Ultimate Guide To Wise Multi-Currency Debit Card

Every few months, I receive USD from book royalties, affiliate earnings and AdSense. I always converted this USD to my local currency. But I also make purchases in USD like website hosting, domain name and book promotion sites. Rather than frequently converting USD to my local currency and vice versa, I decided to just get a USD card.

Wise, which is where I receive my earnings, provides multi-currency debit cards. I thought this was awesome. I can convert to other currencies besides USD and use it when I travel abroad. Plus, I get to save money on currency conversion fees since I won’t convert currencies as often.

Discover the costs and benefits of Wise multi-currency debit cards and how you can order one now.

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Table Of Contents

Wise Multi-Currency Debit Card

Wise offers an international debit card where you simply use one card for all your travels. You can use it instantly as a digital card, top up and convert 40+ currencies in real time with mid-market rate. With the app, you’re notified for every transaction and you’re able to check your balance. You can also use it with Google Pay and Apple Pay. It also allows ATM withdrawals so you can get cash from ATMs worldwide.

Benefits

Let’s talk about the benefits of Wise card:

Spend abroad with real exchange rate
Spend anywhere with low conversion fees
Buy things in any currency

Let’s say you’re traveling abroad for vacation. If you have the local currency in your Wise account, the card will use this. But if you don’t have the local currency, Wise will auto-convert your money at the current rate, for a tiny fee. This way, you don’t have to worry about converting your money beforehand or bringing cash overseas.

Honestly, I think Wise card is great due to its numerous currencies. The cards offered by banks in my country only hold a handful of currencies. But they’re credit cards which I feel are much safer than Wise debit card (how I wish they offer credit cards too). However, Wise took steps to make this debit card secure so I feel assured using it too.

Digital Card & Security

I really love Wise digital card and its security, so much so that I created a separate section to elaborate this~

With the digital card, there’s no need to carry your wallet. When you’re applying for the card, you can choose between physical or digital card. Digital card allows you to use Google Pay or Apple Pay straight away. You can also start shopping immediately. The digital card works just like the physical card with details like card number, expiry date and CVV. But it exists only on your phone or computer.

Also, your virtual card has different details from your physical card and can be frozen after each purchase, adding an extra layer of security for your purchases. You can freeze and unfreeze your virtual card easily within the app.

Similar to the physical card, your virtual card allows you to hold 40+ currencies. You can convert your money in real time using the Wise app and spend online, in-store and abroad at the real exchange rate with your virtual card. Precisely because the virtual card isn’t physical, it will never be stolen.

Note that you can have up to 3 digital cards at one time. Also, you can instantly replace your digital card if you think your account has been compromised. Meaning that you’ll generate a new set of card details and your old ones will stop working.

Wise digital card is thus safe and secure. You can choose to use your digital card details, rather than your physical card details, when making purchases.

Card Fees

So the pricing for Wise card varies across countries. Here’s the breakdown for my country (but please check Wise for the card fees for your country):

Ordering the Physical Card: $8.50
(optional) Express Delivery: from $16
Digital Card: Free
Replacing Your Card: $4
Replacing Expired Card: Free
Account Funding Transactions: 2%

If you’re in a hurry, you can choose express delivery so you’ll get the physical card in a few days. However, I would advise against this. It’s better if you order early before your trip or before you need it. I don’t think it’s really worth it to pay these additional fees but it’s just my opinion…

Account funding transactions apply to transactions that include topping up e-wallets and other accounts in certain currencies.

There are also fees for withdrawing money from ATMs. For example, withdrawing up to $350 per month for 2 or less withdrawals is free in my country. Withdrawals after this, however, has additional charges. But it’s a super-low fee so I think it’s still worth it.

Photo by Breakingpic on Pexels

How To Order Your Wise Card

After opening your free Wise account, you simply have to order the card. There’s a one-time fee for physical card while the digital card is free.

While waiting for Wise to deliver your physical card, I strongly recommend that you get your digital card. You can start shopping immediately and leverage Wise’s benefits: low currency conversion fees and currency exchange at the mid-market rate.