Transferwise requires my bank login username and password?????

[robert k]

3 hours ago, Dave Hounddriver said:

I remember our member GregZ saying he has done it many times with no problems (giving his password to Transferwise I mean).  I wonder how they deal with the security questions?  I cannot log onto my bank account without answering a number of security questions that vary with each log on.

Anyway, for a $8000 transfer I would save about $200 using Transferwise over the Western Union affiliate I currently use.  For me that is not small change but not enough to risk handing over my passwords. Perhaps I will set up a separate account in another bank in Canada that is for the sole purpose of sending money with Transferwise.  I send $8,000 twice a year so thats a savings of 400 and may be worth the hassle.

Options?

 

Edit:  Here is the link to their faq page.  Perhaps other members can go through it (as I will be doing) and try to discover an alternative to giving out passwords to Transferwise.

https://transferwise.com/help

Dave, I have not used WU to send myself money for 6 months but at the last time I did I could have done 3 transactions for a total of $8.97 and sent myself $8,997 USD. I know WU works differently in different countries. I always used WU USA rather than WU Philippines because USA was where the money originated and I already had an account. I once mistakenly logged on to Philippines WU and encountered nothing but errors.

Which WU are you using Dave? Britain or Philippines?

[Dave Hounddriver]

11 minutes ago, robert k said:

I could have done 3 transactions for a total of $8.97 and sent myself $8,997 USD.

If you are sending $ to $ then you Americans have a great deal with Western Union.  Unfortunately its the exchange rate that kills us foreigners.  We cannot send Canadian Dollars then pick them up at the bank or at L'Huilliers and go cash them at great rates.  We have to accept either the Money Transfer rate or the bank's exchange rate (from Canadian Dollars to Pesos I mean).  So getting the best rate is HUGE and getting low fees is negligible.

[Jollygoodfellow]

25 minutes ago, Dave Hounddriver said:

If you are sending $ to $ then you Americans have a great deal with Western Union.  Unfortunately its the exchange rate that kills us foreigners.  We cannot send Canadian Dollars then pick them up at the bank or at L'Huilliers and go cash them at great rates.  We have to accept either the Money Transfer rate or the bank's exchange rate (from Canadian Dollars to Pesos I mean).  So getting the best rate is HUGE and getting low fees is negligible.

Have no idea if this rate is any good for you. Also over a gran you have to supply more documents.  https://www.worldremit.com/en/help/sending-money-from-canada

[expatuk2014]

NEVER EVER GIVE YOUR ACCOUNT LOGIN AND USERNAME TO ANYONE !

JUST REMEMBER THE NIGERIANS CAN HACK INTO ALMOST ANYTHING !

AND i AM PRETTY SURE THAT IF YOU DO GIVE OUT THOSE DETAILS ITS AGAINST YOUR BANKS TERMS AND CONDTIONS !!

[robert k]

2 hours ago, Dave Hounddriver said:

If you are sending $ to $ then you Americans have a great deal with Western Union.  Unfortunately its the exchange rate that kills us foreigners.  We cannot send Canadian Dollars then pick them up at the bank or at L'Huilliers and go cash them at great rates.  We have to accept either the Money Transfer rate or the bank's exchange rate (from Canadian Dollars to Pesos I mean).  So getting the best rate is HUGE and getting low fees is negligible.

Thanks for making me aware of that. I can't think of anything that might possibly help short of opening a forex trading account to cut the exchange fees to the bone and sending pesos to the Philippines. Don't ask me how it's done, I've never had to do it. Maybe someone who has forex experience could chime in.

I know a nice Canadian couple, living in Canada of all places that have the problem of being paid USD for use of property they own in the US and they were getting smashed on the exchange rate also and looking into forex was the only thing I could suggest as a possibility in their case also.

 

[Guy F.]

I have not used Transferwise in 4 months but I was never asked for my bank login information. My first suspicion is that you somehow got onto a phishing website set up to mimic Transferwise.

I sent an email to Transferwise inquiring about this. I will post their answer in a few hours.

Edited March 30, 2016 by Guy F.

[sonjack2847]

y bank never ask for full user name or password for a transaction.They do ask for certain parts of it to log in.

[Sander Martin]

I have transfered money from Australia to Estonia and Australia to Phillipines. Transferwise only asked me for a copy of my ID, no bank passwords. Id never give out my bank passwords.

[Sander Martin]

8 hours ago, Dave Hounddriver said:

If you are sending $ to $ then you Americans have a great deal with Western Union.  Unfortunately its the exchange rate that kills us foreigners.  We cannot send Canadian Dollars then pick them up at the bank or at L'Huilliers and go cash them at great rates.  We have to accept either the Money Transfer rate or the bank's exchange rate (from Canadian Dollars to Pesos I mean).  So getting the best rate is HUGE and getting low fees is negligible.

Even if you send USD and take the money out as USD in Phillipines its not good because you have to change the USD into Pesos somewhere. I compared the SM mall exchange rate to Transferwise exchange rate and TW was giving 1.2 pesos more per Australian Dollar (i sure its around the same ammount less per USD exchanged).

[Guy F.]

Here is a reply from Transferwise:

"When sending from USD and utilizing the Bank Debit (ACH) payment method, each customer is required to log in to their bank’s online banking system and verify their banking details. That is always the case for that payment option. Should you have further questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to get in touch. We are always happy to help."

Logging into your bank's online system and verifying your banking details is not the same as giving up your username and password. Do we need more clarification?