Sending money with Wise takes just a few minutes once your account is set up. You create a transfer by entering the amount and recipient, choosing how you want to pay, and confirming. Wise applies the mid-market exchange rate (the real rate banks use to trade with each other) and charges a transparent percentage-based fee, which typically makes it cheaper than a traditional bank wire.
Set Up Your Account First
Before you can send anything, you need to sign up at wise.com or through the Wise app and complete identity verification. This means uploading a government-issued ID and, in some cases, a selfie or proof of address. Verification can take anywhere from a few minutes to a couple of business days depending on the documents and your region. You only need to do this once.
Step-by-Step: Creating a Transfer
Once your account is verified, here’s the process:
- Tap “Send” from the home screen. This opens the transfer flow on both the app and website.
- Enter the amount. You can type in either the amount you want to send or the exact amount you want your recipient to receive. Wise calculates the other side automatically using the live mid-market rate.
- Choose your recipient. Search for an existing contact or add a new one. You can look someone up by their @Wisetag, email address, or phone number. If you have their bank details, enter those manually. Wise also lets you upload an invoice or screenshot (PDF, PNG, or JPEG up to 5 MB), and its AI will pull the recipient’s details and pre-fill the form.
- Pick a payment method. Wise shows you the fee and estimated delivery time for each option, so you can compare before committing.
- Review and confirm. A confirmation screen displays the exchange rate, fees, recipient details, and expected arrival date. Hit “Continue and Send” to finalize.
If you want to schedule a transfer for a future date, tap the calendar icon next to the “Continue” button before confirming.
What Your Recipient Needs to Provide
The details you need depend on where your recipient’s bank account is located. For a domestic transfer within the same country, you generally need their account number and the bank’s routing code. In the U.S., that means a 9-digit routing number. In the UK, it’s a 6-digit sort code. In Australia, a BSB code.
For international transfers, you’ll need your recipient’s SWIFT/BIC code (a global bank identifier), their IBAN or local account number, and their name exactly as it appears on the account. If your recipient also has a Wise account, you can skip all of that and send directly to their email, phone number, or @Wisetag.
Payment Methods and Speed
How you fund the transfer affects both the cost and delivery time. In the U.S., your options include:
- Bank transfer (ACH): Usually the cheapest option. You initiate a payment from your bank to Wise, which can take one to two business days to arrive before Wise processes the transfer.
- Wire transfer: Faster than ACH but comes with a higher fee from your bank.
- Debit or credit card: The quickest way to fund a transfer since the money reaches Wise almost instantly. Card payments carry a slightly higher Wise fee than bank transfers.
- Apple Pay, Google Pay, or Samsung Pay: Available as alternatives to entering card details manually, with similar speed and fees.
Sending the same currency between two Wise accounts is free. For cross-currency transfers, the total delivery time depends on both how fast your payment reaches Wise and how long the payout takes in the destination country. Many transfers arrive within one business day once Wise has your funds, and some currency routes deliver in seconds.
Fees and the Exchange Rate
Wise charges a percentage of the amount you’re sending, and that percentage varies by currency pair. For very small transfers, a flat minimum fee applies instead. You see the exact cost on screen before you confirm anything.
The exchange rate you get is always the mid-market rate, which is the midpoint between buy and sell prices on global currency markets. Traditional banks and many competitors mark up this rate by 1% to 3%, pocketing the difference. Wise doesn’t add any markup, so the fee you see is the full cost of the transfer.
For some currency routes, Wise lets you lock in the rate you see when you set up the transfer. You’re guaranteed that rate as long as Wise receives your payment within the stated timeframe, protecting you from rate movement while your bank processes the funding.
Transfer Limits
How much you can send per transfer depends on how you pay. As of early 2025, personal account limits for U.S. senders are:
- Wire transfer: Up to $1,000,000 per transfer
- ACH: Up to $50,000 per transfer, $50,000 per day
- Debit or credit card: Up to $2,000 per transfer, $2,000 per day, and $8,000 over any 60-day period
These limits apply to most U.S. states. A few jurisdictions have lower caps, such as $50,000 per transfer and $250,000 per year. If you need to send more than your current limit allows, funding by wire transfer gives you the highest ceiling. Wise may also ask for additional documentation for very large transfers as part of standard compliance checks.
Tracking Your Transfer
After you confirm, Wise breaks the transfer into visible stages on your home screen: money received, money being converted, and money sent to your recipient. You get push notifications or emails at each step, and your recipient can track it too if you share the tracking link. If anything needs your attention, like a missing reference number on your bank payment, Wise flags it in the app so you can fix it quickly.