I currently use Revolut, but it makes me a bit nervous. I hear stories of people having problems and not being able to speak to anyone and sort it out.
The one thing I like about Revolut is that it gives me a UK account number and that they also have a Swiss IBAN for sending money from my Swiss account.
How does Wise compare? I've looked at the website, but can't tell how it works with Swiss accounts.
Cheers
Wise also provides an IBAN (Belgian). You can store and pay CHF. Funding and withdrawal of CHF is handled by JP Morgan Swiss (maybe some other bank as well, but JPM IBAN is used for account funding by Wise for certain, used it yesterday).
P.S. if you need a referral link to Wise, then do not hesitate to use mine (it gives some transaction fee credit for you and some sweet cash for me, which is used for good causes, so a win-win).
Revolut works pretty well for small amounts but not worth it over the free limit IMO (I find transferwise + neon + bitwala to be a more effective combination).
If your goal is to exchange CHF <-> GBP you can try kraken.com (with limit orders) the market is often illiquid for CHF and can sometimes get 1-2% better than interbank rate (at other times can be 1-2% worse)
Kraken is great as an FX pool of liquidity, but do not tell anyone, please.
With Wise you can add money from Switzerland, you will use an IBAN of their banking partner (e.g. JPM CH) for CHF transactions.
For GBP you will make a transfer directly to the TransferWise UK bank with your account number as a reference.
Euro can be deposited directly at your Wise IBAN account.
I also use the Wise card to top up my Revolut chf account and I use it for online shopping as they provide Virtual 1 time payment card which I found safer.
I also withdraw 200chf cash payment and convert wire 1000 euros for my European shopping.
For bigger Forex exchange, I am now using Interactive Broker with less than 2 usd fees for 10-25k chf exchange and unbeatable forex rates. When I compare Revolut and IB and you save about 200 chf for 25kchf converted only on the exchange rate (assuming you have no fee with Revolut premium).
What about gbp to chf for the same amount. I’m trying to understand the bid offer spread to be more precise
From what I've seen, transferwise always charges 1% loading on the exchange rate. Revolut doesn't. I pay for premium as I move CHF or GBP depending on the rate. You can set alerts for exchange-rates or even auto-exchanges. I made a few CHF during Brexit which more than covered the annual fee, more than exceeded any interest from a bank account, but of course all my CHF is worth less than before.
I also looked into Revolut earlier but I did not see it serving well for my use case of remittance to my part of the world. Aside from the better FX rate, I dont get charged for CHF transfers to the Wise bank in CH - a feature lacking with Revolut at the time I signed up for Wise. On weekends and Holidays the local banks are closed but I could use a credit card without 'cash withdrawal' fees.
Oh BTW, I got rewarded GBP50 for inviting 3 friends who actually used Wise and I have 1 short of my 2nd GBP50 So here .. my 6th friend
Generally, Revolut is better in the week and Transferwise in the weekend, at least for CHF / EUR / USD / GBP, not sure about more exotic currencies.
I use Wise for my primary non-Swiss provider because they were the first to offer "proper" UK and Swiss accounts to meet my needs. I already had Revolut but their proper UK account came a few months later, but I've kept that because they're a little cheaper on foreign cash withdrawals and payments (or they were, last time I bothered to check).
As my account was set up when I was in Germany, they now charge me for any payment outside SEPA area.....
Still cheaper than a transfer but still, this is annoying.