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Tell HN: Don't use Wise Business (TransferWise) to receive business payments

by dgudkov on 10/18/23, 11:15 PM with 7 comments

Wise Business has changed the number of our USD account on a very short notice - just two weeks. The message was "Your old account details will continue to work until October 31, 2023. After that, any payments sent to these details will automatically be refunded to the sender. And any direct debits using these details will fail."

I can't believe how irresponsible and unwise (pun intended) this is.

We use(d) Wise to receive payments from enterprise customers. These payments are frequently made on a NET 30 or NET 60 term. The account number is registered in many procurement systems of our customers. Changing it is a huge hassle, and what's worse - there is absolutely no guarantee that it won't happen again.

Don't use Wise Business for receiving payments. Always assume that your account numbers can change at any moment on a short notice.

  • by elboulangero on 10/19/23, 1:45 AM

    > on a very short notice - just two weeks

    You're lucky, for me it was a zero-day notice. Here are bits of the email I got:

    > Due to an operational change, your USD account details for your Wise Business and Personal accounts are changing. [...] From today, October 17, 2023, your old USD account details will no longer work.

  • by SvenAl on 10/20/23, 12:03 PM

    I had the same thing, they told me my account details changed on the day they changed. My business works with enterprises and yeah NET 30 to NET 90 days for payment terms, so this is a painful one to correct.

    I actually reached out to Wise support and complained about this practice, as this is borderline illegal, a bank is not allowed to behave like this. They said they are doing an internal investigation on what happened and will get back to me within 30 days.

    I'm also looking at filing a complaint to Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) or similar.

  • by qlkjwenf on 10/18/23, 11:58 PM

    I also have WISE account and may be a week ago I received notification that my US bank account number will stop working immediately and I should not used anywhere and remove it from anywhere. Thanks god this is a private account.

  • by stevage on 10/18/23, 11:34 PM

    Wow, that is super short notice. Notifying my clients of new bank details sometimes takes ages when they are government, universities etc.

  • by laurent123456 on 10/18/23, 11:50 PM

    Did they give any explanation for this? That seems incredibly irresponsible especially for a so called "business" plan.

  • by daft_pink on 10/19/23, 2:32 AM

    I feel they are more reliable than PayPal