Paphos Life

There appears to be a problem with Wise transferring funds to BOC customers. I had my transfer blocked when I tried to send funds yesterday, getting the message ‘we are unable to transfer funds to this recipient' (namely me). I also tried to transfer funds to a different recipient who also has a BOC account and got the same message. After a lot of emails and investigation it transpires that BOC has been blacklisted by Wise but I wasn’t given a reason as to why. However, Wise suggested opening an account with another bank may resolve my problem. Wise were very guarded with their email replies.

Has anyone else tried to transfer funds from Wise to a BOC account yesterday/today?

It is easy for WISE to say open an account with another bank.. But it is not a simple thing to do here. There is a LOT of paperwork involved, and proof of this and that.

Wise are having issues at the moment. Use CurrencyFair instead.

I too was unable to transfer money from Wise to a Bank of Cyprus account. But a transfer from Wise to Hellenic went through fine. I have written to Wise to try to get to the bottom of it, and will also call them. My impressions of all these banks are the same as HIC’s.

This is the reason according to the reply to this Cyprus customer posted on FB:

Just got this from TransferWise!

Hello Christopher,

I've just received the update from our relevant team.

We do not allow transfers to Bank of Cyprus Public Company Limited due to Wise internal policy.

We can restrict accounts if they go against our internal policies. Such transfers aren't allowed under 1.2.3 (b) of our Acceptable Use Policy.

As per our Acceptable Use Policy 1.2 .3 (b)*
1.2.3 We do not provide our Services to businesses or support transactions which involve:
b. individuals, entities or countries which are subject to international sanctions;

Sanctions laws and regulation are legal restrictions imposed by different governments and organizations, you may find more information in an open source.

I hope this clarifies the situation. Let me know if you have any further questions.

Alot of talk yesterday on Facebook and what to do about transfers. There is no problem using Revolut card so maybe that's the answer.
Easy and quick to open online, afew different accounts to choose from, we opted for the basic so had to pay £6.99 for the card and received that within 2 weeks. We've not had it that long so undecided wether I prefer it to Wise.

I'm guessing its to do with money laundering etc, Im sure the other Banks will follow suit, when the Government gets to them.

I use Wise transfers to Hellenic, and have had no problems whatsoever. Clearly the problem isn't Wise, it is BOC.
I think we can assume that Revolut will take the same stand as Wise in the next few weeks, as they both use the same business model.

I have transferred money from the UK to CurrencyFair and onto my BOC account on monthly basis for at least the last 12 years. Never a problem and no fees from BOC ever - just the 3 euro fee from CurrencyFair. A tip - if you transfer to CurrencyFair on a Sunday night or Monday morning the funds usually arrive that afternoon so no need to pay the same day transfer fee.

Just a shame I have to pay a fee if I use anything other than a BOC cashpoint... or indeed the fee to take out cash from the counter!

This is in Cyprus Mail now. I saw an interesting comment that had a possible reason:

"It is because Wise use a third party intermediary called ‘Trustly’ and there is no apparent relationship between the two. Therefore BoC cannot prove where the money has originated. Wise have to fix this."

This was a comment left by a reader on Cyprus Mail website, so I have no idea of its accuracy, but if it is true it would make sense.

https://cyprus-mail.com/2021/11/26/paym ... pany-wise/

I’ve been using Wise for a while with no issues, saw this post and tried to make a transfer to my BoC account and to Blue Orange (also BoC) - nope, neither would go through.

I set up a Currency Fair account in a few minutes, account was quickly verified and activated and payment to my BoC account went through without a hitch.

Started to use my Revolut euro account for transfers into my BOC euro account now my Wise one no longer accepted.

BOC are closing the Polis road branch so we decided to open a new account at an Hellenic branch, yes paper work but not that difficult really, sent via Wise a few hours later an an mount of money that duly arrived five hours later, so yes it is a BOC problem.

I wonder why the BOC seem to be regularly closing branches.. Maybe because of Covid Regulations but many times there are queues outside them.

trevnhil wrote: ↑Tue Nov 30, 2021 7:33 am I wonder why the BOC seem to be regularly closing branches.. Maybe because of Covid Regulations but many times there are queues outside them.

The way of the World now, people using on line Banking more and more etc, I was in the UK last week and went into two different Lloyds banks, no staff in there only a bank of ATMs.

Hi

Thank you to everyone who has responded to my original post. I’ve had a bit of a time of it trying to find out what the problem is as to why WISE are not posting funds to BOC accounts. I’m still none the wiser what the problem is only that they are at loggerheads with each other to our detriment as their customers.

I’ve now signed up with another company called Currency UK based in London. They appear to be a very good solid organisation and financial business. I did quite a bit of research on various currency exchange institutions and Currency UK came out on top for what I was looking for. I received great support during the sign up procedure and they called me at each point during the transfer process as I was a little nervous using their services for the first time for quite a large amount. I started the transfer yesterday and the funds landed in my BOC account this morning. On this occasion I used an agent who locked in a really good exchange rate and, this was the best bit, there is no transfer fee. However there is the option of doing it yourself electronically should you prefer this, I actually quite enjoyed being given the personal touch. I also felt a lot safer knowing that Barclays is Currency UK's bank.

You can check them out on this link, I think you may find it worth giving them a look and to see if their terms and conditions would suit you

https://bit.ly/3I4qbQk

I should mention that this is just a personal recommendation from my own personal experience and I have no other connection to the company.

trevnhil wrote: ↑Tue Nov 30, 2021 7:33 am I wonder why the BOC seem to be regularly closing branches.. Maybe because of Covid Regulations but many times there are queues outside them.

Just seen this, Banks as we knew them will disappear in the future

https://www.thesun.co.uk/money/16893520 ... full-list/

Apparently you can now use Wise with BOC again.

Wise informed me that the problem with the Bank of Cyprus had been resolved. Not sure I will be using them again as Currency UK offer a no fee transfer at a good exchange rate.

Used Wise last night and money in my BOC account this morning.