Finance FAQs

Regulation E and how does it work with your Wise card?

Mariam Meparishvili

28.04.23 (updated more than 1 year ago)

Read time 2 minutes

Wise is an online account that lets you spend abroad with your Wise card. To protect your account, we follow a set of rules set by regulatory agencies in every country we operate in. In the US, we’re licensed as a money transmitter in the states listed here and we’re supervised by regulatory authorities in each of these states.

What is Regulation E?

Customers with a profile address in US address are covered by an American regulation called Regulation E. It is a framework that was created by the Federal Reserve System in the US to outline the responsibilities and rights of customers and financial institutions taking part in electronic fund transfers, or EFTs for short.

EFTs refer to services like ATM transactions, point-of-sale card transactions or pre-authorized payments made from your account.

This means that if you are a Wise customer with a profile address in the US, Regulation E protects you so you aren’t liable for any unauthorised or incorrect transactions on your Wise account. It also provides guidelines for Wise as an electronic debit card issuer.

It is also important to note that Reg E doesn’t apply to business customers. We still, however, have a strict guideline on how we protect you, so if you’re having any issues using your card, you can always report to us and we will investigate in a timely manner.

What does Regulation E cover?

Regulation E covers electronic funds transfers, including a variety of card transactions you make regularly. Specifically, it applies to:

Point-of-sale transactions like contactless, chip and PIN or mobile wallet payments
ATM transactions
Incorrect amount charges (such as DCC or double billing)
Fraudulent or unauthorised transactions
Refunds, if they haven’t come through due to an error on Wise’s side

What does Regulation E not cover?

Issues with Goods or Services - specifically, if the order is not fulfilled or is not as described when they are not received or not as described
Contractual disputes such as unintended subscription you forgot to cancel or if you were promised a refund, but haven’t received it.
Reg E also doesn’t apply to business customers.
Payments that have been reported late

What responsibility do you hold as a customer and Wise as your account provider?

From the moment you file a dispute with us, we are required to determine if the reported transaction falls under the regulation E in 10 working days (2 weeks). To help us through the process, it’s important to provide transaction information and details of the error in full.

While Wise is responsible to complete the review of your dispute in a certain time frame, Reg E also gives liability to you as a customer when it comes to reporting transactions on time. Wise can only help with transactions made within 60 days of the first incorrect transaction’s completion date.

This means that it’s good practice to check your balance statement (it’s available on your account 24/7) and see if you notice any unauthorised transactions or any other error.

Once we start our investigation, we will let you know about the final outcome as soon as possible. The longest this can take is 90 days. During this time, we might provisionally credit your account with the reportedly missing funds - you’ll be able to use the money we’ve refunded while we do this. If we determine that no error has occurred, we might have to take this credit back. However, we will always give you 5 business days notice before doing so.

*Please see terms of use and product availability for your region or visit Wise fees and pricing for the most up to date pricing and fee information.

This publication is provided for general information purposes and does not constitute legal, tax or other professional advice from Wise Payments Limited or its subsidiaries and its affiliates, and it is not intended as a substitute for obtaining advice from a financial advisor or any other professional.

We make no representations, warranties or guarantees, whether expressed or implied, that the content in the publication is accurate, complete or up to date.