Wise personal bank account

We have our state pensions paid into a Barclays Bank account in the U.K. and then transfer to Spain with transferwise. My U.K. Barclays branch is closing soon so I am considering opening a wise personal account. Has anyone any experience of wise personal accounts? For example, can I have my state pension paid directly to a wise account? I have used transfer wise regularly for years and never had a problem, just wondering if the wise personal account is as dependable. Any advice would be gratefully received. Thank you.

I would also like to know about this too B, if anyone has done it , thanks

Loads of us use their accounts. There is no problem having a pension paid there if you so choose. I have them denominated in sterling, euros and US dollars. All my bills in Spain are on direct debit from the euro account (which can also pay interest now). We use the debit card for virtually all our payments in shops and restaurants etc. We also withdraw cash every month up to our fee-free limit of £200 or equivalent. The only 'problem' is they don't do joint accounts so it has to be in one name or you have one each. Also to be precise about this, Wise is not actually a bank, but is regulated in other ways. Obviously there are no branches either, it's all done online, but they are very good at responding to queries etc if you ever need them.

Paul Uden wrote:Loads of us use their accounts. There is no problem having a pension paid there if you so choose. I have them denominated in sterling, euros and US dollars. All my bills in Spain are on direct debit from the euro account (which can also pay interest now). We use the debit card for virtually all our payments in shops and restaurants etc. We also withdraw cash every month up to our fee-free limit of £200 or equivalent. The only 'problem' is they don't do joint accounts so it has to be in one name or you have one each. Also to be precise about this, Wise is not actually a bank, but is regulated in other ways. Obviously there are no branches either, it's all done online, but they are very good at responding to queries etc if you ever need them.

. Thanks Paul, that’s how I understood it but couldn’t find any info on state pension. Thanks again. Ben.

Benjy wrote:

Paul Uden wrote:Loads of us use their accounts. There is no problem having a pension paid there if you so choose. I have them denominated in sterling, euros and US dollars. All my bills in Spain are on direct debit from the euro account (which can also pay interest now). We use the debit card for virtually all our payments in shops and restaurants etc. We also withdraw cash every month up to our fee-free limit of £200 or equivalent. The only 'problem' is they don't do joint accounts so it has to be in one name or you have one each. Also to be precise about this, Wise is not actually a bank, but is regulated in other ways. Obviously there are no branches either, it's all done online, but they are very good at responding to queries etc if you ever need them.

. Thanks Paul, that’s how I understood it but couldn’t find any info on state pension. Thanks again. Ben.

You can ask for the state pension to be paid into a Wise sterling account or, if you are resident, direct to a euro account. I assume you just need to advise the pension people of a change of account. It must happen quite a lot.

I have had my state pensiion paid straight into my sabadell account for many years. No charges & always a good rate.

The only problem i think there is with having your UK pension paid into a bank account in spain is if you have to have it set up and transferred on a set date
I always wait until the exchange rate is at its best , or as close as i can guess before transferring via wise from my uk account to my spanish account
I have saved a lot of money over time being able to do this and with the exchange rate being so poor compared to previous years i really need this option
I have considerd closing my spanish account and just having a wise , but still feel more secure with the spanish one despite paying charges
If my branch in spain ever closed ,or moved too far away to visit, as certain ones in the UK have, i would definitely consider wise as my main virtual bank in spain

Paul you mention withdrawing cash when needed, where have you found is the cheapest for fees, when withdrawing cash. thanks

Chris21 wrote:Paul you mention withdrawing cash when needed, where have you found is the cheapest for fees, when withdrawing cash. thanks

I am resident in Spain and my card is registered to my Spanish address. This makes a difference as the first six digits on your card number indicate its country of issue. I get fee-free withdrawals at the BBVA ATM in Rojales even though the screen message indicates otherwise. For UK cards there was always a small charge there, but this increased to about €6 after Brexit. If you are UK-based I have seen other people mention they get free withdrawals at Deutsche Bank. Others suggest using a UK Santander account and then they get free withdrawals at Santander here.

Sabadel charge €1.80 per withdrawal