A guaranteed rate is exactly what you’d expect: an exchange rate that’s guaranteed for a specified period of time. We offer a guaranteed rate to most transfers. When currency markets are volatile, we may not be able to do so. You can still send money using live rate transfers.
As you finish setting up your transfer, we’ll guarantee your rate for a certain period of time. It’s important that you send your money to us right away so we receive your money on time. As long as we receive your money on time, you’ll get that rate locked.
If your money doesn’t reach us in time, we’ll still convert and send it as soon as possible. But we’ll use the mid-market rate instead.
Click here for info if you can't set up guaranteed rate transfers anymore.
How does it work?
How long is the rate guaranteed on my transfer?
We guarantee your rate long enough for your money to get to us. It depends on the currency you’re sending from. We’ll always tell you how long the rate is guaranteed for when you set your transfer up.
What if I don’t pay by bank transfer?
Some payment methods, for example ACH Direct Debit in the US, work differently. If you pay for a transfer or a balance top up with one of these methods, your rate is locked in when you successfully paid, or when you authorised the payment to Wise.
In most cases, these payments are very fast, so this won't affect your rate.
How many transfers can I set up with a guaranteed rate?
You can’t set up an unlimited number of transfers with a guaranteed rate. And you should only set up a transfer if you intend to complete it.
If you created multiple transfers but only paid for one of them, we’ll assign your deposit to the first transfer you created. You can cancel any transfer you don’t intend to complete and leave just one active, so we know where to assign your money to.
Keep in mind that if you remain at one step of the transfer setup process for more than 30 minutes, the guaranteed rate will refresh.
It’s not possible to set up an unlimited number of transfers with a guaranteed rate. You should only set up a transfer if you intend to complete it.
What if my transfer falls on a weekend?
In most countries, banks don’t process transfers over the weekend — they start paying them out on the following working day. Because of this, we usually don’t count the weekend when we calculate guaranteed rates. For example, if your transfer has a 48-hour guaranteed rate, and you set up your transfer on Friday, at 5:00pm, your rate will be guaranteed until Tuesday at 5:00 pm.
If we do guarantee your rate over the weekend, you’ll see this when you set your transfer up.
Note: weekends in some countries, such as the UAE, are Friday and Saturday. In this case, we’d send out your money on the Sunday.
What rate do I get if I set up a transfer on the weekend?
Because the market closes on a Friday, we don’t give new rates over the weekend. So, if you set up a transfer on a weekend, you’ll get the last rate before the market closed on the Friday.
We stop getting live rates at 5pm New York time, and we start getting live rates again at 9am Auckland time.
Missing the guaranteed rate and rate changes.
What if I miss my guaranteed rate?
If your money reaches us after your guaranteed rate lock has expired, we’ll use the live rate at the time we receive it. This means that if your rate lock expires at 2pm, and your money reaches our account at 4pm, we’ll lock the live rate at 4pm and use that to send your money.
For this reason, it’s usually best to get your money to us as soon as possible.
It’s common for banks to have limits on the amount you can send online, and this often leads to Wise customers missing their guaranteed rate. To make sure you always get the rate you’ve locked, read our tips on sending money with your bank.
What if the rate changes significantly in that time, or the rate is unstable?
For any transfer with a guaranteed rate, there's a 5% rate limit. If the rate changes by 5% or more during the guaranteed rate period, we reserve the right to cancel and refund your transfer — we’ll send the money back to the account it came from.
Sometimes, markets can be volatile. This means we may need to set temporary limits on the amount of money you can send with the guaranteed rate, even if the movement is under 5%. You'll see a notification for this when trying to send over the limit.
When adding money to your balance from a different currency, just add the same currency first, and convert it to the one you want to send. This ensures we give you the best rate at the time.