On January 30, 2025, the CFPB ordered the international remittance company Wise to pay nearly $2.5 million for a series of illegal actions, including advertising inaccurate fees and failing to properly disclose exchange rates and other costs. Wise is a publicly traded global electronic money services provider that allows customers to send, receive, and store remittances through a mobile app, prepaid accounts, and debit cards.
Wise operates without physical storefronts in the U.S., using a mobile app and prepaid/debit cards instead. It offers two main products: Send Money for remittance transfers and the Wise Account as a prepaid account. It holds U.S. bank accounts to facilitate transfers between the U.S. and other countries, as well as international transfers. Customers can store and send money in multiple currencies on the prepaid card, while the debit card allows spending from the prepaid account.
According to the CFPB, Wise violated the Consumer Financial Protection Act of 2010 and the Electronic Fund Transfer Act by:
Sending false advertisements. Wise sent emails and blogs to its customers worldwide, announcing lower ATM fees, free withdrawals, and other perks. However, these offers primarily did not apply to customers in the U.S. Wise claimed that 80% of customers would pay lower ATM fees, but very few of those customers were from the U.S. Additionally, U.S.-based customers were told they would get two free withdrawals of slightly more than $200 each. In reality, they only received two free withdrawals of up to $100 each.
Failing to appropriately disclose fees and other costs. Wise made several mistakes when disclosing information. They did not accurately inform consumers about fees for funding prepaid accounts with credit cards through Apple Pay or Google Pay. They also failed to clearly explain exchange rates, did not refund fees when the recipient could not access the funds on time, and did not make other required disclosures.
The CFPB’s order requires Wise to:
Pay approximately $450,000 to harmed consumers; and
Pay a $2.025 million penalty to the CFPB’s victims relief fund.
Read the CFPB’s press release here.
The consent order can be found here.