TransferWise - new Borderless Account and Debit MasterCard launched

Forums › Travel (planes, train, cruise) › TransferWise - new Borderless Account and Debit MasterCard launched

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BDFL - Memuneh
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#2308055 29-Aug-2019 19:38

Off topic but I have filtered the transferwise domain - it may take an hour but it should not redirect via the affiliate site anymore.

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KiwiSurfer

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#2308662 30-Aug-2019 22:43

How long does it usually take for the card to arrive? It was supposedly on its way as of 16th Aug. The email said it should be with me by 1st September. I assumed they were just padding the date just in case. But it's now 30th August and it's still yet to arrive. Will be interesting to see if they make the 1st September target given it is a Sunday!

Does anyone know if the card issued overseas directly by Travelwise or one of their intentional partners rather than by a NZ issuer on behalf of Travelwise? Might explain the delay if it is not a NZ-based issuer. I find NZ-based issuers tend to have their cards delivered to be usually no later than 3 working days. Definitely making me consider whether it's worth relying on Travelwise if it would take this long for a replacement card to be sent in the case of lost or stolen cards...!

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#2308860 31-Aug-2019 18:24

My TW debit card took quite a time to get to me but I was kept informed of problems they were having in the initial issuing rush. Iirc the card came from Oz. You need to be aware that, even though it is a debit card, in NZ you need to select Credit when offered alternative accounts (ie Cheque, Savings, Credit). I am now in Australia on holiday and am totally sold on this as a payment card, I move NZD or GBP into my TW AUD account at the actual exchange rate prevailing at the time with a small fee ie a completely transparent transaction. A few seconds after each purchase a notification arrives on my phone confirming the transaction with the account balance. Only minor drawback is limited free ATM withdrawals (NZD350 thereafter 2%) and it is only free from TW, the ATM bank still charge a fee (AUD4 from Westpac, AUD2 from ANZ, haven't tried others).

KiwiSurfer

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#2310797 4-Sep-2019 21:24

I got in touch with TransferWise via Twitter and this was their response:

Hi, James. Hope you're good! We don't have tracking numbers for our card as it's sent out via Royal Mail. Where are you located? The card delivery time for most of the locations is 14 working days, but for New Zealand it's 3-4 weeks.

Amosnz

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#2310826 4-Sep-2019 22:52

My TW card arrived today, I applied on the 17th August and the est delivery date was 2nd Sept.

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#2310856 5-Sep-2019 07:39

I've looked at Transferwise and their claims and advertising don't impress me.

They're constantly claiming that you get the "real exchange rate" yet they add a conversion fee onto all transfers and purchases in foreign currency.

Their advertising (which also features in their Stuff and NZ Herald stories that look pretty much like advertorials to me) also claims that NZers are being charged US$1 billion (NZ $1.55 billion) last year for using their cards overseas. With nothing to back that claim up I find it hard to believe.

The NZ credit card market is only worth just under NZ$40 billion in total. I can only estimate the total amount spend overseas on credit cards these days with the huge growth in international shopping but probably 5 years ago my understanding was this figure was around 15% of all credit card purchases. If we're to be generous and say that figure is now 25% it means just under NZ$10 billion per year.

With most banks now charging around 1.5% - 2.5% for foreign conversion fees of the converted NZ$ amount (ANZ who I bank with is 1.8%) with the conversion rate that Mastercard or Visa use being pretty close to the mid market rate. It would mean at 1.8% that would mean NZers pay NZ$180 million per year in foreign transaction fees, which is nowhere near the NZ$1.55 billion Transferwise claim.

Of that 1.8% I also get Airpoints Dollar earn back at a rate of APD$1 per NZ$75 giving me a 1.33% earn rate so in effect I'm actually paying around 0.50%

And guess what rate Transferwise charge for "conversion" between NZ$ and major currencies? 0.49%

Clearly I'm missing something pretty fundamental here and have something majorly wrong with my calculations because it seems a) there is no benefit of Transferwise, and b) they're making blatently misleading claims as to how much NZers actually spend overseas and what it costs them.

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#2311093 5-Sep-2019 12:46

Interesting... For me the thinking around getting one of these is not only reduced transaction fees (or not as you so well explained), but also security.

Having been ripped off once in the USA and having to go through the hassles of credit card fraud recovery etc I'd feel happier in using a card that is pre-loaded, cannot be over spent on and wouldn't be too awful if lost/skimmed (especially if balance is kept reasonable). The fact it is no more expensive than presenting my flashy ASB credit card at dubious restaurants is enough for me to order one. Yes, I could use my Kiwibank debit card in much the same way but that's linked to my bank account (via a PIN)...

I also quite like the idea of a instant ping on my phone giving transaction details.

It certainly won't save you mega bucks but may well relieve some headaches!

By the way your calculations were pretty good https://www.rbnz.govt.nz/statistics/c13

Peppery

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#2311162 5-Sep-2019 13:06

sbiddle:

I've looked at Transferwise and their claims and advertising don't impress me.

They're constantly claiming that you get the "real exchange rate" yet they add a conversion fee onto all transfers and purchases in foreign currency.

Slightly unrelated to the debit card, but over the past 2 years I've converted significant sums through Transferwise. Their exchange rates significantly beat all of the big banks from when I last looked into it, even including their fees.

sbiddle

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#2311269 5-Sep-2019 15:09

kiwipeter:

Interesting... For me the thinking around getting one of these is not only reduced transaction fees (or not as you so well explained), but also security.

