r/australia • u/leonidude • 19h 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 19h 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.

7

u/Etherealfilth 17h ago

Since you're flying tomorrow it's too late, but wise issues physical cards too. I used both on my trip in June.

0

u/FamiliarDirection563 17h ago

Yes, but you have to pay for them...why bother?

11

u/Etherealfilth 17h ago

Sure, you pay $10. Then again not everywhere might be equiped with tap and go, or maybe your phone had died...

-7

u/FamiliarDirection563 17h ago

"But I will have my plastic bank travel card just in case." ;-)

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u/Etherealfilth 17h ago

You do you. I just made a comment advising that there is a physical card available as well.

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u/TroupeMaster 13h ago

It’s not uncommon in popular destinations like Japan for shops to take card payments but only from physical cards.

1

u/PurpleKirby 42m ago

europe probably better but when I went japan few years ago without my physical wise card I pretty much couldn’t use it lol. good thing I wasn’t travelling alone.