What is TransferWise?
TransferWise is an online account helps you send & receive money, transact money globally with low fees. You can send or receive money internationally, get paid in foreign currencies easily with a TransferWise account.
The History Of TransferWise
I often want to know the stories behind the companies that I interact with. Considering the fact that TransferWise is one of the most innovative companies in its own field, we learned the story right away…
The story of TransferWise started by two Estonian guys, Kristo and Taavet, met at a party whilst living in London.
It turned out that Taavet was being paid in Euros, but needed to pay his UK bills in British pounds. Kristo was being paid in pounds but needed to pay his Estonian mortgage in Euros.
Both were losing money every month just by exchanging currency because of buy and sell rates.
They realized that if Taavet transfers Euros he earns to Kristo’s Estonian account; and Kristo transfers the corresponding pounds he earns into Taavet’s British account, they could simply both use the mid-market rate and save money!
How Does TransferWise Works Across Global Money Transfers?
TransferWise has bank accounts set up in over 50 countries.
Matteo lives in Italy and his co-worker Liam lives in Australia. When Matteo wants to transfer money to Australia from Italy, he simply transfers the desired amount from his Italy bank account to the International Bank Account of TransferWise.
TransferWise then pays the corresponding amount to your local bank account. It calculates the mid-market exchange rate plus a small commission. As a result, not any international money transfer actually takes place, just numbers are changing.
The money Matteo pays to his Italian bank account will go towards funding payments to other people, who want to transfer money from foreign currencies into Australian dollars. The money his colleague receives in Australia will have been funded by people who want to change money from Australian dollars into other currencies, and have paid into TransferWise’s Australian bank account.
So it’s similar to the Kristo and Taavet exchange but on a much larger scale, with over a billion dollars from over a million customers going in and out of TransferWise’s worldwide accounts every month!
When sending or receiving money through the bank on TransferWise, you would most times need a Swift Code
How To Use TransferWise?
TransferWise is really easy to use. Once you’ve set up an account, you just enter the amount and type of currency you want to change, and how you want to pay (with credit or debit card).
Then enter the details of the bank account you want the foreign currency to be paid into (your own or someone else’s), and then continue to pay. If you’re paying by bank transfer, they’ll give you the details of their TransferWise account or their local bank account linked to TransferWise in the corresponding country, including details such as name, country, bank branch, and more. This allows you to make the online transfer straight from your account. You can learn more about Swift Codes in this extensive guide.
Each time you log in, you’ll see a list of all the previous transactions you’ve made. You can click on any of these and choose to repeat the transfer, rather than start all over again. The recipient’s bank details are stored, so you don’t have to keep plugging them in. They’ll give you an instant quote using the current exchange rate.
The money usually arrives by the next day (or the same day, depending on the time), so it’s pretty fast.
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