https://wise.com, formerly Transferwise, is now cheaper than ever for sending money to Chile.
After some years of charging 2%-3% total fees it is currently around 0.7%-1.1% with some variation by currency and payment method. That is the total fees, there is no sneaky changing of the exchange rate or adding other fees.
The option for paying with bank transfer can nowadays connect through to your bank so it is a bit slicker and you don’t have to do a manual writing down of sort code etc to send transfers like you used to. Of course, you can also still pay via debit and credit card.
I have had good service now for many years and would recommend at this point using the service based on my experiences, of course your luck may be different.
I just checked the last thread I did on Wise in October 2022 and there were no replies, so if anyone finds this useful please reply and let me know so I know whether (or how often) to provide future updates on this company or similar issues.
Hey, @Mendoza. What about sending money OUT? I’ve done SWIFT payments through Banco Estado in the past where the transaction fee was like USD90 over and above forex rate. Does Wise supporting sending money out of Chile?
Sending money out should be fine I think, but I don’t think I’ve ever done it. I recommend you send some small amount like $10 or $20, obviously checking the details very carefully, and after it’s received you can then send a larger amount to the same saved account details.
Did my first transfer via Wise. My US bank account to someone else’s Chilean bank account. Worked well, am sold as it was a lot cheaper than doing it direct from the same US bank account with the much higher exchange fee and outgoing fee.
I have been using wise for the last few years. It works great in Chile. I just top it up from my UK bank account. The exchange rate is excellent with very low fees. Having it linked to my google pay is really useful and works in most stores.
For money transfers to a Chilean bank I find the delay to much so I use Remitly which is almost immediate.
I did a quick google and it looks like Wise you get slightly more money arriving than Remitly after factoring in exchange rate and fees. Is that fair in your experience?
It’s good to know that these alternatives exist incase I ever have an issue with Wise.
Yes thats true, with wise you do get a better exchange rate, but the bank transfer times are much slower. I can receive bank transfer with remitly as quick as 30 minutes, whereas with wise it can be one or two days. Fine if you are transferring larger amounts and don’t need the money quickly.