Wise is not anymore what it used to be

[Jedimaster]

For 2 months now, my transfers (euro to baht) have taken 24 hours instead of the usual 24 seconds, or minutes, as was the case for the past 5 years.

 

I have contacted Wise repeatedly because they were not exactly willing to provide explanations for these delays.

 

Reading between their lines, and all the blah blah, it appears that these new delays are here to stay.

 

In other words, Wise is now behaving like a regular bank, keeping its customers' money as long as possible, especially overnight, in order to rake in interest money.

 

On top of the big step backwards taken by Wise, it doesn't help that they haven't judged necessary to inform their customers of this significant change, but rather keep on pretending that everything is as usual.

 

 

[Henryford]

My Wise transfer this week took seconds, as usual. But if i transfer to Bangkok Bank it takes upto one day.

[Halfaboy]

Time required for transferring money depends (probably amongst others) on the amount of money you want to transfer. This week I did a test. Some 1.350 € would take seconds and and 1.500 € would take more than a day. Higher amounts (say 10.000 €) and up may take even more time.

[sometimewoodworker]

2 hours ago, Jedimaster said:

For 2 months now, my transfers (euro to baht) have taken 24 hours instead of the usual 24 seconds, or minutes, as was the case for the past 5 years.

 

I have contacted Wise repeatedly because they were not exactly willing to provide explanations for these delays.

 

Reading between their lines, and all the blah blah, it appears that these new delays are here to stay.

 

In other words, Wise is now behaving like a regular bank, keeping its customers' money as long as possible, especially overnight, in order to rake in interest money.

 

On top of the big step backwards taken by Wise, it doesn't help that they haven't judged necessary to inform their customers of this significant change, but rather keep on pretending that everything is as usual.

 

 

Your experience and conclusions are totally independent of mine. 

My last 2 transactions of £2,300 and again £4,500 both within the last month arrived in less than 60 seconds from initiating the transfer pulling from my U.K. bank (RBoS) initiated by Wise to arrival in the Thailand bank (SCB)

 

Previously it took quite a time, up to 3~5 days

Edited 22 hours ago by sometimewoodworker

[Chivas]

RBS as above poster to Wise to SCB is landing in seconds as always

Been tracking the last now 23 transfers since people started quibbling

 

22 landed instantly in few seconds and one took just over an hour

 

(Edited in.....transfers have been sent on every day of a normal week weekends/bank holidays make no difference)

 

I only posted this on one of the Wise FB groups yesterday

 

Initiate transfer laptop/app send via simple bank transfer from saved payee on RBS to Wise

 

Ping seconds later as money hits SCB before I even get the chance to click "I've sent my monies" icon on Wise app

 

I really dont understand what some people are doing I really dont

Edited 21 hours ago by Chivas

[Raindancer]

11 minutes ago, Chivas said:

RBS as above poster to Wise to SCB is landing in seconds as always

Been tracking the last now 23 transfers since people started quibbling

 

22 landed instantly in few seconds and one took just over an hour

 

(Edited in.....transfers have been sent on every day of a normal week weekends/bank holidays make no difference)

 

I only posted this on one of the Wise FB groups yesterday

 

Initiate transfer laptop/app send via simple bank transfer from saved payee on RBS to Wise

 

Ping seconds later as money hits SCB before I even get the chance to click "I've sent my monies" icon on Wise app

 

I really dont understand what some people are doing I really dont

Well, I have been using wise for a few years now.   And despite what amount, what reason I use for transfer, and transferring every time before 7am, it always arrives in BBK account at 14.13 hours same day. 

 

But not at weekends,  which always arrive on the Monday.

 

I have used " pulling from UK bank" and depositing money with wise, prior to transfer.

 

And every transfer shows, " should arrive in seconds"  prior to confirming transfer.

 

But 6/7 hours is fine by me.

 

So, it must be a BBk bank issue.

[Chivas]

5 minutes ago, Raindancer said:

Well, I have been using wise for a few years now.   And despite what amount, what reason I use for transfer, and transferring every time before 7am, it always arrives in BBK account at 14.13 hours same day. 

 

But not at weekends,  which always arrive on the Monday.

