Wise no longer accepting Argentina accounts?

There are 9 replies in this Thread which has previously been viewed 5,746 times. The latest Post (January 16, 2026 at 1:24 PM) was by serafina.

    I was about to help Adri open a Wise (ex Transferwise) account but have just learned that on May 11 Wise decided not to offer this service to Argentina based customers.

    Whilst not being entirely surprised, I know I should have done this months ago!

    https://wise.com/help/articles/…-a-wise-balance?

    Edited once, last by Splinter: Merged a post created by Splinter into this post. (June 27, 2023 at 3:25 PM).

    I see that Argentina is now included in the Wise list of countries where you can open an account, when previously it wasn't when I checked a couple of years ago.

    I'll investigate further.

    Where can I open a Wise balance? | Wise Help Centre
    We offer Wise balances in the following countries and territories: Andorra, Argentina, Australia, Austria Bahrain*, Belgium, Bouvet Island, Brazil*, Bulgaria…
    wise.com

  • Splinter July 27, 2025 at 10:27 AM

    Changed the title of the thread from “Wise no longer accepting Argentina accounts” to “Wise no longer accepting Argentina accounts?”.

    It turns out that you can open account here but you don't get a debit card, so you can't spend any money that's in the account.

    We opened one just to try it out.

    Ridiculous.

    On the other hand, we know many youngsters who work remotely for US firms and get paid in dollars that use dolarap which gives them a debit card an many other features.

    Quote from Splinter

    According to Adri, a friend of hers just opened a Wise account in Argentina, so we'll try again.

    Why is this type of service still needed? They change your foreign currency to pesos and then store in a local virtual wallet? With the past year changes I am comfortable transfering dollars into an Argentina account, and then exchange as need.

    I guess Wise provides a better exchange rate than most banks and you can move money around your accounts with no fee (for example, in the US you can set up an ACH and move your USD for $0).

    I am not sure if Wise allows to hold a balance in ARS, though. If so, you can convert your balance from your currency to ARS, and then transfer the ARS into your Argentinian bank account.

    It would be perfect if you could also spend those ARS directly using a debit card. As with Paypal, Latin American countries and unstable economy countries get a yo-yo treatment from these platforms and never get a card (because it costs money to mail them, because the custom is a gamble, because of high fraud risk in certain markets etc.)


    I have a Wise account and their card. Perhaps I should add a balance in ARS, convert on Wise and use my card to spend ARS. Provided by foreign Wise card is accepted, of course... which is not a given.

    Today's USD to ARS rate on Wise: $1 USD = 1,465 ARS, the same as official

    Today's BLUE USD to ARS rate on ámbito: $1 USD = 1,495 ARS

    With Mastercards it is 1397,62 ARS

    So yes, it would be more advantageous to spend money using Wise's card.


    Further experiments with Wise. I emulated transferring money in USD to my husband's Argentinian account in ARS.

    They apply a conversion fee, and then add on top a 'dynamic charge' since this is considered a volatile market which doubles it.

    If you don't have enough money on Wise, and want to use money in a linked account outside of Wise, they also don't guarantee that the recipient will receive the exact amount stated, in case you base the transaction amount on the recipient's currency.

    Experiment #1 - Using my USD balance on Wise - total fee 2.22%

    Experiment #2 - With half of the USD from an external account - total fee 1.89%


    Further details on Wise and transfers in ARS from their dedicated page


    Edited once, last by serafina: Merged a post created by serafina into this post. (January 15, 2026 at 5:35 PM).

    Quote from aficionado

    Thanks. That is helpful to decide if I should get a wise card.

    I think I got mine for free, but it was several years ago. You can also get a virtual card, useful for purchases online. You can add both in your digital wallet and use them fromy our mobile.

    Getting a personal account is free, as does maintaining it. If you need a referral link, here's mine -- you'll get zero fees on a transfer up to $600.

    More reports on Wise. Today we bought a laundry machine for our STR at Rodo. Note that Rodo is also one of the stores that accept USD bank notes, but the point was not to dip into our cash, so I paid using my Wise card.

    The washing machine itself was cheaper, but then we added 50,000 ARS for a 2-year extended warranty and the delivery was 45,000 ARS.

    As a reference, when I use my Schwab card to withdraw EUR in Italy, I am charged 3.30%.

    Today, I was charge 1.23% using my Wise card and spending my USD balance.


    I haven't tried to convert USD to ARS and keep a balance in ARS on Wise. When using a Wise card, it will spend in the same currency, if the full amount is available. If not, it will use the balance in other currency, picking automatically the most convenient currency among the ones in your account.
    I assume that it makes no difference between spending a Wise balance in ARS (separate conversion from USD to ARS) and converting from time to time during each transaction.

    This is what happened when we put in the gas at YPF. It first dipped into my USD balance, and then into the EUR balance.

    Edited once, last by serafina: Merged a post created by serafina into this post. (January 16, 2026 at 1:28 PM).