Currency exchange

[Polly]

It’s interesting reading your accounts of exchanging/trying to exchange sterling - we now have the task of exchanging the amount we’ve received in our CA account from selling our apartment into sterling.

So when some of you say what a good rate you can get, I’ll probably groan!

[Hotrodder]

Some of us are whining over what might seem to be a trifling amount. Those who need to transfer a proper large amount like yours have my sincere condolences. It's the money changers that always come out on top.

[MAD87]

I've recently arranged to have my UK prension paid directly (have I said this before ? ) and notice that the1st payment is at the current exchange rate.

[Quiksilver]

The direct payments do closely follow the exchange rate and as it's a huge, bulk transaction we get the benefit. I can understand why some folks prefer to follow the markets and do things themselves to gain a couple of points, but frankly, for the hassle it seems to be engendering recently it just doesn't sound worth it. A bit like driving 30kms to a service station with fuel at 0.02 centimes cheaper than the one around the corner.....
@HR As for your concerns re. the bank or utilities seizing assets, it would be a lot less hassle to set up a tax-free savings account e.g. LEP or Livret A and transfer the bulk of the pension into that, just transferring back to the current account as required. You'd get some interest on it that way!

[Nomoss]

Last Thursday I found I could not log in to my Wise account. I didn't receive a code on my mobile and the page for entering it didn't appear.

After following the extensive lists of instructions from the "Trouble logging in" button, and five email replies from Wise Support I was no nearer a solution. I think this was mainly because I was corresponding with a bot, and no-one was reading what I wrote.

I had already paused my ad blocker, which is an early move when sites don't work, but I found that a Browser Guard extension on Firefox, from Malwarebytes, was blocking ads and trackers.

I turned this off, and was able to log in, but I had had no suggestion from Wise that ads and trackers should be allowed in order to log in.
When I told them about this, they replied:
"Apologies for the inconvenience caused, sometimes needing to allow ads is necessary as this could've been preventing you from being able to access the page to enter the SMS code you were receiving"

I had told them I was not receiving a code.

[niemeyjt]

I have just tested mine - I think the issue is Wise use Google reCaptcha - as I have mentioned before I have had issues - I use NoScript to block Google and have to use a Private Window to login to Wise.

The sooner Google is broken up, the better.

[Hotrodder]

During my battle with Wise I have read of quite a few other people having troubles, some with popup blockers, some having to try a different browser altogether. Mrs. HR managed to get her pension across using bank to bank but it was a crappy exchange rate. €1.16 I have done the same but haven't received it yet and I did the deed a day before she did. I'm paying £15 for the transaction and haven't a clue what rate. Next month I will use TorFX, looks good on paper and they were very helpful setting it up. Watch this space.

[Nomoss]

I earlier tried for an hour or so to transfer, via Wise, a large part of a UK bank balance resulting from our UK pensions for the last few months being paid into it.

Out of the blue Wise wanted a selfie of me and my passport from a smartphone, which I don't have.
I made about 20 attempts to do this by using my laptop webcam, but none of my efforts was accepted.

I have now given up any idea of using Wise, and made the transfer from my UK bank, costing a little more, but with the reassurance that my money is protected, and not liable to disappear because I gave it to an ethereal entity which offers no guarantees against possible insolvency.

We now plan to arrange for our pensions to be paid directly into our French account in the future, as recommended above.

Adios Wise. Not worth the bother.

[suein56]

I think the issue is Wise use Google reCaptcha - as I have mentioned before I have had issues

Me too .. I agree Google Captcha is causing problems. It seems to me that such platforms as Wise etc expect Chrome to be used by everyone and I don't, I use Firefox. If I am patient then eventually, after a pause, a substitute Captcha appears in Firefox which I can then tick to achieve access to such sites. Google can be a pain.

[Hotrodder]

Interesting point. Although using Opera I didn't see a Captcha and when I tried Firefox, didn't see one there either. If it was possible to to speak with a human at Wise people could let them know what is going on, but no. Companys and banks everywhere are relying too much on automated systems to save having to pay humans a salary. Maybe if we (the users) were to start kicking up a fuss with the financial watchdogs and suchlike maybe the message would get to Wise and others to "clean up their act".