 

I have used " pulling from UK bank" and depositing money with wise, prior to transfer.

 

And every transfer shows, " should arrive in seconds"  prior to confirming transfer.

 

But 6/7 hours is fine by me.

 

So, it must be a BBk bank issue.

 

Could well be yes. Although I've only "monitored" the last 23 transfer obviously I did many prior to that. I dont recall ever having a "next day" arrival of monies

Now I've always done it the same way. Money not on Wise accounts, no debit cards, no credit cards, but simple I send them the money and I do wonder if its that reason that all mine are instantaneous

[quake]

Only used wize a few times in the last 3 years.

every time 1-2 days.

Maybe because it comes from the isle of Man.

[Seppius]

Just did a large'ish transfer from the uk to Kbank with Wise, the usual seconds. Got 43.89, I thought I would take that, who knows after the US election result where it might go.

 

Bitcoin and crypto seem to like what it sees, soaring. ATH for BTC

[Raindancer]

2 hours ago, Chivas said:

 

Could well be yes. Although I've only "monitored" the last 23 transfer obviously I did many prior to that. I dont recall ever having a "next day" arrival of monies

Now I've always done it the same way. Money not on Wise accounts, no debit cards, no credit cards, but simple I send them the money and I do wonder if its that reason that all mine are instantaneous

So, to clarify your procedure. 

 

Do you send the money from bank to wise first,or initiate a transfer from wise to Thsi bank,  and then transfer the money from UK  bank to wise?

[Chivas]

6 minutes ago, Raindancer said:

So, to clarify your procedure. 

 

Do you send the money from bank to wise first,or initiate a transfer from wise to Thsi bank,  and then transfer the money from UK  bank to wise?

 

No I fill in the amount I want to send whether on app or desktop

Click through the "reason" for sending

Then app or desktop basically says "send us the money"

 

On to Royal Bank of Scotland....via the saved payee of Transferwise.....enter amount to send and then ping it to Wise

 

As I ping to Wise its landing already in 2-3 seconds into SCB

[Raindancer]

1 minute ago, Chivas said:

 

No I fill in the amount I want to send whether on app or desktop

Click through the "reason" for sending

Then app or desktop basically says "send us the money"

 

On to Royal Bank of Scotland....via the saved payee of Transferwise.....enter amount to send and then ping it to Wise

 

As I ping to Wise its landing already in 2-3 seconds into SCB

Many thanks..

[sometimewoodworker]

31 minutes ago, Raindancer said:

Many thanks..

For me the process is 

request the transfer from Wise to a pre saved SCB account,

they ask from where I select my pre saved RBS account.

wise transfers me to RBS where I authorise the amount pre determined go through the RBS security and I am returned to Wise who have already received the RBS transfer and requested the transfer in Thailand.

 

Since I have filled in the required information to allow wise to request a transfer from RBS previously I only fill in the amount once in Wise and just check the amount and click which RBS account to pull from. This process and the U.K. banking process makes everything extremely fast and secure.

 
I suspect that my transfer is a couple of seconds faster than @Chivas as I have fewer steps. I used to do it his way but now let Wise fill in the amount. But they are both secure and fast 

[Raindancer]

31 minutes ago, sometimewoodworker said:

For me the process is 

request the transfer from Wise to a pre saved SCB account,

they ask from where I select my pre saved RBS account.

wise transfers me to RBS where I authorise the amount pre determined go through the RBS security and I am returned to Wise who have already received the RBS transfer and requested the transfer in Thailand.

 

Since I have filled in the required information to allow wise to request a transfer from RBS previously I only fill in the amount once in Wise and just check the amount and click which RBS account to pull from. This process and the U.K. banking process makes everything extremely fast and secure.

 
I suspect that my transfer is a couple of seconds faster than @Chivas as I have fewer steps. I used to do it his way but now let Wise fill in the amount. But they are both secure and fast 

Interesting procedure.

 

I will look into connecting my UK bank with wise.

 

Thank you for the info.

Edited 17 hours ago by Raindancer
Amendment

[300sd]

I tried to add Canadian dollars to my Wise thai baht account today. They said "sorry you can't make transfers from CAD at the moment!"

