Wise formerly Transferwise

[Big Boy]

It's nearly always instantaneous. I had one delayed once, and when I checked, I had missed a zero off the amount I was trying to transfer, so the transaction couldn't complete. Transferred the remaining balance, and instantaneous again.

[HHTel]

Me too. Always been superfast.

[Ratsima]

Has anyone else notice that Wise has become rather bureaucratic and slow lately?

Last week I decided it was time to move some money to Thailand. I first transferred from my US bank account to my Wise account. This has usually been almost instant. But this time I received email from Wise asking the following to which they wanted answers before they would accept the incoming transfer:

Please send us a few lines explaining:
• what you’re using your Wise account for
• the reason for your incoming payments
• your connection to the people sending you money

They also wanted what they called a "selfie" of me holding my passport.

The first "selfie" was rejected with them saying they couldn't read the passport. When I look at the photo I am extraordinarily ugly and aged, but the passport is 100% legible.

So, I did another. I didn't receive any notice that it was accepted, so I called. They said the second photo was OK, but that they still hadn't reviewed my answers to their questions.

The next day the transfer was approved meaning what used to take less than an hour took two days.

So, I went ahead and made the transfer to my Thai bank, but it is now stuck with the wording:

We're running some checks.
Sorry for the wait -- we should be done by June 29th.

So, instead of treating me as a valued long-time customer I feel I'm being treated as a suspected money laundering crook.

Perhaps you can tell that I'm not happy with Wise.

[Big Boy]

My monthly transfer this morning was blink of an eye stuff.

I vaguely remember having to submit a copy of my passport a few years back, but I am very happy with the service these days.

Maybe its the transfer amount. Are you sending very large amounts? My transfer this morning was just £1,850.

[Ratsima]

My monthly transfer this morning was blink of an eye stuff.

I vaguely remember having to submit a copy of my passport a few years back, but I am very happy with the service these days.

Maybe its the transfer amount. Are you sending very large amounts? My transfer this morning was just £1,850.

Yeah, I submitted my photo+passport several years ago. And, yes, this transfer is a large amount, but that's what I always do. One transfer per year which is always less than US$10K.

[STEVE G]

A couple of years ago I made several large payments to buy land and fund a construction project and Wise froze my account until I could prove I had sufficient income to cover the amounts.
Since then I've not had a problem but larger payments often get delayed for a day or two.
I get the impression that it's Wise having to comply with international money laundering checks because it doesn't really benefit them at all.

[Ratsima]

It benefits them because they’ve had my money for several days now. They’re earning money off of it. I’m not.

[Ratsima]

I received email from Wise today informing me that a US financial institution with which they previously did business (Evolve Bank & Trust) has had a data breach and that "some of your personal information may have been involved".

Perhaps that's why my still pending transfer is taking so long and required extraordinary verification.

In any event, I sent the money to Wise from my American Express account on June 18th. It's still not in my Bangkok Bank account.

So much for Wise being easy and quick.

[Big Boy]

In any event, I sent the money to Wise from my American Express account on June 18th. It's still not in my Bangkok Bank account.

So much for Wise being easy and quick.

I've become very twitchy on the couple of occasions my transfer has taken a couple of hours. 10 days is quite crazy.
However I've used them monthly since 2019, and I think you could count the number of mishaps on 10 fingers, with a couple of fingers spare.

[Ratsima]

Yeah, I've never had an experience like this before. Never have I initiated a transfer and had it "paused" for further investigation/verification. My wife has a quite a few clients who use Wise and she says she's never had any report of such a delay.

[georgy]

My transfer yesterday was on my account here within less than 5h. Usually 6-8h

[Ratsima]

Is it possible that only US Citizens are being put through the ringer because of our horrible FATCA ( Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act) law?

[dundrillin]

Is it possible that only US Citizens are being put through the ringer because of our horrible FATCA ( Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act) law?

Maybe, I noticed looking on the Wise users group on Facebook it was usually the American users that had problems like yours.

[brianks]

Just today booked money from my US account to my Thai account and won't be available until July 6 because they say they won't receive it until then. When I check on my US bank account it will go out of my account in 1 day. It's got to be FATCA that is holding things up because someone is sitting on my money for 5 days.

[Ratsima]

It's got to be FATCA that is holding things up because someone is sitting on my money for 5 days.

I agree. They finally sent my money today. They received my transfer on June 21st. So, they had it to use for ten days.