CommBank vs Wise: Same Bills, Paid Both Ways

I spent most of my career inside Australian banks, so I’m not here to tell you banks are the enemy. But I wanted to know exactly what CommBank costs me against Wise. So I ran my own CommBank vs Wise test: on my last trip and while booking the next one, I paid for the same things both ways and kept every receipt.

Test 1: two silk scarves in Cambodia

On our Mekong river cruise we stopped at a silk weaving village on Koh Dach (Silk Island), near Phnom Penh. We bought three scarves at US$20 each. I paid for one with my CommBank Ultimate Awards card and two with my Wise card, at the same shop on the same morning.

What this tells you: if you already have a card with no international fee (the Ultimate is 0%), tapping it overseas isn’t where your money leaks. The Ultimate also earns points on overseas spending, which more than covers 9c. But the Ultimate costs A$420 a year from January 2027 (I did the sums on that here). Most other Australian cards charge a 3% to 3.5% international fee, which would have been about A$1 a scarf.

Test 2: a €288 deposit for next year’s bike tour

We’ve booked the Via Claudia Augusta ride from Augsburg to Merano with an Austrian tour company for June 2027. The deposit was €288. I priced it in CommBank’s international transfer screen, then did it in Wise.

I converted A$462 into €289.66 in Wise first, then sent the €288 from my euro balance. The transfer was free and arrived in seconds.

What that gap looks like on bigger amounts

*Estimates using the same day’s rates. Rates move, and Wise’s fee isn’t a flat percentage.

Tip: top up Wise from your bank account (by bank transfer or PayID), not with a debit card. On this transfer, the card would have cost an extra A$2.09.

Wise read the invoice and filled in the payment

This is the part I didn’t expect. Wise has a Pay invoices option: you upload the invoice (a PDF or a photo) or forward it by email. I uploaded the tour company’s PDF. Wise found the company name, matched it to the bank account, and filled in the booking number as the payment reference. It also attached the PDF to the transfer, so the paperwork stays with the payment.

Wise says it uses AI to read the invoice and tells you to check the results. Do check them: it picked up the full €2,878 tour price, but I only owed the €288 deposit, so I changed the amount before sending.

CommBank, like most banks, makes you type it all in yourself: the account name, a 20-character Austrian IBAN, the BIC code and the reference. Get one character wrong and the money goes to the wrong place or bounces back, often with fees taken out along the way. The bigger the amount, the more that matters.

Why this matters: a hospital bed in Austria

A mate of mine came off his bike in Austria. He was knocked out and flown by helicopter to hospital. The night before surgery to put a plate in his collarbone, he had to send A$10,000 from his phone, lying in a hospital bed.

He’s OK now and working through his insurance claim. But nobody should be typing a 20-character IBAN on a phone the night before surgery. You also don’t want to give up about A$170 to the exchange rate on top of everything else.

Sort this out before you go:

• Open Wise and verify your identity at home, not overseas.
• Check your bank’s daily limit for overseas transfers. My NetBank screen showed A$5,000. That wouldn’t have covered my mate’s A$10,000 without changing the limit first.
• Know how you’ll top up Wise quickly (PayID is the fastest).
• Check your travel insurance. Our credit card travel insurance guide covers what card cover does and doesn’t pay for.

One more: paying family and friends by PayID

Wise also works for paying people back home. If someone has registered a PayID (usually their mobile number), you can send them Australian dollars from your Wise balance with just their phone number. There’s no BSB or account number to find, and my AUD payments to a PayID have cost nothing.

That’s handy on a group trip. If a mate pays for dinner in euros, you can pay them back in dollars from your phone the same night. Wise even has a “Split this transaction” button on each payment to request money from others.

So which should you use?

The honest caveats: Wise isn’t a bank, so money sitting in it isn’t covered by the government deposit guarantee. You also earn no interest or offset benefit on it. I treat it as a tool for moving and spending money, not somewhere to keep savings. (Wise also sells an eSIM now. Here’s how it compares on price.) My CommBank card stays in my wallet for the points, the travel insurance and the offset account it links to.

Sending money or spending overseas? Skip the hidden rate.

Wise uses the real exchange rate and shows the fee up front.

Open a Wise account → My full Wise card review →

(Small referral our way if you use our link. It doesn’t change your price.)

CommBank vs Wise: FAQs

Is Wise cheaper than CommBank for international transfers?

In my test, yes. Sending €288 cost A$459.35 with Wise and A$467.23 with CommBank, a gap of about 1.7%. Wise uses the real exchange rate and charges a small fee you can see. CommBank waived its fee, but its rate was about 2% worse.

Does CommBank charge a fee for international transfers?

My NetBank transfer showed the fee as “waived”. The cost is in the exchange rate instead: CommBank gave 0.6164 euros per dollar when the real rate was 0.6289.

Is the Wise card cheaper than the CommBank Ultimate card overseas?

Only just. On a US$20 purchase in Cambodia, Wise cost A$28.77 and the Ultimate cost A$28.86. The Ultimate has no international transaction fee, so the gap is small. Cards that do charge one (usually 3% to 3.5%) cost noticeably more than Wise.

Can Wise pay an invoice from a PDF?

Yes. Wise’s Pay invoices feature reads an uploaded PDF or photo, or an invoice you forward by email, and creates a draft payment with the recipient and reference filled in. Wise says it uses AI and asks you to check the results. Check the amount carefully: mine picked up the full tour price, not the deposit.

What’s the cheapest way to top up Wise in Australia?

A bank transfer or PayID from your own account. Converting A$462 cost me a A$1.43 fee that way. Paying with a debit card would have cost A$3.52.

Can I send money to a PayID from Wise?

Yes, if you live in Australia. You can send Australian dollars from your Wise balance to anyone who has registered a PayID, usually their mobile number. You don’t need their BSB or account number.

Is my money safe in Wise?

Wise isn’t a bank, so balances aren’t covered by the Australian Government’s deposit guarantee, and they don’t earn interest. Keep what you need for the trip or the payment in it, and keep your savings in the bank.

Before your next trip, run your own cards through the FX Rip-off Calculator.