Cheapest Way to Send Money Abroad via Wise
I have been looking for a cheaper way to send money to a foreign country. My situation: I do have a CIMB bank account in Singapore myself and I have outbound transfers regularly for overseas investment. The traditional way of remitting money via bank transfer (TT) has never been favorable and it has a high cost with the exchange rates. It has a terrible exchange rate and costs you a bomb in the remittance fees. Therefore, a fintech — Wise has been offering the best exchange rate and saves you from the hefty remittance fees especially when your transaction frequency is high. And fret not, the transfer is instantaneous and seamless the moment you send it!
What is Wise?
Wise is the global technology company building the best way to move money around the world. Wise offers an international account with over 50 currencies, with instant, super-cheap money transfers, and a card to spend in any currency. Wise is on average 7x cheaper than old-school banks when you send, spend, or withdraw money around the world.
If you are paying in a foreign currency, highly recommend using Wise. It’s up to 8 times cheaper than using your local banks because Wise always uses the real exchange rate – which you can see on Google – and charges a very small, upfront fee.
Is Wise Safe? They’re also safe and trusted by over 10 million people around the world. It is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in the UK and many other regulators around the world. They hold Wise to the same standards as banks.
How to use Wise?
Here’s to show you step-by-step how to perform fund transfer using Wise.
Step 1: Navigate to wise.com (Formerly known as Transferwise). You will get a FREE international transfer of up to 500 GBP upon signing up with my referral link.
***I highly recommend you to select “easy transfer” ! The money instantly arrives in the recipient account, and the cost is insignificant compared to “Low-cost transfer”. Doing a low-cost transfer will take slightly longer (one business day) to process your request at a few cents cheaper.***
Step 2: Choose “Myself”, if you are transferring to your own account. Choose “someone else”, if you are going to send your money to another party, i.e. your family or friends.
Step 3: Complete your recipient details, make sure they are accurate.
Step 4: Here, it will take you for the identity verification. It is only applicable for first-time registration. You will have to scan the QRcode that pops up on your page. It is part of KYC — mandatory to verify with your identification card or Passport.
Step 5: In my case, choose “Savings”. Choose the most appropriate one that fits your transaction purpose.
Step 6: Make sure the amount and recipient details are correct before proceeding to the payment page
Step 7: Navigate to the payment page — select your favorite source bank to transfer.
Step 8: Voila! It was dang fast — just took me merely 6 seconds for the transfer and the fund arrives in the recipient account within minutes!
Other Features of Wise
- Balances – you can hold and convert money between the 50+ currencies in which we offer Wise balances. We always use the real exchange rate to convert your money which makes our service up to 7 times cheaper than traditional banks
- Multi-currency Bank Account– we offer local bank details in 10 currencies (US dollars, British pounds, Euro, Canadian, Australian, New Zealand, and Singapore dollar, as well as Hungarian forint, Romanian leu, and Turkish lira). You can use these bank details to receive money for free into your Wise account, which you can then convert or hold.
- Direct debits – our US, British pound, and Euro bank details allow you to set up direct debits to pay for utility bills or any other subscriptions or automated payments.
- Debit card – with the Wise Visa card, you can spend in over 200 countries without the hidden fees. Add it to your Apple or Google wallets for convenient use.