[AAArdvark]

Wise's biggest problems are transparency and consistency. 

I have been using Wise for 6 years in Thailand and the Philippines and there is definitely a difference. 

I use Remitly for my Cambodian transfers.  There is no exchange rate for me (USD to USD) and a fixed fee. There are two sending prices, economy ( from your home bank account at 4 to 5 days) or express (from a debit/credit card at the same day). The difference is about $4. I am notified of every step. For any issue at any time of the day. I can even deposit into my Cambodian bank's debit card and directly into my account, something I have never heard of before.  I can get very fast chat service where everything can be explained should there be any questions. No mysteries. 

[soalbundy]

19 hours ago, Jedimaster said:

For 2 months now, my transfers (euro to baht) have taken 24 hours instead of the usual 24 seconds, or minutes, as was the case for the past 5 years.

 

I have contacted Wise repeatedly because they were not exactly willing to provide explanations for these delays.

 

Reading between their lines, and all the blah blah, it appears that these new delays are here to stay.

 

In other words, Wise is now behaving like a regular bank, keeping its customers' money as long as possible, especially overnight, in order to rake in interest money.

 

On top of the big step backwards taken by Wise, it doesn't help that they haven't judged necessary to inform their customers of this significant change, but rather keep on pretending that everything is as usual.

 

 

My Wise transfers from Germany to Bangkok bank usually take 24 hours since years, nothing new, sometimes it will take 12 hours, sometimes seconds which always surprises me, it's not a big deal to wait 24 hours surely.

[bradiston]

54 minutes ago, AAArdvark said:

Wise's biggest problems are transparency and consistency. 

I have been using Wise for 6 years in Thailand and the Philippines and there is definitely a difference. 

I use Remitly for my Cambodian transfers.  There is no exchange rate for me (USD to USD) and a fixed fee. There are two sending prices, economy ( from your home bank account at 4 to 5 days) or express (from a debit/credit card at the same day). The difference is about $4. I am notified of every step. For any issue at any time of the day. I can even deposit into my Cambodian bank's debit card and directly into my account, something I have never heard of before.  I can get very fast chat service where everything can be explained should there be any questions. No mysteries. 

I've just spent 4 working days setting up a Wise PHP account. In order to do this you need proof of address in Philippines. Like KYC, it's not easy! They wouldn't accept my rented condo address as they said it was advertised on Airbnb which they don't accept, even though I didn't book it through them. They wouldn't accept a letter addressed to me from HMRC, to my address in Philippines as my name was only initialized, not printed in full. They wouldn't accept my utility bills because of discrepancies in the address. Eventually they accepted my BDO bank statement with my complete name and address on it, something I had to set up with BDO in person, as they had a Thai address for me. It got really stressful. But great result in the end. I've a large amount of PHP I want to move to Thailand and am now able to do so from BDO, online. Set it up in Wise then switch to BDO app and fill in destination bank details and amount as per Wise's instructions. Instantaneous!

[FRM-BKK]

I have been using Wise for a few years now.

i feed my Wise account with both Euros and Sterling from 2 sources.

 

I regularly send money to SCB and to Bangkok Bank.

 

SCB always arrives in seconds.  Bangkok Bank usually the next day around 2.00 pm.

 

Friend of mine uses Wise to Kasikorn; also arrives in seconds.
 

In my opinion delays are more to do with the receiving bank (technology of the bank concerned), as BKK bank is definitely not as technologically up-to-date as the other major Thai banks are. 

[Andycoops]

I do transfers to Kasikorn and Bangkok banks on a regular basis GBP to Baht and haven't had any issues for several years.

Money comes into my Thai accounts in less than a couple of minutes, usually seconds.

[KhunBENQ]

My EUR/THB to Bangkok Bank always took one working day (for long term stay ...) since years.

Recently tried Kasikorn (general expense) and it took seconds.

Fortunately for me no reason to get excited.

As my BKB account is at the local branch and Kbank in Pattaya I will continue monthly transfers to BKB.

 

[Black arab]

On 10/31/2024 at 12:28 PM, Sig said:

I'd have guessed more like  55, at least!

