CFPB Amends Wise Order for Remittance Practices

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) today amended its January 30, 2025 consent order with the international remittance company Wise resolving claims including advertising inaccurate fees and failing to properly disclose exchange rates and other costs. Wise allows customers to send, receive, and store remittances through a mobile app and prepaid accounts and debit cards. The CFPB initiated an administrative action that found the company misled customers in the United States about its ATM fees and failed to properly disclose other fees. When people sent money that did not arrive on time, Wise failed to refund the remittance fees in the timeframe required by law.

Wise PLC (LON: WISE) is a publicly traded global electronic money services provider. It is headquartered in the United Kingdom, and does business in the United States through Wise US, a wholly owned subsidiary. Wise US is a nonbank remittance transfer provider headquartered in New York and incorporated in Delaware. Wise US offers and provides consumers international money transfer services, known as remittance transfers, in 48 states, the District of Columbia, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico. Wise US has more than three million customers in the U.S.

Wise does not have any physical storefronts in the U.S., and instead relies on a mobile app, along with its prepaid and debit cards. Wise offers U.S. consumers two products: Send Money (remittance transfers through its mobile app) and the Wise Account (a prepaid account product). Wise maintains U.S. bank accounts, which allows it to process transfers for U.S. customers by transferring funds from the United States to foreign countries and vice versa. Wise also facilitates transfers by U.S. customers that occur entirely outside of the United States. On the prepaid card, customers can store and send money in multiple currencies. A third product, a debit card, allows customers to spend money stored on the prepaid account.