’Denmark Switches.’ A national campaign to collectively move off Big Tech.
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I've added a new 2026 Digital Resolution to my 'Denmark switches from Big Tech' goals.
I had already switched from Patreon to Steady. Thanks to @JohanEmpa for making that possible after he added Steady as a Mastodon.green payment option.
Now my Microsoft subscription is the only thing left on PayPal and I'm almost deMicrosofted. So I'll be cancelling, not renewing, that. So now I commit to deleting my PayPal account. Today. Inspired by @oldrup, who just did this.
@CiaraNi found a few things with the steady branding, but in guessing it's this: https://steady.page/? I'd like recommend an alternative to creators I support on Patreon. But Steady's credit card fees + 10% commission seems quite steep.
I use https://liberapay.com/ wherever that's an option. I also like being able to have the monthly support charged as a lumpsum to reduce fees further. But unfortunately they don't have an ad-free RSS link for podcast functionality, which is my biggest Patreon spend. -
I use #wise instead PayPal.
https://wise.com/
️@hpmaennicke Just to say as marketing material from these companies often blatantly lies: your own bank might very well be cheaper.
I just checked a couple of options with Wise between Denmark (DKK) and euro accounts in the Netherlands and Germany. In all of them my bank is cheaper. Same the other way around (euro to DKK).
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@hpmaennicke Just to say as marketing material from these companies often blatantly lies: your own bank might very well be cheaper.
I just checked a couple of options with Wise between Denmark (DKK) and euro accounts in the Netherlands and Germany. In all of them my bank is cheaper. Same the other way around (euro to DKK).
@Pepijn @hpmaennicke Good to know. My own intention after deleting my Paypal is to stick with my bank card. I used PayPal for the bare minimum anyway. I want fewer companies, fewer apps etc in my life generally at this point.
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@hpmaennicke Just to say as marketing material from these companies often blatantly lies: your own bank might very well be cheaper.
I just checked a couple of options with Wise between Denmark (DKK) and euro accounts in the Netherlands and Germany. In all of them my bank is cheaper. Same the other way around (euro to DKK).
@Pepijn @CiaraNi @JohanEmpa @oldrup
I have been using Wise for more than two years for international payments, e.g., to Brazil.
Neither PayPal, my bank, nor Banco do Brasil, for example, can compete with it.
Exchange rates and fees are significantly cheaper.
Payments within Europe in euros cost nothing. No fees, nothing. And it's all in real time.
I even get really good daily interest on my credit balance, which many banks don't offer.
So, for me, it's the best choice. -
@CiaraNi found a few things with the steady branding, but in guessing it's this: https://steady.page/? I'd like recommend an alternative to creators I support on Patreon. But Steady's credit card fees + 10% commission seems quite steep.
I use https://liberapay.com/ wherever that's an option. I also like being able to have the monthly support charged as a lumpsum to reduce fees further. But unfortunately they don't have an ad-free RSS link for podcast functionality, which is my biggest Patreon spend.@shom Good to know. I don't know any of the ins and outs about Steady, or for that matter Patreon or other equivalents. I did notice that when I switched from Patreon to Steady for my monthly Mastodon.green membership, the price suddenly went down a little. I hadn't noticed what PayPal was taking on top. So Steady is cheaper for me making payments. I don't know how it works for the person receiving the payment.
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@shom Good to know. I don't know any of the ins and outs about Steady, or for that matter Patreon or other equivalents. I did notice that when I switched from Patreon to Steady for my monthly Mastodon.green membership, the price suddenly went down a little. I hadn't noticed what PayPal was taking on top. So Steady is cheaper for me making payments. I don't know how it works for the person receiving the payment.
@CiaraNi thanks for sharing, always good to have values aligned options
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Done
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@Pepijn @CiaraNi @JohanEmpa @oldrup
I have been using Wise for more than two years for international payments, e.g., to Brazil.
Neither PayPal, my bank, nor Banco do Brasil, for example, can compete with it.
Exchange rates and fees are significantly cheaper.
Payments within Europe in euros cost nothing. No fees, nothing. And it's all in real time.
I even get really good daily interest on my credit balance, which many banks don't offer.
So, for me, it's the best choice.@hpmaennicke International payments between euro (sepa) accounts are always free if the banks were to do that transaction for free as a national transfer as well. It's a right you have and normal consumer banks follow that.
Between Danish kroner and euro Wise is simply more expensive than my Danish and Dutch banks. It's the same experience with similar services. At least Wise doesn't appear to be blatantly advertising about it anymore.
