,75% in forever.
To my great relief adding EUR to your Wise balance is free with a standard SEPA (EU zone) bank transfer. And they automatically convert money to other currencies as needed. Though I wonder whether you can convert in advance to make use of favorable exchange rates.
This makes it seem like Wise is a solid option. Only one data breach so far, too ;)
Yes, for a loading method which takes time to complete the conversion rate will generally be locked in from the time the transfer was initiated. You can always preview the received converted amount. Although the transfer method may vary depending on availability in the recipient account country, the various timeframes and fees (where applicable) have always been previewed accurately.
For myself I have set up MFA for payments via the app, so I will routinely be required to use the app to authenticate a payment. However other MFA methods are available. I can't think of any other function the website itself doesn't do.
Given there is no additional fee for converting at a foreign point of sale, I just load up in my home currency as there are free/instant methods available and convert to whichever destination currency at point of sale, ensuring to select not to have the balances converted by visa/master at terminals which have that function.
Hope you enjoy your time in Japan!
Thanks for taking the time to share, this was very helpful :D