TBH don't know for sure but I strongly suspect that if the card is classed as a foreign card and fees incurred in an ATM then similar would apply if used as debit given that it uses the same banking system.Guest wrote: ↑Sun Jan 30, 2022 3:57 pmផោមក្លិនស្អុយ wrote: ↑Sun Jan 30, 2022 2:34 pmCambodia is not Turkey. Fees will be incurred.Guest wrote: ↑Sun Jan 30, 2022 1:48 pmផោមក្លិនស្អុយ wrote: ↑Sat Jan 29, 2022 7:13 pmYou aren't wrong.Ian wrote: ↑Sat Jan 29, 2022 5:14 pmHi guys, been reading and enjoying the forum for a while and came across this discussion on Wise who I've been using for a few years to transfer currency.
I have a question on their Debit Card, which might sound like stating the bleeding obvious but worth checking...
Is this correct...? I UK£ from my UK account onto the card in US$, then simply use the card to make purchases or withdrawals abroad where the currency is $, e.g. Cambodia. It seems the benefits of this are better exchange rates, lower fees and the reduction of the need to carry large bundles of cash.
Please let me know if I'm wrong there, seems straightforward but if I've missed something I'll be grateful to be corrected.
Many thanks
The only consideration is that your TransferWise card will be treated as a foreign card and there will be extra ATM charges and limits on what you can lift each day. Also doing this you will have to operate solely on cash.
Most long term expats who bring money from abroad will operate a local account and make less-frequent, larger transfers to their account and are increasingly having the convenience of going cashless thru widespread use of mobile banking. I rarely have more than 10-15 dollars cash on me nowadays.
The best way to use Wise is to load with your home currency, then convert it to the currency of the country you’re in and this create a new virtual account. Then in the country you’re visiting simply use it as a debit card.
I did this a while ago in Turkey. I converted my £ balance to lira and just used the card as a contactless debit card wherever I went. No fees involved at all.
How do you know that? If you have the funds stored in a virtual dollar account it seems likely you will be able to pay in US dollars in supermarkets, restaurants etc just as you do with any card.
If you read my post properly you will see that I was referring to using it as a debit card, not as a card to withdraw funds from atm machines.
But I've never used TransferWise as a debit card in Cambodia so I can't say for sure.