’Denmark Switches.’ A national campaign to collectively move off Big Tech.

@Pepijn @CiaraNi
It is cheaper to transfer money to Brazil with Wise. Even when I transfer euros, the exchange rate to Brazilian real is more favorable there. Please note: From Wise to Wise.
And transferring money to your own Brazilian account there is free of charge. But only with the local currency.
This is not advertising, but fact.

@hpmaennicke Sure. But they claim that "cheaper" in other situations as well where they are objectively not. This is why with their previous "Transferwise" name they got into problems.

@CiaraNi

@Pepijn @CiaraNi
Since rebranding from Transferwise to Wise, they’ve significantly improved transparency—fees and exchange rates are now clearly broken down upfront. My experience with international transfers has been consistently positive: fair, fast, and no hidden costs. Anyone else noticed this change? Or have counterexamples? #Finance #Wise #Transparency

@hpmaennicke Some counter-examples were offered in this thread (like: https://mastodon.online/@Pepijn/115916901596229842)

Their current wording is "meh":

"Best Euro rate" - True. It's also the exact same rate as my bank.

"No hidden fees" - True. Same for the bank.

So that leaves the Transfer fee. And on various transactions I check it's all more than my bank.

They were fined for this https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wise_(company)

Again, good if it IS cheaper. But in many situations it isn't. Why not be honest?

#Finance #Wise

@CiaraNi

@Pepijn
I'm just talking about my experience. Nothing more. And everything is true.

And if we're honest, we know that (almost) all banks earn a lot of money with our money.
And compared to PayPal, Wise is always the better partner.
If #Wero continues to gain momentum in Europe, a lot can change. But only in Europe. (Like PIX in Brazil).

@hpmaennicke Sure. But let's be clear to others then and don't suggest that the experience is the same for everyone.

And to be honest, I'd rather have real European banks work well* than yet another US owned company like #Wise.

*which they do: every private person can send and receive euros for free from and to every euro / sepa country. No extra in-between company is needed for that.

edit: I've deleted the rest of my replies. For all reading this: check Wikipedia, "funding" and fines.

@Pepijn
Wise is not an American bank—it’s a UK-based FinTech company, founded and headquartered in London. While it partners with US banks (like Wells Fargo) to offer local account details for USD transactions, Wise itself is regulated in Europe (by the National Bank of Belgium) and operates globally as a payment institution, not a traditional bank. Always transparent about fees and exchange rates!

@Pepijn

Since 2021 Wise plc (ISIN: GB00BL9YR756) is listed and traded on the London Stock Exchange."
Wise is not a US-dominated company. The largest single shareholder is anonymous, and while US investors like Andreessen Horowitz hold significant but non-majority stakes, the majority of shares are widely distributed. Control remains with the founders and European investors.

@Pepijn
As a resident of Brazil, you cannot open an account with any European banking service provider. This makes all transfers to Brazil very expensive.
Only Wise offers account opening in Brazil in accordance with government financial regulations.
Incidentally, the majority of shares are not held by American shareholders, and the shares are only traded in London.

@CiaraNi @JohanEmpa @oldrup My decades old digital kleptomania has left me with a lot of work to do.. i have been stashing files in multiple 1 TB onedrive accounts for ages. ugh.

@Kerplunk @CiaraNi I just use the AdGuard DNS. That blocks so much nonsense. Okay, I only use it on my phone but the laptop has browser plugins.
dns.adguard-dns.com

@CiaraNi Honestly Google Play is just so incredibly bad. Even if I know what I'm looking for it feels like it is actively trying to block me from getting to it.
It is a far cry from the early days of smartphones where you could check app stores and find cool things.

@johnlorimer Multiple 1TB OneDrives - oof, I sympathise. That'll take a while to untangle from. I have one, not even close to being anywhere near full, and still it's been taking me months to sort out my photos. On the plus side, I am deleting manically and enjoying that process a lot. A very therapeutic photo massacre! And also good for the environment, reducing storage waste. We'll get there, all of us, step by step

@drgroftehauge Agreed. I was so busy trying to get away from Big Tech that I didn't think deeply about what I was moving to. So it's been a pleasant surprise to experience that every open-source thing I've switched to so far is better and calmer and simpler to use. Including F-Droid, instead of Google Play.

#DanmarkSkifter

@drgroftehauge @CiaraNi

@Kerplunk @CiaraNi I just use the AdGuard DNS.

Net Guard git can do a lot more, a donation directly to the developer is cheap and unlocks all features.

The app can not only use blocklists against ads scams etc but more importantly control the applications and to some extent the operating system.

When you see all the places your phone has been silently contacting and how often you will, as I was, be shocked.

Setup takes a little effort but worth it.

@CiaraNi @drgroftehauge I know I'm supposed to be the techie out of us, Ciara, but how do you actually switch to f-Droid?

@CarstenBoll @CiaraNi @drgroftehauge first time you need to do it manually:

You can download the apk from the official webpage (click on the button: download f-droid): https://f-droid.org/en/

Then i suggest to open the apk from the file manager (to avoid giving install permissions to the browser), you will be asked for permissions with a scary page. After you install it you can remove the permits.

You will have to approve the install permission for f-droid the first time you install something

@CarstenBoll @CiaraNi @drgroftehauge it can be installed directly from the browser but then I think it is advisable to remove the install permissions from the browser.

If you consider this complex, i can try to record a video showing it

@antoniovr @CiaraNi @drgroftehauge nah, seems doable, didn't consider getting it from the browser. Doh.