The Wise card is a multi-currency debit card tied to a Wise account that lets you hold, spend, and convert more than 40 currencies from a single card. It costs $9 to order in the US, carries no monthly subscription fees, and works anywhere Visa or Mastercard is accepted (depending on your region). If you travel internationally, shop on foreign websites, or receive income in different currencies, the card is designed to cut the conversion markups that traditional banks typically charge.
How Multi-Currency Spending Works
The core idea behind the Wise card is simple: you load money into your Wise account, hold it in whatever currencies you choose, and spend directly from those balances. When you pay in a currency you already hold, there’s no fee at all. If you swipe the card in a currency you don’t have on hand, the card automatically converts from your cheapest available balance at the time of the transaction, charging a conversion fee starting at 0.41%.
That conversion happens at the mid-market exchange rate, which is the real rate you’d see on Google or Reuters before any bank adds its own markup. Traditional debit and credit cards often layer a 1% to 3% foreign transaction fee on top of a less favorable exchange rate. The Wise card eliminates the foreign transaction fee entirely and only charges the small conversion spread.
You can also convert currencies manually inside the Wise app before you travel. If you know you’ll be spending euros next week, you can convert dollars to euros ahead of time and spend from that euro balance with zero additional cost. This gives you control over the exact rate you lock in.
Physical and Virtual Cards
Wise offers both a physical debit card and virtual cards. The physical card costs $9 and arrives by mail. Virtual cards are free for personal account holders in the US, and you can hold up to three at a time.
Virtual cards are useful for online shopping and subscription management. Each virtual card has its own card number, separate from your physical card, which adds a layer of security. You can freeze a virtual card instantly in the app after making a purchase, preventing any surprise charges. If you suspect a card number has been compromised, you can replace the virtual card details immediately without affecting your physical card or your other virtual cards.
Both physical and virtual cards work with Apple Pay, Google Pay, and other digital wallets, so you can make contactless payments in stores without carrying the physical card.
ATM Withdrawal Fees and Limits
You get two free ATM withdrawals per month, as long as the combined total stays at or below $100. Once you cross that $100 threshold, Wise charges 2% on the amount over $100. After your two free withdrawals in a given month, each additional withdrawal costs $1.50, plus the 2% overage fee if applicable.
Here’s how that plays out in practice. If you withdraw $80 once in a month, it’s free. If you withdraw $200 in a single transaction, you pay 2% on the $100 over the free limit, which comes to $2. If you make three withdrawals of $30 each, the first two are free and the third costs $1.50. The ATM operator may also charge its own fee on top of what Wise charges, so withdrawing cash is best reserved for situations where card payments aren’t an option.
Where the Wise Card Is Available
The Wise card is available to personal customers in the US (except residents of Nevada), the UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, Brazil, the Philippines, and countries across the European Economic Area including Switzerland. Business customers in most of these regions can also get the card, though business customers in Malaysia are currently excluded.
Both the physical and virtual cards are available in all supported countries. You need to have a verified Wise personal or business account and a residential address in an eligible country to order one.
How Wise Protects Your Money
Wise is not a bank, and your funds are not covered by traditional deposit insurance programs. Instead, Wise uses a system called safeguarding: your money is kept completely separate from the company’s own funds and held in cash, secure liquid assets, or covered by a comparable guarantee. The key distinction is that Wise doesn’t lend out your money the way a bank does. Banks take deposits and lend them to borrowers, which is why governments require them to carry deposit insurance. Because Wise doesn’t engage in lending, it handles protection through segregation rather than insurance.
This means your balance should be available to you at any time, and it wouldn’t be mixed in with Wise’s business assets if the company ran into financial trouble. It’s a different model from a bank account, but it’s a regulated obligation that Wise is required to maintain in every market where it operates.
What It Costs Overall
The Wise card has no monthly fees, no annual fees, and no inactivity charges. Your main costs are the $9 card order fee (one time), conversion fees starting at 0.41% when you spend in a currency you don’t hold, and ATM fees once you exceed the free allowance. For someone who primarily uses the card for purchases rather than cash withdrawals, the ongoing cost is remarkably low compared to most international debit or credit cards.
Loading money into your Wise account is free if you use a bank transfer. Topping up with a debit or credit card may carry a small fee depending on your funding method and country. Once the money is in your account, holding it in any of the 40-plus supported currencies costs nothing.