{"id":9922,"date":"2020-05-06T12:25:57","date_gmt":"2020-05-06T02:25:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stillaslife.com\/?p=9922"},"modified":"2021-03-14T10:50:23","modified_gmt":"2021-03-13T23:50:23","slug":"how-to-use-transferwise-foreign-currency-accounts-to-save-money","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stillaslife.com\/how-to-use-transferwise-foreign-currency-accounts-to-save-money\/","title":{"rendered":"How to use Wise (formerly TransferWise) Borderless foreign currency accounts to save money"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
If you’ve followed me on Twitter<\/a> or Facebook<\/a> for a while, or have read a few of my blog posts, you might be aware that I am a big fan of Wise (formerly TransferWise)<\/a> for international transfers and payments. Wise keeps foreign exchange fees extremely low and gives customers a better exchange rate than most banks by passing on the actual daily exchange rate rather than incorporating an exchange margin. With most banks in Australia<\/a>, this margin is around 3%. On a $100 purchase, that’s a $3 saving just on the exchange rate. Many banks also charge a fee on foreign exchanges and foreign purchases. Wise fees are typically much lower. <\/p>\n\n\n\n If you receive money in foreign currencies, Wise can save you even more money by facilitating storage of the foreign currency and spending it without transferring it back to your base currency first.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Disclaimer: <\/strong>This is not financial advice and you should do your own research.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n So, for example, my base currency is AUD. However, I receive commission payments from some of my affiliate partners in USD. They get deposited directly into my bank account. I also pay Kinsta<\/a> in USD for my website hosting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Before Wise, those commission payments would go into my bank account and my bank would deduct a fee to convert that into AUD. I’d then pay Kinsta<\/a> by credit card and my bank would charge me a fee to convert my AUD into USD.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If only I didn’t have to convert that USD back to AUD first! With Wise, this is completely possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So, if you don’t have a multi-currency account with TransferWise<\/a> yet, go and open your free account<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n Ok, so you have opened up a Wise account. You’ll have a base balance automatically setup in your chosen base currency. For me, that’s AUD.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When you log into your account, you’ll see the activity screen by default. From here, you can see all the transaction activity, much like in your regular online banking. Your balances will be shown at the top. On mine, you can see I currently have a GBP balance setup in addition to my AUD balance.<\/p>\n\n\n\nOur scenario<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Set up your multi-currency accounts in Wise (formerly TransferWise)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n