Major problem with Wise (previously named Transferwise)

[josef k]

Having previously used Wise as my bank account, I now have severe doubts regarding this company.

I have my monthly pension paid into my account, and have done for a couple of years or so. I have now been asked for proof of the origin of these funds with my latest payment "paused". I sent my last pension statement as requested and received an email stating the statement was too old. As my pension is the same each month, the pension company only issue a statement once a year unless there is a change of over one pound. I have explained this to them in an email and have as yet received no reply. I now find that all activity on my account has been "paused" and I can't access the money currently in it.
A further complication is that they don't publish a phone number for customers to contact them, only giving an email option.
So I am left hanging with no access to the money in my account, no way to meet their requirements regarding documentation, no effective way to contact them, and am just sitting waiting for an email reply.
I have searched the internet for a phone number. The one I found is in the UK and gives a pre-recorded announcement saying I am in a queue and the estimated time for answer is one hour, but the feeling I have is that it won't be answered.

Is anyone else in a similar situation?

[Dominic]

Well an hour has gone. Did you get a reply?

[glang3000]

I have just transferred a few grand, no problem and a good rate with Wise, from my experience, I have been transferring money for 30 years to Cyprus, they all have a point where they have to do a check for money laundering and have to prove the money is clean but they never give you any warning.

G

[PhotoLady]

Josef is the whole of your monthly pension payment sent to your Wise account or only a portion of it?

If it's the latter do you have monthly bank statements which you can provide or download that will prove the point of origin of the funds?

The only other option would be to contact the pension payments people to see if they can provide you with a letter of confirmation or a statement for the last 3 months.

I'm assuming you cannot simply open a Revolut account or similar and transfer your existing funds in your Wise account if they've locked it down.

They must be aware of the way banking systems work and that not everyone is provided with regular statements in this day and age. So frustrating!

Meanwhile, whilst you're working on the problem it makes sense to find a viable alternative to get hold of your future funding and stop any further payments going into your Wise account, if you haven't already managed to do so.

[josef k]

Thanks.
Still no unblocking of my money as yet, and have not been able to speak to anyone. I have managed to get something from my pension provider and have sent it to them but they happily state that it takes 3 days for them to act on it. You assume right in that all my pension goes into Wise. As a result I am currently engaged in sorting out an alternative.

[Dominic]

I've got fed up with people having problems with Wise, so have moved our affiliate banner to Revolut now.

https://revolut.ngih.net/LNovo

[J B]

Just did £GBP2k today with Currency Fair this morning - simples

[Lincoln]

We always use Currency Fair, never a problem and so quick.

[PhotoLady]

Hope you can get a resolution soon, Josef

[josef k]

Thanks Photolady.

You may all be interested that my account has been unblocked today. Only 15 days of me not being able to access my money. I did manage to speak to someone in the end (the system happily informed me the current wait was 80 minutes so I gritted my teeth). She was a sweet young woman who read me some scripts she had in front of her, and then told me to submit my documents again. Grrr.

Must go, Revolut is beckoning.

[JimX]

We have only recently done a perfectly normal money transfer in less than 5 hours with ''Wise'', maybe the problems are accruing due to suspected money laundering, I have no evidence of this but it maybe the reasons some are having problems with this company, only to say we have never in many years of transfers with this company with no real problem's.

[Mirek]

I had the same problem when I had POA for my late mother ( but not with Wise )

They accepted the tax certificate that is issued annualy as proof of where the money came from

[trevnhil]

It seems like there are still big problems with Wise transferring money to the B.O.C
A member from the Eastern Forum had a transfer refused. he contacted them by email and this was their reply...

Thanks for getting in touch!

We’ve looked into this and it seems we can’t process any payments to Bank of Cyprus as of now.

Unfortunately we can’t give any extra information about this — this is because of how we’re regulated and licensed in different regions.

Sometimes these decisions are out of our control.

I hope that helps. Let me know if you have any questions.
Regards,
Venkatesh
Wise

[dodo]

Exactly what the Chinese are doing