going to UK for a business trip soon, hi pals any recommendation to use Wise or Bigpay?

not just malaysia, same thing in singapore, especially the contactless.
contactless gets rejected 50% of the time, even in singapore. But when i wave with bigpay or any other malaysian credit card, it works everytime.

what about those that are using it in europe /uk / australia etc... does paywave works everytime like it should?

what's the point of a multi currency card when it doesnt work overseas.

I see. PIN works for me too. But some places don't allow chip and pin, like vending machines.

Is it still recommended to use wise for travel purposes?
im looking into euro and saw that ppl reco midvalley got better rate than wise.
and also, seems like its very hard to get in contact with their customer service.
can i get some advises from sifus here?
would probably just exchange for like 1k euro 🤔

Means cannot use Wise to receive anything larger than RM 30K.

Looks like need to use the money runners. They charged slightly more but can receive hard cash.

I didn't want SWIFT because the bank rates were horrible.

Oh no no ... i am not wanting to keep money in the Wise account. It is purely a bank A in overseas to bank B in malaysia transfer using Wise thats all. Will that be any issue?

I have a business trip to Europe soon, so I've just gotten my Wise card, paid RM13.70 and looks like it will be delivered to me in 10 working days.

...but I'm still trying to understand how the borderless account works...

Now I also compared several rates, and to my surprise, the cash option is way cheaper, assuming the advertised rates on their websites are true and without surcharge:


Another point to note is that Wise has the shittiest rate if it's a small amount (100 or below). So here are my questions, assuming the same rate holds:
1. What if I deposit into my EUR account at one go, and then I swipe Wise card when in Europe? Please confirm my example:
- load 218 EUR (pay slightly less than RM1000)
- swiped 10 transactions with Wise card, each at 21.48 EUR > my EUR account is now left with 3.2 EUR

2. What if I deposit into my MYR account, and do the same? Please confirm example:
- load RM 1000
- swiped 10 transactions with Wise card, each at 21.48 EUR > my MYR account is deducted RM 100 each, resulting in 0 money left.

If my examples are correct, then I'm planning to load my EUR account before travelling, then I have the freedom to either swipe my card directly, or just ATM to get some cash if I don't have enough.

Now another follow up question: suppose I have excess EUR after the trip - will I be allowed to deposit to my IBKR broker via this EUR account? Note: I also see that it is possible to get IBAN/SWIFT code or something if I deposited some money first... does that give me a proper "bank account number" that the IBKR can flag as an account I own, rather than 3rd party?

Thanks both for the mid valley tips. I'm not going to stay in the city centre and my colleague who's a local remarked that it's still kinda 50/50 with regards to card vs cash... That's why I'm looking into getting some cash too. It's going to be a big group of us so might be able to share the opportunity cost.. let's see!

You're right about changing rates, hence my decision to get Wise card to open up more options. My bigpay physical so ngam is expiring next year after all

Actually the examples were meant to compare EUR and MYR accounts directly and confirm my understanding of which rates would be used, wasn't meant to be realistic haha...
80% correct... I'm extending my stay on weekends for personal travel also, which will not be covered. I am indeed going with convenience for the ones I know my company's paying... E.g. my hotel stay, just gonna swipe CC

I don't think I can cheat my company audit your way... As our claims are itemised, I'm afraid will kena reject if they see the receipt I'm only getting a small amount at that rate, but claim so much more.


Last 2 questions about account opening:
1. It requires me to deposit like RM 101 -- is that a permanent amount to park there, just like how we need to park a minimal amount in our bank accounts to prevent closure?

2. It warned that any amount entering the EUR account needs to be of my own name, to prevent money laundering yadayada, kinda like IBKR. Have you tried using different fintech to transfer into Wise account? (Relevant if Wise offers worse rate)

Thank you all for very detailed answers. I am inclined to proceed with EUR account on Wise as I like that I can channel the excess into IBKR as investment, without another round of forex loss.

Niceee.. borderless account sounds really convenient, also a good way to force users to use Wise transfer (but it's a win win nonetheless if Wise is the best one at the time of transfer).
XD good point about the old notes, thanks

I'm going Netherlands, unfortunately not likely to travel other countries due to time constraint... I also paiseh to extend my stay too long, long story short, don't want to set bad first impression 😅
Fortunately, again thanks to group travel, other colleagues have been here so we have a long list of known good foods/places to go lol.

Let me teach you another pyschology trick. If you are afraid the transaction can't go through even after submitting the documents, you can mention at the end of your email to them that after submitting all these documents and if Wise/Instarem still can't approve, ask them to refund you the money and you shall use another service provider.

Add pressure to the compliance team. That can help a lot since you have the pricing power with so many fintech service providers out there.

It highly depends.

In most countries their ATM charge a fixed fee when withdrawing with foreign cards. But in colombia some ATMs like Davivienda or Scotiabank Colpatria charge no fees at all, weird.

This feels a bit strange to me as I never used overseas ATM before....

So in Malaysia, we get additional charges if you use different bank ATM. E.g. I have CIMB card and use on Maybank ATM, there's a RM 1 fee. Does this kind of fee exist in other countries in similar format? (That Wise doesn't mention since it's not them who charges it)

Nah Colombia isnt like Europe or Canada lah, the ATMs here are definitely run by banks, they just have some sort of agreement maybe.

Top up to MYR then transfer to JPY or topup directly to JPY, it's same, no additional charges.

I always purchase stuff from Ebay and am using PayPal (which charges quite a bit). Will using Wise help on this?

Another question, I have some $ on Etrade (company stock). Can I transfer those to my Wise account?

i am confuse. whats the difference between

account and jar...

if use in foreign country the fc is deducted from ACCOUNT or from the JAR?

It depends on what currency you want to convert. A snapshot for your reference (~ 9:30am)

RHB MCA :

MYR4525 --> USD1000 (all inclusive)

Forex rate gets refreshed every 5-10min

There is a RM20 annual fee for the debit card

$$ in your call account gets to earn daily interest, accrued by end of the month.

https://www.rhbgroup.com/treasury-rates/mul...osit/index.html

https://www.rhbgroup.com/treasury-rates/mul...card/index.html (indicative)
Wise :

MYR4534.66 --> USD1000 (all inclusive)

#2. If i wanted to spend on NZD, so I top up NZD currency first, thn if i withdraw at NZ it will reduce from my NZD acc? Would it work if i only top up MYR?

I would still use WISE over RHB. So far my Wise support is very good. This is more important. Whatever the small exchange rates is negligible. I don't trust RHB and has little faith in Bigpay(which I also have).

WISE for me.

IINM, another forumer shared outbound TT is flat USD 10 and must be done OTC, so definitely Wise is the better one.

It's not about exclusive. When you are overseas, you want the most reliable card that works and customer service that's response to you. Interest in debit card doesn't interests me...Its not like I will put 100k inside. What for? I will only put in enough for my use and ensure I can top up reliably online if needed when I am overseas.

Paywave is not a big issue. As long as PIN works, it doesn't bother me at all.