Wise is the card most often recommended for travel in Asia, including on this site, and the recommendation rarely says what it charges. Wise publishes its fees, so here they are, read from its own fee pages on 21 September 2026.
From the pricing page:
We only use the live mid-market rate, and a small, upfront fee to cover our costs.
Banks and airport counters do not do that, which is why the card is worth carrying. Money still leaves in the cases below.
1. Spending is free only when you hold the currency
Wise states the rule in two lines:
If you have the currency you’re spending in your account, it’s free to spend.
If you don’t have the currency you’re spending in your account, there’s a conversion fee.
At a Bangkok restaurant the card is free if you hold baht, and it converts at the moment of payment if you do not. Convert in the app before you land, and every tap after that is free.
2. The merchant can add its own conversion
This costs travellers the most in Asia. Wise’s own help text names it:
If you’re spending online, the seller might try to charge their own conversion fee. This could happen even if you have the other currency in your account. To avoid this, ask the seller to charge you in the currency you want.
Holding the currency does not stop a merchant that converts anyway. A card machine in a shop that offers to charge you in your home currency works the same way, and the answer is the same: always choose the local currency. Hotel and duty-free terminals present the offer as a convenience. It is a spread, and it is not Wise’s.
3. The 2% e-wallet top-up fee
Topping up an e-wallet is how many people pay in Asia, and it is where the card stops being free. Wise charges 2% on topping up e-wallets and other external accounts that may be convertible into cash. It exempts a list of currencies, and the list differs by card scheme:
Visa: AUD, BRL, CAD, CHF, CZK, DKK, EUR, GBP, HKD, HUF, JPY, MXN, MYR, NOK, NZD, PLN, RON, SEK, SGD, TRY, USD
Mastercard: AUD, CAD, CHF, EUR, GBP, HUF, JPY, NZD, PLN, SGD, USD
Set the Asian currencies against those lists:
| Currency | Visa card | Mastercard |
|---|---|---|
| JPY, SGD | exempt | exempt |
| HKD, MYR | exempt | 2% |
| THB, IDR, PHP, VND, KRW, TWD, CNY, INR | 2% | 2% |
A Thai, Indonesian, Philippine, Vietnamese, Korean, Taiwanese, Chinese or Indian wallet costs 2% to top up on either Wise card. In Hong Kong and Malaysia the same top-up is free on a Visa-issued card and 2% on a Mastercard one. Look at your card to see which scheme it is on.
The wallet top-up is the expensive use of the card. Paying the merchant directly avoids the fee.
4. ATM fees follow the card, not the country
The cash withdrawal allowance depends on where the card was issued:
The exact fees you pay depend on where your card was issued, it’s usually the registered address on your Wise account.
No single answer applies to everyone, and an allowance quoted in a review written in another country may not be yours. Wise directs customers to check their own limits under spending limits in the app. Check before you fly, because that number decides whether you withdraw once in a large amount or five times in small ones.
Before you fly
- Convert before you spend. Hold the currency in the app, then pay.
- Refuse the merchant’s currency every time. An offer to charge you in your home currency is never the cheaper option, and the fee page says so in Wise’s own words.
- Pay merchants directly rather than loading a wallet, unless you are in Japan or Singapore, or on a Visa card in Hong Kong or Malaysia. Everywhere else in Asia the top-up costs 2% that direct payment does not.
- Check your ATM allowance. Your registered address sets it, not your destination. The limits sit in the account itself.
What PayPal charges to pay in Asia compares a payment platform’s spread with a transfer. Exchanging money in Thailand covers the counter-versus-account question.
Wise, whose own fee pages are the source for everything on this page (affiliate link)