Comment by Varqu
2 years ago
Protip:
If you have a low volume of high amount transactions, skip the fancy Fintech (Mafia) companies and just use a good old bank account.
The international wire transfer fee is on par or sometimes even lower than Stripe transaction fee and once the money is transferred, it's yours.
the transfer fee isn't the main appeal of Wise, the currency exchange rate is. I've never seen a bank that offered anywhere near close as theirs.
Unfortunately in some countries it's a choice between the old mafia and the new mafia. You're getting screwed in some way regardless of what you choose.
What are the issues with a normal bank account? (apart from potentially hire fees)
Typically exactly that. New finance has no fees and might steal your money once and suddenly, while regular banks steal it continuously hoping you won't notice.
The average 10 €/month in "account management fees" aka being able to have the privilege to lend them money adds up over the years. Online banking costs extra, because of course it does, SMS alerts cost extra because of course they do. Want a Mastercard/Visa system compatible card to actually do anything with your money? That'll be 50 €/year. Earning interest on your money? Haha, here's your 2 cents a month, don't spend them all in one place. I'm pretty sure I get more interest on the little I keep on Wise than all of my regular bank accounts combined.
Nickle and diming people to death just because they can and they know you have nowhere else to go.