pegasusborn
Newbie
- Dec 12, 2023
- 49
- 38
I first posted this on a WTB forum, but realised that others might benefit from it if I post here. I would also love to hear from other members of BHW.
After a long and arduous journey, I managed to buy a Wise Business Account for 2.5k US. This is quite expensive to me, but I haven’t been able to find another trustworthy vendor who seems like they could deliver.
When I first started my journey, I found numerous purported vendors peddling the sale of the wise business account or wise personal account. They typically went for between 600 US to 800 US, although I never proceeded with any of these vendors because they were unable or unwilling to answer my questions. In one case, I asked a supposed vendor how I was supposed to clear 2FA checks when all is provided is a username and password. That vendor quickly recanted and said the account was out of stock, and he/she doesn’t expect it to be available anytime soon. I thought I write this post to share my experience.
(1) Personal Wise Account Versus Business Wise Account
From what I can tell, I think the most important difference is that a Business Wise Account can integrate with Stripe. This is understandable I suppose. Stripe would not want to integrate with a personal bank account since individuals are not supposed to be running a business in most countries without at least a business registration.
(2) 2FA BY SMS
Beware of sellers who offer to give you only a username and password. This is quite commonsensical, but Wise requires 2FA. Even after 2FA apps like Google Authenticator is registered, SMS is still needed for transactions such as the issuance of a virtual debit card by Wise.
After paying the vendor the 1st tranche (they work based on payment by stages), the vendor guided me to purchase an eSIM that I could install on a supported phone without KYC.
With this eSIM, the vendor arranged a time where I was to receive and pass the 2FA sms. They then continued with the account creation process. I should say that this eSim service seems quite established and legitimate, and I could top up and maintain my number if I continued paying (in monero or usdc).
(3) ID KYC
The vendor handled all aspects of account creation. I believe this included the personal identity, business identity and selfie KYC.
(4) Activation to get bank details from Wise (2ND LAYER KYC)
To be able to hold a balance in Wise, to receive local bank details to accept transfers through Wise, Wise requires a 2nd KYC for activation.
For personal account, this comes in the form of a bank transfer. You need to transfer a certain amount into your Wise Account. Presumably, this must come from a bank account with the same name. I think this is Wise’s second layer of KYC – a second confirmation that you should be the person you say you are since you were able to use another bank account in the same name to make the transfer. This is a refundable amount because you can later transfer this amount back to the bank account,.
For business account, this comes in the form of a activation fee. You have to pay a one time activation fee – by credit card or bank transfer – to activate your business account. This appears easier than it actually is. You cannot use any random credit card to pay this activation fee. A prepaid mastercard does not work. Even debit cards issued by some banks will not work. I have no idea how the vendor managed this, but I suppose that is his trade secret. The vendor got it paid, and it took a few days for Wise to approve the account (and to review the KYC). I should say that Wise paused the approval of the wise business account and sent an email with further questions. These were questions I did not know how to answer, but the vendor handled it just fine.
All in all, the entire process took about 1.5 weeks from the time I made the first payment. I think this is quite understable given the many steps involved, and the payment stages helped mitigate the risk in my view.
I hope this helps all those who are looking for Wise Account.
After a long and arduous journey, I managed to buy a Wise Business Account for 2.5k US. This is quite expensive to me, but I haven’t been able to find another trustworthy vendor who seems like they could deliver.
When I first started my journey, I found numerous purported vendors peddling the sale of the wise business account or wise personal account. They typically went for between 600 US to 800 US, although I never proceeded with any of these vendors because they were unable or unwilling to answer my questions. In one case, I asked a supposed vendor how I was supposed to clear 2FA checks when all is provided is a username and password. That vendor quickly recanted and said the account was out of stock, and he/she doesn’t expect it to be available anytime soon. I thought I write this post to share my experience.
(1) Personal Wise Account Versus Business Wise Account
From what I can tell, I think the most important difference is that a Business Wise Account can integrate with Stripe. This is understandable I suppose. Stripe would not want to integrate with a personal bank account since individuals are not supposed to be running a business in most countries without at least a business registration.
(2) 2FA BY SMS
Beware of sellers who offer to give you only a username and password. This is quite commonsensical, but Wise requires 2FA. Even after 2FA apps like Google Authenticator is registered, SMS is still needed for transactions such as the issuance of a virtual debit card by Wise.
After paying the vendor the 1st tranche (they work based on payment by stages), the vendor guided me to purchase an eSIM that I could install on a supported phone without KYC.
With this eSIM, the vendor arranged a time where I was to receive and pass the 2FA sms. They then continued with the account creation process. I should say that this eSim service seems quite established and legitimate, and I could top up and maintain my number if I continued paying (in monero or usdc).
(3) ID KYC
The vendor handled all aspects of account creation. I believe this included the personal identity, business identity and selfie KYC.
(4) Activation to get bank details from Wise (2ND LAYER KYC)
To be able to hold a balance in Wise, to receive local bank details to accept transfers through Wise, Wise requires a 2nd KYC for activation.
For personal account, this comes in the form of a bank transfer. You need to transfer a certain amount into your Wise Account. Presumably, this must come from a bank account with the same name. I think this is Wise’s second layer of KYC – a second confirmation that you should be the person you say you are since you were able to use another bank account in the same name to make the transfer. This is a refundable amount because you can later transfer this amount back to the bank account,.
For business account, this comes in the form of a activation fee. You have to pay a one time activation fee – by credit card or bank transfer – to activate your business account. This appears easier than it actually is. You cannot use any random credit card to pay this activation fee. A prepaid mastercard does not work. Even debit cards issued by some banks will not work. I have no idea how the vendor managed this, but I suppose that is his trade secret. The vendor got it paid, and it took a few days for Wise to approve the account (and to review the KYC). I should say that Wise paused the approval of the wise business account and sent an email with further questions. These were questions I did not know how to answer, but the vendor handled it just fine.
All in all, the entire process took about 1.5 weeks from the time I made the first payment. I think this is quite understable given the many steps involved, and the payment stages helped mitigate the risk in my view.
I hope this helps all those who are looking for Wise Account.
