Good to know this.

I don't keep money in Wise. I only use it to convert Aussie back to ringgit.

Malaysia is not one of the countries where i can add another account.

You can add a Singapore account or a New Zealand account or a Canadian acct (there is a list of countries). Malaysia is not one of those countries in the list.

I only use Wise to convert AUD to MYR.

Most times i receive the money instantaneously from 8am - 8pm (work days). Outside these hours, i get it about 3 hours later. I haven't tried it on the weekends so i don't know.

I find the rates slightly better after about 10am (weekdays).

ATO watches incoming remittance very closely if you are on govt welfare. There are a lot of pensioners rorting the welfare payments with assets overseas but not declaring it (as this would enable them to get less pension).

If you are not on govt welfare, there is nothing to fear because my siblings (PRs) used to sent fairly huge amounts to Aust (since 80s) without ever being audited. I personally believe sending under A$10k will not make much difference because the ATO is fairly sophisticated in picking up 'suspicious' transactions.

Other than pensioners, the radar is also on money launderers (esp drug money).

From your posts, it doesn't appear you would fit in the category of either of these groups so you should have nothing to worry about.

Hope this helps.

THIS THREAD IS ABOUT USING THE WISE VISA CARD AS A CONVENIENT AND LOW COST PAYMENT METHOD DURING OVERSEAS TRAVELS.

Edit: moderators have decided to move my thread on using the Wise Visa card as travel money here and merged with the old Wise financial thread.

I think most people knows about this product. It provides a "cheap" way of exchange of funds. It also allows a way to have multiple accounts in different currencies and when tied to a wise visa card, allows spendings in countries using the local currencies you may have.

I discovered however, the user has no control over which currency it pays out from if you do not have funds in that currency.

Recently I went to Scandinavia, and each of these countries have their own currencies. I loaded some NOk. I also have MYR smd jpy. Paying in Norway, it was fine. Paying in the other nordic countries, it converted from NOK. The problem starts then the NOK account ran out. Instead of taking from MYR, it converted from jpy. I have no control over which currency it takes from.

The jpy is meant to lock in the low rate at the moment for future travels to Japan. I have no means of "ring fencing" the jpy account.

Also, after double conversion, the FX cost isn't that much better than Bigpay or even just using a cc.

My conclusion is. It's an ok system if you regularly travel to a particular country and worth maintaining a balance in that currency.

For the occasional travels to any country you are unlikely to visit again, it's probably not useful.

And they make money from the multiple FX conversions, even if the margins charged are low. Plus make money from monies lying dormant.

Anyone has a different experience?