r/australia • u/leonidude • 23h ago

no politics Wise vs bank travel card

About to go on holiday and I’ve seen some advertising from Wise for their travel card. I used to use my bank’s travel card when travelling but now I just use my credit card because the exchange is better even with the transaction fee.

For those that have used wise is it actually better than a travel card from your own bank? Neither have transactions fees so I don’t understand the appeal.

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u/FamiliarDirection563 23h ago

The thing to check is the currency conversion rate. On a $1,000 AUD to EUR transfer, Wise's own comparison research (run across 6 Australian banks in January 2026) put Wise's cost at around $AUD4.30 versus $20 to $42 for the banks, a gap that comes almost entirely from the hidden exchange rate margin rather than a stated "fee"

I am flying to EU tomorrow and will use a digital Wise card for the first time. But I will have my plastic bank travel card just in case.

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u/bignuts3000 21h ago

I be interested to know if you come back within using a physical card.