 

[Black arab]

I usually send on the first of the month through Wise , to Bangkok bank sometimes it takes seconds sometimes a couple of hours, I thought maybe it was because a large number of transfers were being sent and I was in a queue.

[Jedimaster]

18 hours ago, Raindancer said:

Well, I have been using wise for a few years now.   And despite what amount, what reason I use for transfer, and transferring every time before 7am, it always arrives in BBK account at 14.13 hours same day. 

 

But not at weekends,  which always arrive on the Monday.

 

I have used " pulling from UK bank" and depositing money with wise, prior to transfer.

 

And every transfer shows, " should arrive in seconds"  prior to confirming transfer.

 

But 6/7 hours is fine by me.

 

So, it must be a BBk bank issue.

Mine arrive at 14.01 hours.

I will try your system of sending the transfer before 7AM...

[Jedimaster]

2 hours ago, soalbundy said:

My Wise transfers from Germany to Bangkok bank usually take 24 hours since years, nothing new, sometimes it will take 12 hours, sometimes seconds which always surprises me, it's not a big deal to wait 24 hours surely.

It is no big deal as long as you are not transferring the money in order to help someone who urgently needs it.

[Jedimaster]

1 hour ago, FRM-BKK said:

I have been using Wise for a few years now.

i feed my Wise account with both Euros and Sterling from 2 sources.

 

I regularly send money to SCB and to Bangkok Bank.

 

SCB always arrives in seconds.  Bangkok Bank usually the next day around 2.00 pm.

 

Friend of mine uses Wise to Kasikorn; also arrives in seconds.
 

In my opinion delays are more to do with the receiving bank (technology of the bank concerned), as BKK bank is definitely not as technologically up-to-date as the other major Thai banks are. 

It is not related to the receiving bank, because Wise has told me so.

In fact I only received their message that the money has been sent the next day.

And according to Wise the reason for the delay is the currency conversion, which is not credible considering all the comments above.

[Jedimaster]

From all the comments above, I think that AAArdvark sums things up correctly when he says that Wise is inconsistent.

 

No two posters share the same experience.

 

It looks as if the system was tailor made for each one of us, but it obviously is not the case.

 

More probably, Wise is running one of these algos financial institutions are so found of, leading to what appears to be an erratic system.

[Yagoda]

22 hours ago, Jedimaster said:

For 2 months now, my transfers (euro to baht) have taken 24 hours instead of the usual 24 seconds, or minutes, as was the case for the past 5 years.

 

I have contacted Wise repeatedly because they were not exactly willing to provide explanations for these delays.

 

Reading between their lines, and all the blah blah, it appears that these new delays are here to stay.

 

In other words, Wise is now behaving like a regular bank, keeping its customers' money as long as possible, especially overnight, in order to rake in interest money.

 

On top of the big step backwards taken by Wise, it doesn't help that they haven't judged necessary to inform their customers of this significant change, but rather keep on pretending that everything is as usual.

 

 

I have been complaining about Wise for 8 months. I try to double up on transfers to avoid using them.

[Mister Fixit]

2 hours ago, FRM-BKK said:

I have been using Wise for a few years now.

i feed my Wise account with both Euros and Sterling from 2 sources.

 

I regularly send money to SCB and to Bangkok Bank.

 

SCB always arrives in seconds.  Bangkok Bank usually the next day around 2.00 pm.

 

Friend of mine uses Wise to Kasikorn; also arrives in seconds.
 

In my opinion delays are more to do with the receiving bank (technology of the bank concerned), as BKK bank is definitely not as technologically up-to-date as the other major Thai banks are. 

 

I use Wise to transfer from my UK bank (Santander) to Kasikorn and transactions are always between 3 and 10 seconds.

Bangkok Bank has a bad reputation for holding on to funds until the next day, as I suspect as someone else said, to maximise profits.  

[Chivas]

2 hours ago, FRM-BKK said:

 

 

I regularly send money to SCB and to Bangkok Bank.

 

SCB always arrives in seconds.  Bangkok Bank usually the next day around 2.00 pm.

 

Friend of mine uses Wise to Kasikorn; also arrives in seconds.
 

 

 

Yep this is a common theme where it appears Bangkok Bank is the issue (albeit relatively minor to be fair)