Excel Currencies vs Wise

Overseas property buyers and sellers prefer Excel Currencies over Wise. Why?

“Highly recommend Excel Currencies. We used this company for transferring funds to purchase a holiday home in Spain. Very reliable and trustworthy. Liam was very knowledgeable and friendly and I would not hesitate to use them again in the future.”

Natasha Walters – 3/3/24 (5* review of Excel Currencies on Trustpilot)

Imagine moving a large sum of money with a company that employs humans to work with its customers and not robots..

“Great experience. Did exactly what they said and when they agreed. Great rates. Very efficient and easy to get hold of. Would use again and definitely recommend them. All the staff we interacted with were highly professional.”

GM – 23/2/24 (5* review of Excel Currencies on Trustpilot)

Picture an experienced industry expert guiding you through the biggest global market, instead of being left alone to navigate its volatility yourself..

“EXCEL Currencies have been super helpful throughout the whole process of transferring UK GBP to EURO's - advising me of the best time to convert and giving honest guidance along the way. Really easy to use their services via email with a personal advisor (thank you Jamie and Holly). Would thoroughly recommend when needing currency conversions or any size and will definitely be using again. Very many thanks - for making this such an easy process and taking the stress out of my life.... :)”

Rachel – 7/12/24 (5* review of Excel Currencies on Trustpilot)

We’re Biased, Not Ignorant.

For some of you, Wise will be the better option. We aren’t afraid to admit that. As in most situations, it’s horses for courses..

The below demonstrates how we differ to Wise when sending a LARGE sum overseas. The comparison we have put together is based on what both companies will do for you on a substantial transfer abroad.

We’re not here to sh*t on Wise.

Our goal isn’t to convince you that Wise is bad for sending a significant amount of money abroad. Just that its DIY offering wasn’t built for these types of payments (and we were).

Let’s get started then shall we..

Mistakes Happen, Right?

Of course they do. But would you rather make a mistake or an experienced professional on your behalf?

Wise offers a Do it Yourself (DIY) service. This means;

·        Inputting the correct currencies you wish to buy or sell

·        Inputting the correct amount of currency you want to buy or sell

·        Inputting the correct account details

So, what could go wrong with doing the above yourself incorrectly and what are the possible repercussions?

The first two statements are trade related and because you are buying live from the market (like the stock or commodities market), choosing the wrong currency and/or amount will cost you.

Most people we speak to have never sent a payment abroad. Some have never sent a payment anywhere near the size they need to make for the property purchase to anyone else before. There is no doubt it’s a daunting task for the majority.

Instead of letting YOU potentially make a mistake by choosing to buy GBP instead of selling or selecting an extra 0 and buying €1M instead of €100K, WE do the trade for you. Stress and anxiety relieved there then..

What Happens if WE Make the Mistake?

Firstly, that is very difficult to do. But we are human and therefore sometimes prone to mistakes. Nevertheless, for each trade there are 2 pairs of eyes looking over each transaction with a combined experience of over 20-years making these types of exchanges.

IF, a mistake was to occur and this was acknowledged later, via the customer, trader or from our payments team (when loading the matched trade), we would correct the trade and any subsequent loss would be ours to take.

By using Wise, YOU are liable for any losses you incur from your trade mistakes. Wise will not pick up any losses, as it was you that made the mistake on their platform. Reversing your mistake will take time too because of the lack of human contact support that Wise offers.

Wise are also unable to identify whether or not you have made a mistake and so it’s down to you to recognise when you have and by that point, it could be a lot worse than it originally would have been..

What About Payment Mistakes?

An even bigger fear when making a payment, is sending it to the wrong destination. Within the UK, Confirmation of Payee (CoP) has helped hugely in recent years with fraudulent payments and as a way of deterring general payment mistakes.

This added security on payments allows customers to match account details with the right account name and is confirmed by your bank before you process a payment. However, CoP is not available for overseas transfers.

Over the years, we have helped countless customers from losing millions of Pounds to fraud with our added security feature. Something that Wise does not offer.

The More Eyes the Better

Also, before any payment can leave our customer accounts, 6 pairs of eyes look over the transaction with a collected 25-years’ experience in sending overseas payments. If using Wise, you are overseeing the inputting of account details and Wise are just processing your request.

Both companies will have ‘similar-ish’ transfer tracking and procedures to recall incorrect payments, the key differences between us here are speed and being human.

If you have given us incorrect account details and we have passed the added security feature, we can act instantly in recalling the funds. It will be a ticketing system with Wise and speed is of the essence when a payment gets sent to the wrong place.

As-well-as your dedicated account manager, you will also be assigned a dedicated support team member who will proactively work with you until the funds have been returned. They will chase the corresponding bank and update you whenever there is news to tell, in what can be a very unsettling time.

