Mobile banking and online transfers have never been easier. Two popular online banking and international money transfer services are Wise and Monzo . Both offer a range of services that customers can use through their mobile apps.
Wise is essentially an online account that allows you to send money overseas and get paid in different currencies. You can also use a Wise card to spend abroad. In contrast, Monzo is an established digital bank.
But how do you choose between the two?
Below we'll take a look at their prices and features to help you answer that question. There's a lot to talk about, so let's get started.
Wise vs Monzo: About Wise
Wise and Monzo
Wise , formerly known as Transfer Wise, is the core, not the bank. Used by 130,000 people, it is a fintech company that allows you to:
Open an account to send money overseas
Get paid in multiple currencies
With the Wise card, you can withdraw email list and spend abroad. It is regulated in the UK by the FCA (Financial Conduct Authority).
Launched in London in 2011, Wise has partnered with various online banks, including Monzo and N26, to provide account holders with cheap money transfers. This Wise website has a handy foreign currency converter calculator. All you need to do is enter the amount you want to transfer and select the currency you want to transfer overseas. Wise then uses the mid-market currency exchange rate with no markup fees. Instead, the cost is based on:
Amount you sent
The currency you are sending to
Payment method of your choice
Wise vs Monzo: About Monzo Bank
Wise and Monzo
Also located in the UK is Monzo . Launched in 2015, it has over two million customers and offers a range of personal and business banking products. It's an app-based service that emphasizes transparency, so customers are never surprised by hidden fees.
It offers a total of six accounts:
current account
Plus account
Supreme account
business account
Joint account
16-17 year old account
This review focuses on Monzo's current account. Although some Monzo features features and functions are available to US customers, they are primarily aimed at the UK market.
Monzo offers a full range of mobile banking features to simplify your banking and savings. For example, you can keep an eye on your savings goals, create a budget and use Monzo's cost-effective international transfers and ATM withdrawals.
Monzo Borrowing is a new feature that may be of interest to potential Monzo customers. We'll discuss this in more detail in the pricing section below.
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Wise and Monzo: Wise pricing and features overview
Given that Wise differs from Monzo in that it's not a bank, it's no surprise that its fees are also different. Additionally, Wise splits its offers into personal and business accounts. So let's start with personal accounts.
Personal
With a personal account, you can perform four types of actions:
Send Money : The price for transferring funds overseas starts at 0.41%. Wise says it is generally 8 times cheaper than the leading UK high street banks . You can send money to Wise by bank transfer (from your bank account via Wise), debit or credit card. Wise accepts Visa, Mastercard and some Maestro cards.
You can also use PISP (Payment Initiation Service Provider) to transfer/remit money. You instruct Wise to make a bank transfer directly from your bank account. This way, you don't need to leave the Wise app and log into your online banking separately. It's as cheap as a manual bank transfer, but not all banks support it.
You can also use SWIFT, but your bank may charge you. Finally, if your phone has Apple Pay enabled, you can use it.
Receiving and top-up: You can receive payments in AUD, CAD, EUR, GBP, HUF, NZD, ROR, SGD, TRY and USD (non-wire) for free, but there is a $4.14 USD wire payment fee .