Wise Wise

The provider to choose if you want to understand exactly what you are paying, and the one to choose if you genuinely hold more than one currency.

Wise converts at the mid-market rate and charges a separate, stated fee. Nearly every other provider — banks especially — builds its margin into the rate itself, where you cannot see it. Wise's model means you can compare its cost to a competitor's arithmetically instead of by feel. That transparency is the product.

Multi-currency balances are real balances, each with local account details in the major currencies, so you can hold euros, pounds, dollars and dozens more, convert when the rate suits you, and spend directly from the right one. The card automatically spends from a matching balance first and converts only if it has to.

The limitation that keeps it below Revolut here is regulatory, not functional. Wise is an e-money institution, not a bank. Your money is safeguarded — held in segregated accounts at partner banks, legally separate from Wise's own funds — but it is not covered by any deposit guarantee scheme. If Wise failed, you would be recovering client money through an administrator rather than claiming from a state guarantee. Wise says this plainly in its own terms, which is more than most.

Also: the card carries a one-off issue fee, ATM withdrawals are free only up to a modest monthly amount before a percentage fee applies, and conversion fees vary by currency pair.