Dear Readers, 

Before diving into this post, I want to let you know that I will never advertise or recommend a product or service that I do not use first-hand or that I do not see personal value for myself or you. The goal of this community, and the main reason I started this blog, was to truthfully answer the questions and give travel insights that people have asked me. That is why I am honest about my personal experiences, whether good or bad. That is why I was sincere when I told you I traveled to China with only $500 on me or that I had a traumatic experience in Marseilles because those are realities of traveling. Most perfectly curated travel posts on Instagram will not show some of the realities people face when they travel. 

Therefore, I do not want you to feel or think that those perfectly curated pictures you may see on our Instagram page did not come without some trials and tribulations. You should look at our page and know that despite some of the tribulations, the benefits of traveling outweigh some of the hiccups. Hence, when I do reviews, I want to relate the products and services that have helped me overcome the challenges and hurdles I faced while living abroad. If you do not see an affiliate disclosure on top or inside the article, it is because I genuinely believe in the product and service I am relaying. I have used it, and its benefits are worth sharing without monetary incentives. Therefore, let me tell you about Tranferwise or Wise and how it can save you time abroad as it did for me. 

Contextual Background

I was recently doing a spring cleaning of my phone, updating my apps, and removing Apps I no longer use. I came upon the Transferwise app I downloaded about four years ago when I moved to Belgium for my master’s program. It reminded me of how I came across this service and how this service alleviated the weeks and months of stress I had when I moved to Belgium. Let me explain!

My trip to Belgium was one of the most challenging trips I experienced. The challenges started before going to Belgium. First, I was applying for a one-year master’s program in Conflict and Development Studies. The admission office at Ghent University admitted me to a two-year program, but my Fulbright scholarship was for one year. The admission office placed me in the two-year program because they deemed my diplomat insufficient to enter the master’s program. The first year would be a preparatory program for those who needed a background in international relations or political science, contrary to my situation. I graduated with a Bachelor’s in Political Science, specializing in International Relations. 

Therefore, before leaving the U.S., I had to resolve my admission issue. Because European cultures are strict about their vacation time, it took a lot of work to fix my admission problem. More than that, we were in the middle of the pandemic, so everything was in limbo. I wanted to know if the Fulbright program, which the Department of State funds, would allow us to travel to Belgium since the travel level was at 4 in the early days of the pandemic. So, the whole experience was draining. I received the news that I was admitted to the one-year program at the same time that the Department of State lowered the travel restriction, giving me two weeks to plan my trip to Belgium. I am grateful to have applied for my student visas during this uncertainty because I booked a flight to Brussels the day after receiving my visas. I went to Belgium without securing an apartment and needed more funds to stay at a hotel for over a month. When I arrived in Ghent, my biggest priority was to find an apartment and open a Belgian bank account to receive my Fulbright stipends. The problems began here. 

Problem #1: Finding an apartment.

When I moved to Belgium, I knew I needed to apply for a domicile. Domicile means registering my apartment to the local registry as my permanent residence. Sounds comprehensive, right? Well, the application is another story. My major problem was finding a landlord to allow me to register my apartment as my domicile. Most landlords would not rent to a foreigner who will be in the apartment for less than three years, especially in a small Belgian town. Most international students need help finding housing accommodation because of the short duration they need. Whenever I would contact a landlord and tell them I am looking to rent for a year, they would say, “No, sorry, we are looking for a long-term tenant.” By long-term tenant, they mean they want you to sign for at least three years. If I find a landlord who agrees to rent to an international student, there is another hurdle because of the domicile. 

Most landlords would refuse to let international students register their apartments for domicile because of taxes. When I asked a friend of my mother whether I could register her address as my domicile, she refused because that required the police to come and inspect her house and ensure there was a correct number of people that lived there. Finding a place that would allow me to register for domicile was extremely hard. I needed a place to stay for one month and a half. When my classes started, I traveled from Aaslt to Ghent to participate in courses at the University’s library. Although the classes moved online due to the pandemic, my mother’s friend’s house was too noisy. Therefore, I decided it was best to go to Ghent, utilize the University, and mingle with other international students since they understood what I was going through. It wasn’t until I spoke to a realtor who told me that when I answer ads for apartments, I do not need to ask landlords whether it is okay to register my place for domicile. As an international student, it is a given to register for domicile. Therefore, the next time I found an apartment, I did not ask whether they would allow me to have a domicile. However, when I got an apartment, I faced another problem: money!