More importantly, they will be available to speak with on the phone at any time. Over at Wise, it will be a mixture of a robot and human interaction, primarily via their online chat or email. This will no doubt lead to a slow, in-personal and frustrating path.

Payment Delays

Our industry is very heavily regulated by the FCA and both Excel Currencies and Wise are forced to abide by strict Anti-Money Laundering (AML) procedures.

When it comes to large exchanges, we both must prove what the transfer is for and what the source of funds are and have document to support.

At Wise, you will not know what exact documentation will be required until you have loaded your payment. Compliance will email you usually within 24-hours asking the necessary questions. Once you have supplied the relevant documents, it can take up to 5-days for Wise to give the greenlight on the payment or not.

Also, Wise only guarantees your rate for between 2 - 24-hours (amount dependent). This is not viable for many who have transfer limits on accounts, issues with sending money into the account (bank fraud team) or are simply not prepared. This can lead to huge frustration and stress all because of Wise' lack of flexibility. 

At Excel Currencies, we explain what is required as soon as we have spoken to our customers and guide them through exactly what we need, when and how to get it. 80% of the time we have the relevant documents in place before any trade has been placed, to avoid any payment delays. Our way is instant, painless and proactive. We also offer flexibility with receiving funds in from customers (1 - 5-days+ if required). 

Price v Cost

Have you ever tried to save money by buying the cheaper version of an item or service?

Did you notice that more often than not, the cheaper item or service ended up costing you MORE in the long run via replacements, repairs or add-ons, compared to the more expensive and higher quality item or service?

To name a handful of things;

·        Clothes, furniture, vehicles, home repairs/improvements etc

·        Flights, trains, holidays, hotels, solicitors and so on..

A saying that we love here at Excel Currencies is by an author named John Ruskin and was written over 150 years ago – “It is unwise to pay too much, but it is far worse to pay too little”.

We liken this to the banks charging customers too much and Wise charging too little. The banks charge between 2%-3% on average to customers moving large sums overseas, whereas Wise charge 80% less than that.

Pay Cheap, Pay Twice..

The ‘price v cost’ narrative is saying that something may be the best price now, but how much will it cost you in the long run?

The cost will come in the form of primarily money and/or time. Stress, anxiety and frustration etc are all by-products to losing money and/or time.

I would urge you to check both ours and Wise’s Trustpilot Reviews. Excel Currencies specialise in overseas property sales, mainly from UK based customers, which are reflected in every review we have received thus far. 

Wise have customers worldwide making transactions of all sizes, for all kinds of reasons and also offer an overseas spending card (which is very good). They have a gargantuan number of reviews, but 10% of them are rated as 1*, most of which have something to do with a large exchange.

If you think it’s expensive to hire a professional, wait until you hire an amateur.

£5 trillion is traded daily on the FX market, it is the biggest market in the world by some distance. This means it is also very volatile because of the sheer number of players and amounts involved.

Exchange rates change every 2-seconds with a daily average swing of 1%. On average, a currency pair will move by 3% during an overseas property buyers window.

On £200,000 to €, this is a potential profit or loss situation of £6,000. Money (I’m sure you would agree) you could very much use by upgrading your bathroom or kitchen, paying for removal and solicitor fees, installing a swimming pool or even paying for a family holiday.

Choosing to work with Wise on large exchanges instead of Excel Currencies, means you are navigating this market alone and this is a market that sees 81% of professional FX traders lose money on.

Many of these traders work for hedge funds and investment banks which use state-of-the-art algorithmic technology and still they get it wrong. So, what chance do you have really of timing your exchange right?

Minimising Your Risk.

Without a dedicated account manager at Wise, how do you know when is best to exchange your funds or do you just exchange when you are ready or when the money is needed to be sent? This is risky business..

Also, how much time will you potentially waste in getting to grips with the FX market, looking for trends, rate watching, searching for reliable forecasts, hatching a plan etc?

At Excel Currencies, we take all of this away. Your dedicated account manager will work with you to understand your risk appetite and help create a plan on what to do within your timeframe based on market trends, economist forecasts and what others in the industry are doing.

The trader working with you will have at least 15-years’ experience in the FX industry and they will explain the tools and products available to help minimise your risk on the market. This could add up to be a significant saving to your pocket.

Remember, exchange rates will likely move around 3% during the time window of purchasing a property abroad, so risk management should be the name of the game, and this is something that Wise does not offer.

To summarise, Wise will offer a better exchange rate on the day (price), but buying SPOT and flying solo is just like rolling the dice on a large transfer (risky) and if something goes wrong, then that’s unfortunately on you (transactional relationship).

Excel Currencies offers a hands-on, proactive approach (human) and consultative service (cost). We specialise in large exchanges and overseas property sales for UK customers (experience).

Find out how we can help you by calling us on 01322 221 121 or email us at info@excelcurrencies.com.