An update on your multi-currency account: converting and sending is now cheaper – but other fees are changing, too

Last month we took a step closer to Mission 0, and lowered our conversion fees for 76% of our customers.

Today, we come with mainly good news, and a little not-so-good news, on fees.

Good news first. We’re lowering more fees — this time on sending and converting from balances:

• Sending money from your balance to any currency will cost you less, with same-currency transfers dropping up to 45%.
• Converting money between balances will be cheaper for 85% of our currency routes.

Review how the new changes affect you in our price calculator.

But starting on 19 December, we’re raising fees on USD wires, and high EUR balances:

• It will now cost $7.50 to receive national and international USD wire payments. $7.50 is still 2 times cheaper than US banks, and you can still receive USD ACH payments for free. We’re making this change because it costs us more to receive US wires. More on that here.
• There will be a yearly 0.4% fee to hold more than €15k if you’re a personal customer, or €70k if you’re a business customer, in your EUR balance or EUR jar. It will still be free to hold any other currency. We’re making this change because the European Central Bank's interest rate is negative right now. More on that here.

US wires cost us extra, and too many customers used to pay for that

US banking can be pricey, and wire transfers are a good example. Each time one of our customers receives a wire to their USD bank details, it costs us money.

When we started offering the multi-currency account, we wanted it to be free to receive money into your account, no matter the payment method. But we needed to cover the costs of US wires somehow, so we added them to the fee you pay every time you send money from your balance. That means customers who never received US wires still had to pay for those costs.

The next time you receive a USD wire to your bank details, we’ll deduct the 7.50 fee from the amount we receive from the sender. For example, if they send 1,000 USD, we’ll deduct 7.50 and deposit 992.50 USD to your balance.

Now that we’ve added a 7.50 fee for receiving USD wires, we don’t need to cover that cost elsewhere. We can lower the fees for sending money from your balances. The biggest drop will be for same-currency transfers, which will be up to 45% cheaper.

And remember — receiving deposits through ACH payments remains free.

Sending to	Old fee	New fee	Drop
EUR	0.63 EUR	0.35 EUR	⬇️ 44%
USD	1.40 USD	1.05 USD	⬇️ 25%
GBP	0.60 GBP	0.32 GBP	⬇️ 45%
AUD	1.05 AUD	0.57 AUD	⬇️ 45%

You can check our pricing page to see the price drop for the currencies you send to most.

When you send or convert money from a balance, it’s cheaper for us. It should be cheaper for you.

When you set up a transfer, we offer you a guaranteed rate, so you have time to send money from your bank. But the exchange rate is actually changing all the time, and sometimes it goes under the rate we guarantee.

Since we pay out transfers before we receive the money, in some scenarios we may pay out more than we receive, and end up losing money. Historically, our conversion fees covered those costs.

When you convert or send a currency from your balance, the money is already with Wise. Since we fund the transaction immediately, these transactions are cheaper.

To recap: Sending money from your balance will cost you less, and converting money between balances will be cheaper for 85% of our currency routes.

Here are some examples:

From	To	Old conversion fee	New conversion fee	Drop
USD	EUR	0.43%	0.42%	⬇️ 2%
HUF	EUR	0.49%	0.42%	⬇️ 14%
USD	PHP	0.57%	0.54%	⬇️ 6%
USD	CAD	0.47%	0.45%	⬇️ 5%
CHF	EUR	0.43%	0.39%	⬇️ 10%
EUR	TRY	0.65%	0.54%	⬇️ 16%

You can check our pricing page to see possible price drops for currencies you often convert to.

A fee on large EUR balances to cover negative interest rates

Recently, central banks around the world have lowered interest rates.

In the Eurozone, interest rates are negative. That means it costs Wise money to hold euro balances for our customers.

To cover these costs, we’re introducing an annual fee of 0.4% to hold large amounts in euro balances and jars. Holding smaller amounts will remain free. Personal customers will be able to hold up to €15,000 for free, while business customers will be able to hold up to €70,000 for free.

The fee will be charged monthly and only on amounts above your free allowance. For example, if you’re a personal customer and hold €20,000, you’d only be charged for the €5,000 above your allowance. If you held this in your balance for a day, at the end of the month you’d pay about €0.05, while if you held it for the entire month you’d pay about €1.67.

These are the only monthly fees you’ll pay with Wise, and you can still hold money, without fees, in 53 other currencies.

Here’s what the euro limits mean for you:

	With a personal account	With a business account
Holding in any currency other than EUR	Free	Free
Holding €15k for a month	Free	Free
Holding €30k for a month	5.01 EUR	Free
Holding €50k for a month	11.69 EUR	Free
Holding €100k for a month	28.39 EUR	10.02 EUR