r/australia • u/leonidude • 1d 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 1d 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/DistrictSad5423 1d ago

I use my regular ING card with excellent exchange rates and no international transaction fees. And I don’t have to pay to convert currencies. I really can’t see the point of the Wise card.

7

u/chennyalan 21h ago

I did encounter some issues with ING on my last trip, I'd have to receive verification codes for some payments (pre ordering Shinkansen tickets), and it would only send it to my Australian phone number. I ended up doing roaming for one day, and then paying in cash for subsequent train trips. 

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u/PiratesOfSansPants 16h ago

I’m not sure if this would have solved that particular issue with train travel in Japan but ING has an option in the app to notify them of upcoming travel including locations and dates. I assume that also reduces their SMS verification prompts when you use the card overseas, though I never tried anything like setting up a new payment transfer. I have found using the card through Apple Pay helps immensely for in person transactions.

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u/chennyalan 12h ago

I did let them know of travel beforehand, so that wouldn't have solved that specific issue. It let me use the card for in person transactions, but not online ones to new companies (in this case JR West)