[Required for overseas travel/business trips] The Wise debit card is extremely convenient.

Hello. This is TK from the Canada office.

Now, this time I would like to introduce a debit card from the international money transfer service "Wise" that I used on my trip this year and was shocked by its convenience.

I wish I had known this when I moved to Canada. . This was one of the items I regretted the most, as I had just heard that a business traveler from Japan to the Canadian office was having trouble paying with a Japanese credit card due to exchange rates and fees. I decided to write this article.

This year's depreciation of the yen (as of April 2024) makes it especially easy to spend overseas, so this card is highly recommended for those planning short-term stays such as overseas business trips or trips.

What is Wise?

Wise (formerly known as TransferWise) is a P2P money transfer company founded in January 2011 by Kristo Käärmann and Taavet Hinrikus. The service itself is also called Wise.

Unlike traditional international remittances, it matches users and enables remittances for a small commission.

(Source: Wikipedia )

Anyone who has lived overseas has heard of Wise at least once. This is a service/company that has become famous for its low fees and good rates compared to banks and other overseas remittance services.

Official website

I myself often use it to send money between Japan and Canada, but when I learned that this service also issues debit cards, I decided to try using it on my overseas trip this year.

What is the Wise debit card?

With a debit card issued by Wise, you can make payments by directly deducting money from your Wise account in each country's currency.

Official page

This is so convenient and dangerous. I felt that I could use it as smoothly as if I were using a local card, and that this was all I needed for overseas payments.

It's easy to use, just open an account, order a card, and use it to make payments just like a regular credit card. If you charge your account in the currency you want to pay in advance, you can immediately start making online payments using card information without waiting for the physical card to arrive.

How to use Wise debit card

 

Useful points

Now, I would like to introduce some points that I found useful.

Convenient point 1: Multi-currency account

One account can have accounts in 10 currencies. For example, when you are on a business trip or traveling across multiple countries, if you open an account in the currency of the country you are staying in and deposit money in advance, you can use the same card to make payments in the appropriate currency in each country without worrying about anything. convenience.

Convenient point 2: ATM withdrawal possible

Basically, I think most payments are cashless, but when you need cash, you can use your debit card to withdraw local currency from the ATM at your place of stay. Click here for information on the number of free withdrawals and amounts . Super convenient.

Convenient point 3: Automatic exchange from other currencies

Even if your local currency account balance runs out during your stay, the money will be automatically exchanged and settled from other currency accounts with balances.

This is the point that particularly impressed me.In my case, I lost the small amount of pesos I had put in during my stay in Mexico, but I was able to automatically exchange Canadian dollars without having to do anything on my own. I was able to continue using debit card.

The exchange rate is also quite low to begin with, so it was much cheaper to continue using debit rather than using the Canadian credit card I had brought just in case. Convenient to use.

summary

What do you think? In addition to the above-mentioned points, the Wise debit card also allows you to immediately freeze/unfreeze your card from the app in the event that your card is stolen or lost, and you will be immediately notified of details such as the rate for each payment. There are many features that will help you reach your pain points.

For short- to medium-term stays overseas, such as business trips or trips, I spend a certain amount of money, but I don't feel comfortable carrying a lot of cash, and using credit card comes with fees and exchange rates. . It is sure to be useful in a variety of situations, such as for those who are staying for a long time, as well as for making payments until they open a local bank account. This is an indispensable card that I recommend to everyone when traveling!