Having been ripped off once in the USA and having to go through the hassles of credit card fraud recovery etc I'd feel happier in using a card that is pre-loaded, cannot be over spent on and wouldn't be too awful if lost/skimmed (especially if balance is kept reasonable). The fact it is no more expensive than presenting my flashy ASB credit card at dubious restaurants is enough for me to order one. Yes, I could use my Kiwibank debit card in much the same way but that's linked to my bank account (via a PIN)...

I also quite like the idea of a instant ping on my phone giving transaction details.

It certainly won't save you mega bucks but may well relieve some headaches!

By the way your calculations were pretty good https://www.rbnz.govt.nz/statistics/c13

I should have actually thought of looking at the Reserve Bank for stats!

That really does show the TransferWise statistics are simply wrong and heavily inflated. Any company that's going to lie and make up statistics doesn't really deserve to be supported IMHO.

One thing I wish NZ banks would issue are virtual card numbers - yet none seem interested. ANZ have the capability to do this (and Google Pay essentially is just a virtual card in their network) but won't offer it. I've had my card compromised numerous times overseas and it means having to then change the card number for numerous payments I have coming out.

sbiddle

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#2311277 5-Sep-2019 15:21

Peppery:

sbiddle:

I've looked at Transferwise and their claims and advertising don't impress me.

They're constantly claiming that you get the "real exchange rate" yet they add a conversion fee onto all transfers and purchases in foreign currency.

Slightly unrelated to the debit card, but over the past 2 years I've converted significant sums through Transferwise. Their exchange rates significantly beat all of the big banks from when I last looked into it, even including their fees.

I just had a look at ANZ to see how they compare to TransferWise. ANZ charge a flat $9 fee to transfer money using their goMoney app.

ANZ NZD$5,000 = AUD $4,597 + NZD$9 fee (the $9 fee is in addition)

TransferWise NZD$5,026.53 = AUD$ 4,674.35 (TransferWise include the fee in the conversion so I had to add the NZD$26.53 fee to actually convert NZD$5000)

Delphinus

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#2311292 5-Sep-2019 15:54

sbiddle:

I just had a look at ANZ to see how they compare to TransferWise. ANZ charge a flat $9 fee to transfer money using their goMoney app.

ANZ NZD$ 5,000 = AUD $4,597 + NZD$9 fee (the $9 fee is in addition)

TransferWise NZD$5,026.53 = AUD$ 4,674.35 (TransferWise include the fee in the conversion so I had to add the NZD$26.53 fee to actually convert NZD$5000)

Sorry I don't quite follow your calcs since neither the send or receive values match up nicely. But it seems like Transferwise is slightly cheaper?

Using the same ANZ app, let's say I want to send 2000 EUR.

ANZ NZD$3524.23 + $9 = $3533.34 = 2000 EUR (plus any additional fees that may be deducted by the payee's bank) at rate 0.5676

Transferwise NZD$ 3,479.67 = 2000 EUR (no fees at the other end) at rate 0.577919

So transferwise saves me $54.

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#2311365 5-Sep-2019 17:43

I can put aside the seemingly exaggerated advertising claims by TW, my product assessments only ever consider the benefit the commodity will bring my needs and wishes.

I returned to Godzone 19 years ago with a UK employment pension paid in GBP by the scheme to a bank of their choice who then transferred funds to my bank account in NZD but with absolutely no disclosure of fees or exchange rates. To add to my frustration, the transfer took days while each bank involved got to play with my money for a time!

Then, along came the TW Borderless account. My pension now arrives in my TW GBP account on the day it is paid by the scheme and is available to me immediately. I can now transfer it to my NZ bank account when I wish and at an actual mid-rate prevailing at the time (easy to check against XEMoney, Reuters, Oanda etc) and with a clear fee for the transaction. Total clarity. Moreover, for a recent holiday, I transferred GBP to AUD so only suffered one lot of fees, whereas, in the past there would have been GBP to NZD then NZD to AUD. Now along comes TW debit card and when I pay for goods while in Oz it comes out of the AUD account at an already known exchange cost. As mentioned in a previous post, within seconds the transaction is notified on my phone with the remaining balance. The app also allows various transactions to be enabled/disabled and spend limits set eg ATM withdrawals, Contactless transactions, Online payments, Chip & pin transactions, Mag stripe transactions. The card can also be instantly “Frozen” and “Defrosted” (their word, not mine). My NZ credit card does declare the 1.8% fee on every foreign exchange and, indeed, does state an exchange rate used but is that the rate prevailing on day of purchase or day of processing, is it the mid-rate or an adjusted rate or an average rate, at what time of the day was it assessed. I acknowledge that Air Dollars are a benefit but I also know that the cost of those ADs will be paid somehowby us punters!

In sum, what really appeals to me about TransferWise is the competitive fees and rates, simplicity and absolute transparency of every TW transaction.

freitasm

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#2311412 5-Sep-2019 18:15

Got my card here today.

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KiwiSurfer

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#2311436 5-Sep-2019 19:31

Amosnz:

My TW card arrived today, I applied on the 17th August and the est delivery date was 2nd Sept.

Interesting, mine was 1st Sep. Hopefully it arrives soon. I think today is the 'off' day for postage in my area.

freitasm

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#2311446 5-Sep-2019 19:48

Loaded the app, and have to say it's pretty slick and well done.

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