Problem #2: Financial Dilemma

As a Fulbright grantee to Belgium, our stipend was €1,300 per month. To receive that money, we had to have Belgian bank accounts. Although many Belgian banks state that international students can open an account with them, you must provide a government ID and proof of residence in Belgium, aka DOMICILE. This dilemma meant that to get my stipend to pay for rent, I needed to prove I had already registered with the local authorities as a Belgian resident. I needed an apartment to get a domicile to open a bank account that would allow me to receive my stipend to pay for the apartment to get a domicile. 

Being without a place and commuting daily from Aaslt to Ghent using my savings depleted my finances and put me under much stress. Therefore, when I applied for an apartment, I needed more funding to prove I could afford to pay rent. When I showed my Fulbright letter stating I would be receiving a stipend every month, some landlords wanted to see that I was receiving the funds already and that without a Belgian bank account, I could not receive my stipends, adding another layer to why I was in a financial crisis. 

Problem #3: Mistrust of digital bankings

I would be the first to tell you I was born to the wrong generation. Growing up in a conservative African household makes me paranoid about things I cannot physically see or touch. Hence, I did not trust digital banks. When I was in France and first saw that people would tap their bank cards and not enter their passwords, my first reaction was what would happen if someone stole your card and all they needed was to tap it to make whatever purchase they required. I think I am the only person in my generation who lives in the West who doesn’t have Cash App, Venmo, or other digital banks. I only use Zelle because it is integrated with Bank of America, and I trust it because I can access a Bank of America center. When an old acquaintance told me he had an idea to start a digital bank in West Africa and wanted to know how he would gain a market, I internally said to myself, “It would be hard to convince Africans of digital banks when they already have a mistrust of the banks they have because of its incompetence and lack of development.” 

However, I am not the only dinosaur. The recent trends in the U.S. in 2022 show that Americans have started to trust digital banks more than they did in previous years and more than their primary financial institution. This shift is due to increased cyberattacks, political uncertainty, and the economy. When you calculate the late fees and withdrawal fees that banks have and listen to stories of banks losing money because they were scammed or attacked, you can see why people have built mistrust in banks. However, with an increased trust in digital banks, the probability of scammers abusing people’s faith is high. That was my logic as to why I hesitated to open a digital bank account to receive my stipend. However, when I started looking into digital banks, nothing had what I needed, like Transferwise or Wise, as it is now called. 

TransferWise to the Rescue!

I found out about Wise through another Fulbright grantee. After weeks of going to different Belgian banks to open a bank account and facing challenges, I decided to give Transferwise/Wise a shot. Here are four reasons I fell in love with TransferWise. 

1. You can open any bank account anywhere in the world. 

The number one reason I signed up for TransferWise is that I could open a European account and have the BIC and IBANs I needed to get my stipend from the Fulbright program. Unlike many “digital banks,” TransferWise/Wise allows you to open accounts anywhere. So if you go to China and need to be paid in Chinese Yuan, on the TransferWise App, you can open an account and get the account and routing number you need to have a deposit sent to you. 

When I signed up for TransferWise, I opened an E.U. account, which was good for any European country. Because I did not know I could link my Bank of America card to TransferWise, I opened an American account to send money from my Bank of America account to the Wise American account to the European account to transfer the money I had. At the same time, I am waiting for the Fulbright Commission to start depositing my stipends. After sending my BIC & IBAN information to the Fulbright Commission and receiving notification that the Commission scheduled my payments, I received my money within hours, which was a massive relief because I simultaneously found an apartment to live in that same day. Proving my bank statements from the TransferWise account allowed the landlord to rent to me, and when I went to apply for KBC Bank, I could use the deposit statement from TransferWise to prove I had money to utilize the Bank. Although TransferWise does offer a card that you can use to make purchases, I used it to transfer money from my Bank of America account to my European account, and I also used it to transfer my stipend from the European account I created with Wise to my Belgian KBC account. 

2. You get Real- exchange rates.

Have you noticed that the exchange rates you find on Google when doing a currency exchange differ from the rate you will get from the Bank? If you have made that observation, you are not crazy. The banks’ transaction fees are far more expensive because they are a way for banks to make more money. When I buy Euros from Bank of America or at currency exchange centers at airports, I spend twice as much money using TransferWise. With TransferWise, I get a real exchange rate similar to the rates you can find on Google. With how frequently I was transferring money from my Bank of America account to the European Wise account, I am happy to get the real-exchange rate because it has allowed me to save money. As a customer, I did not feel penalized for using the primary service that the company advertised, which made me trust it, and I continued to use TransferWise after my year abroad in Belgium. When I went to Spain in 2022, Italy, and Greece in 2023, I used TransferWise to transfer money from my American account to my KBC account, which allowed me to use my Belgian debit card and not have to buy Euros and carry cash. 

