That's another afternoon I'll never get back

[L Austin France]

Just spent all afternoon 'sorting out' two FX companies to enable me to refresh my euro funds here in France.
The first on was our existing company Global Reach who had made me jump through hoops to sign up for their new efficient online service which effectively meant no access to the guy who had personally managed our a/c for years. I eventually managed to sign up using a new password they had to send me as the original they supplied wouldn't work.
Well p'd off with GR I thought I'd resurrect the Transferwise (now Wise) a/c I started to set up yonks ago so I logged on to complete this.
Finalising the a/c was easy & as the rate was 1c better than GR I thought I'd transfer £1,000 as a trial run.
Yeah right! Dead easy to set up the relevant banks details using a card reader etc until it came to pushing the 'submit' button which was greyed out & wasn't playing. Phoned our UK bank who said the IT dept. would take a while to respond so maybe I should try again &/or use a different browser.
Righty Oh! I cancelled the transaction & did it again with the same result..... bugger!
My missus then suggested she try on her wizbang I pad thingy & got a similar result followed rapidly by a note that the transaction had been completed, they had received our Sterling & we should receive Euros tomorrow.
Great service we thought until we received another mail to say that payment would be delayed as we were unlucky to be picked but we were the subject of a random check to ensure we were not money laundering or whatever. Wise's online chat thing confirmed this was the case.
Oh well! don't need the money & probably good to see that security systems are in place & working & that Wise seem to be a decent outfit who respond to clients enquiries quickly.
Good job it was crappy weather. I had planned on doing some oil changes to my tractor & other garden machines & sitting indoors hurling abuse at my laptop was not what I had planned.
Always tomorrow for oily things I 'spose

[Sparkle]

oh dear what a way to start the year - I hope it goes better for you.

[hughnique]

I have used Transferwise, wise, for years, rarely have any problems with them, rates are usually better and the transfer is in my CA account normally within seconds.

[L Austin France]

I have used Transferwise, wise, for years, rarely have any problems with them, rates are usually better and the transfer is in my CA account normally within seconds.

Thanks. That's reassuring.

[MAD87]

I opened a Wise account last year when Barclays and Nationwide htreatened that accounts held by mugs in the EU would be closed. Wise quickly sent me a debit card with too much sticky stuff on it, so unusable without a good scrub and never sent me a code.. I haven't been able to access the account either.

[L Austin France]

I opened a Wise account last year when Barclays and Nationwide htreatened that accounts held by mugs in the EU would be closed. Wise quickly sent me a debit card with too much sticky stuff on it, so unusable without a good scrub and never sent me a code.. I haven't been able to access the account either.

Have you asked Wise what the problems are? Their online 'chat' seems very efficient.
I've just checked our a/c which Wise says has been cleared & the euros sent to our French bank at 0830 this morning. I'm giving our bank a few hours before checking the money is 'in' but no reason to suppose it's not.
Edit @ 1109hrs. just checked & euros in bank.

[hughnique]

I am a a bit dubious as to opening a bank account with the likes of Wise, currently my HSBC account in the UK satisfies my needs and I have not heard that they are contemplating closing accounts of those resident in the EU. I would have thought that if you have a problem accessing your account then a phone call to their customer services would sort it out. As I said on the FX side the transfer is in my CA account before I can log on to it, first transactions might be a bit slower.

[L Austin France]

Having sucessfully done a £1k trial I've just done a 5 figure transfer.
Euros in our French bank quicker than I could check it had been done so pretty much instantaneous.
Stuff Global Reach & their new systems. This is brilliant.
Chapeau Wise

[MAD87]

I opened a Wise account last year when Barclays and Nationwide htreatened that accounts held by mugs in the EU would be closed. Wise quickly sent me a debit card with too much sticky stuff on it, so unusable without a good scrub and never sent me a code.. I haven't been able to access the account either.

Have you asked Wise what the problems are?

Not yet! My personal To Do list is so long now I need another few lifetimes to make a dent in it. Besides, doing battle with banks makes me lose the will to live.

[Hotrodder]

I am a a bit dubious as to opening a bank account with the likes of Wise, currently my HSBC account in the UK satisfies my needs and I have not heard that they are contemplating closing accounts of those resident in the EU. I would have thought that if you have a problem accessing your account then a phone call to their customer services would sort it out. As I said on the FX side the transfer is in my CA account before I can log on to it, first transactions might be a bit slower.

Interested to hear that people are still transferring UK funds directly from bank to bank. I changed to Wise many years ago as soon as I discovered how much cheaper it was than letting the bank do it. And I have never had more than a state pension to transfer.