Don't treat this as a bank account
I had been a satisfied customer until recently when I tried to send an ordinary transfer of £200 from my UK account to my daughter's UK bank account, and Wise blocked the transfer because they thought it was suspicious. I've transferred money to this same account every month for the last three years. It's hardly unusual. Wise wouldn't unblock the transfer until I filled in a form to explain why I was sending the money.
In their email asking for more information, they said they needed to know what the payment reference "Bristol" meant. Quoting directly: "If the reference is related to a person. In this case, we'll need their full legal name, date of birth, and the country they live in. If the reference is related to a business or organisation. In this case, we'll need their full registered name and address. If the reference is related to something else. In this case, you'll need to let us know what the reference means, the reason for the transfer and what the money will be used for."
Just...no. I know that banks need to report high-value transactions, and I've gone through anti money-laundering training myself as part of my job. In this case the money I was sending was not needed immediately, but what if I had been trying to pay my electricity bill by a certain date?
Wise still provides good value on foreign exchange transactions, but I no longer trust them to handle ordinary bank-to-bank transfers, and I won't be using them any more for time-sensitive matters.
March 9, 2026
Unprompted review