3. You can wire money within seconds!

One of the highlights of TransferWise is how fast I can transfer money from one account to the other. Especially since I constantly had to transfer money from my TransferWise account to my Belgian KBC bank account. Since I had my Wise account before opening my Belgian account, I was paying rent through TransferWise. I used my landlord’s IBAN and BIC information to transfer my security deposit and monthly rent. Before I traveled to Spain, Italy, and Greece, I did not know if my KBC account would work in those countries. I thought KBC would close my account after leaving Belgium since I no longer live there. I had to close my French bank account the previous year after my study abroad program in France. When I got confirmation from KBC that I could still use my debit card, I no longer had to buy euros from Bank of America. When I used to buy foreign currency from Bank of America, I had to do it before 2 P.M to get it the next business day, and I had to pay shipping fees to receive the money. Although I still love carrying cash, I love that I no longer have to carry euros when traveling. I love that when I go to a European country, I can use the ATM and take out the amounts I need for a taxi or mundane purchases. Since I linked my Bank of America to my TransferWise account, I transferred money from my American account to my KBC account and used my KBC debit card in Europe. 

4. No monthly fees

Another great benefit of using TransferWise is there are no monthly fees. As mentioned earlier, I used TransferWise as a “savings account.”  It was a way to save money without spending it in my KBC account. When I received my stipends, I divided the amount, transferred one half to KBC, and kept the other in the TransferWise account. Keeping my money in my TransferWise account was my way of organizing my finances and budgeting using only my KBC account. The cash in my TransferWise was my emergency funds. I only returned to my account when the new month came or needed extra money to pay for essential things. Using TransferWise to hold my money was a lifesaver. That is why I love that it has no monthly fees to keep my money. As a customer, I never understood why banks charged us to save our money with them. Although many banks allow you to waive the fee, different banks set a minimum amount you must have not to pay the monthly payment. This rule can be challenging if you are tight on budget, a young professional abroad, or have an enormous bill to pay. For that reason, having no monthly fees is beneficial. 

HOWEVER:

Although there are no monthly fees, TransferWise still has fees. These fees are subject to the customer’s geographic location; therefore, I am only focusing on U.S. customers. In addition to no monthly fees, there are no subscription fees. Whatever you need to pay for is right in front of you. There are no hidden fees. One of the fees you will have to pay is for sending money. The fee for sending money depends on the currency you want to exchange. Should you get a TransferWise card and wish to withdraw, TransferWise will charge you $1.50 for any ATM withdrawals of over $100. Another fee to expect is a USD wired payment you might receive, for which TransferWise will charge $4.14. Aside from those, everything else is without charge. TransferWise will not charge you to accept or hold money in its account, nor will it charge you for withdrawals of under $100. Now that we have established how TransferWise is a lifesaver let’s dive into how to sign up for TransferWise. 

How to Sign Up for Transferwise? 

Signing up for TransferWise is pretty straightforward. There are three steps to registering for TransferWise. You will first need to sign up with an E-mail address. Then, you will fill out the form with your name and address reflected on your government ID. Then, you will need to verify that you are a real person. To do so, TransferWise will ask you to upload a picture of yourself holding your ID with you. Once they approve you, you must add money to your desired currency. If you are like me and need to open a European account, click here to follow the steps. 

In conclusion, after four years of being a customer of TransferWise, I recommend it to anyone who loves to travel and needs to buy different currencies frequently for their trips. Reflecting on the first challenging weeks of living in Belgium without a bank account or a domicile, I cannot help but be grateful that a service like TransferWise exists. Transferwise or Wise is an excellent service that can help you save time and money while living or traveling abroad. With its low fees, easy-to-use app, and fast transfers, Transferwise is an ideal solution for anyone who needs to transfer money internationally. As I have shared my personal experience with Transferwise, it will help you make an informed decision while choosing a money transfer service. Always research and try before buying any product or service, and ensure it aligns with your personal needs and values. 

Until next time, Happy travels!

Xoxo,

Cy