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@hpmaennicke International payments between euro (sepa) accounts are always free if the banks were to do that transaction for free as a national transfer as well. It's a right you have and normal consumer banks follow that.
Between Danish kroner and euro Wise is simply more expensive than my Danish and Dutch banks. It's the same experience with similar services. At least Wise doesn't appear to be blatantly advertising about it anymore.
Euro transfers with Wise are always free, with no bank fees and even interest on your balance. It’s the cheapest option for transactions to Brazil, handling all taxes. In Brazil, users earn 10% interest on their credit balance (taxes are paid directly to authorities).
As I said, it depends on your personal commitment. -
@Pepijn @hpmaennicke Good to know. My own intention after deleting my Paypal is to stick with my bank card. I used PayPal for the bare minimum anyway. I want fewer companies, fewer apps etc in my life generally at this point.
@CiaraNi For the past decade I've only ever had two payment accounts (one each in euro & DKK) and have never been unable to pay.
I stopped looking for alternatives. Last time I did was with a company named Transferwise. They also pretended to be "cheaper than your bank", doing a lot of ads etc.. After the first transaction I figured I'd do an actual check. Aaand it would've cheaper with my bank: their online calculator thingy literally lied about what my bank would've charged me.
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@CiaraNi For the past decade I've only ever had two payment accounts (one each in euro & DKK) and have never been unable to pay.
I stopped looking for alternatives. Last time I did was with a company named Transferwise. They also pretended to be "cheaper than your bank", doing a lot of ads etc.. After the first transaction I figured I'd do an actual check. Aaand it would've cheaper with my bank: their online calculator thingy literally lied about what my bank would've charged me.
Oh. As I looked what happened to Transferwise I learned it rebranded into Wise. That explains why it feels so similar
Anyway. Just hope that people looking to use #Wise do a proper check with their own bank to see if it's actually cheaper. Despite claims, it might not be.
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@CiaraNi For the past decade I've only ever had two payment accounts (one each in euro & DKK) and have never been unable to pay.
I stopped looking for alternatives. Last time I did was with a company named Transferwise. They also pretended to be "cheaper than your bank", doing a lot of ads etc.. After the first transaction I figured I'd do an actual check. Aaand it would've cheaper with my bank: their online calculator thingy literally lied about what my bank would've charged me.
@Pepijn Apart from the couple of PayPal subs I had, which are now deleted, I've been the same. One DKK bank card, one Euro bank card, no bank apps - never not been able to pay or transfer.
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Oh. As I looked what happened to Transferwise I learned it rebranded into Wise. That explains why it feels so similar
Anyway. Just hope that people looking to use #Wise do a proper check with their own bank to see if it's actually cheaper. Despite claims, it might not be.
@Pepijn @hpmaennicke Good advice, that I hope that applies for any new bank or supplier, that we always remember to check beneath the advertising.
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@CiaraNi For the past decade I've only ever had two payment accounts (one each in euro & DKK) and have never been unable to pay.
I stopped looking for alternatives. Last time I did was with a company named Transferwise. They also pretended to be "cheaper than your bank", doing a lot of ads etc.. After the first transaction I figured I'd do an actual check. Aaand it would've cheaper with my bank: their online calculator thingy literally lied about what my bank would've charged me.
@Pepijn @CiaraNi
I had the advantage of not having to "believe" Wise's advertising. I had concrete data from my bank for money transfers to Brazil.
And these were and still are not competitive with Wise. Exchange rates and fees are a good 50% cheaper.
Yes, and I get 1.76% interest on my euros every day.
No one has to use it. But it's European and I love it. -
@Pepijn @CiaraNi
I had the advantage of not having to "believe" Wise's advertising. I had concrete data from my bank for money transfers to Brazil.
And these were and still are not competitive with Wise. Exchange rates and fees are a good 50% cheaper.
Yes, and I get 1.76% interest on my euros every day.
No one has to use it. But it's European and I love it.@hpmaennicke @Pepijn It's always good to hear of European alternatives. US giants have dominated the market and the conversation for so long that most of us haven't even heard of the European alternatives, so we don't even know they exist. It's useful to share more names so that we have alternatives to look into in the first place
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Oh. As I looked what happened to Transferwise I learned it rebranded into Wise. That explains why it feels so similar
Anyway. Just hope that people looking to use #Wise do a proper check with their own bank to see if it's actually cheaper. Despite claims, it might not be.
@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. -
@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.
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@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.
@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 -
@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?
