Vocabulary

The words of the Wise experience, and how to to write them.

The alphabet.
A

Account

Users can sign up for an account to send, spend and receive in multiple currencies, as well as hold and convert money.

We offer 2 types of account:

  • a personal account (the Wise account)
  • a business account (the Wise Business account)

For the personal account — ‘account’ is always lowercase. For the business account — ‘Business’ is uppercase and ‘account’ lowercase. Sometimes it’s ok to write ‘business account’ in lowercase if you’re saying something more generic, like “switch from your personal to your business account”.

Be careful not to say or imply that a customer has a Wise account or Wise Business account if they have registered with Wise, but have not been through the verification process. Only say or imply that they have either account once they have been verified.

Account details

Bank account numbers that we give to account customers so they can receive money from different regions, as if they had a bank account in that country.

Always lowercase (except at the beginning of a sentence).

Assets

Assets is a feature that lets customers choose how they hold their money with Wise.

They can choose to hold their money as cash, which is how money is typically held. They can also choose to switch their cash to either:

  • Interest — where we invest their money in a Money Market Fund
  • Stocks — where we invest their money in an index-tracking fund

If customers switch a balance (as opposed to a Jar), they can still send and spend their money as usual.

Always write Assets, Stocks and Interest with capital letters.

Auto Conversions

Auto Conversions is a feature that lets customers pick a desired exchange rate between 2 eligible currencies, plus an amount to convert. Wise then automatically converts the money when the desired rate is met.

Capitalise both words when referring to the feature itself, for example "You can now use Auto Conversions". But use lowercase when using it in context, for example "set up an auto conversion".

When talking about the exchange rate itself, use "when your desired rate is met". Rather than 'hit', 'reached', or any other variation.

B

Balance

The main ‘containers’ of money that make up a Wise account or Wise Business account. Customers can choose a currency for a balance, then hold money in the balance in that currency.

Bank

We’re all about money. But we’re not a bank.

We can talk about customer ‘accounts’. We can talk about money, currencies and conversion. We can talk about the bank details that money is being sent to.

But keep banking language — in particular the words ‘bank’, ‘banking’ and ‘bank account’ — out of copy when describing Wise, our services or our products.

Batch payment

Multiple payments made to different people using one payment from a single bank account.

C

Currency

The official money of a country or region. For example, US dollars, Chinese yuan, euro.

Customers

People and businesses who send, spend, receive, or otherwise manage money with us.

Customer Support team

The team that supports customers when they need help. Use a capital 'C' and 'S' because it's the name of a team.

Use "Chat with us" or "Talk with our team", rather than "Chat with an agent".

D

Direct Debits

Both a scheme name, and a feature of the Wise account. They give companies permission to take regular payments from a balance. Most people use them to pay recurring bills. Because it's a scheme name, both words need to be capitalised.

E

Exchange rate

When a customer converts from one currency to another, we give them an exchange rate. An exchange rate is the price of one currency in terms of another currency.

Exchange rates rise and fall depending on demand for each currency — we do not pick and choose our rates. They come from a combination of Google and Reuters, who typically get them from stock exchanges around the world.

Don't say 'best rate', because we can't always guarantee that we're the best.

Sometimes you can drop 'exchange' if it's obvious from the context that the topic is about currency conversion.

F

Fee

When a customer uses a part of our product that costs money, we charge them a fee. Other financial institutions can charge us or customers fees as well. Usually, a fee is there to help ‘cover a cost’.

G

Global

Use ‘global’ when talking about cashflow and services, but never when talking about Wise as a brand or team.

J

Jar

Customers can use Jars to separate and save money away from their balances. Customers can open as many Jars as they need, in whichever currencies they use.

M

Multi-user access

A feature of the business account. It gives multiple users access and permissions within a single account.

P

Payment method

The way a customer chooses to pay a fee for a transfer or other feature. For example, bank transfer, debit card, and credit card are all payment methods.

R

Recipient

The person or business that receives the money when a customer makes a transfer.

S

Scheduled transfer

Customers can choose to set up a transfer so it sends automatically at a later date. They have to select the date and frequency of the transfer, and we’ll take care of the rest.

Statement

When a customer wants a record of their transactions from their balances, they can get a statement from us.

A statement shows transactions over a certain time frame. While a receipt shows the details of a particular transfer, payment, or batch payment.

T

Transfer

Transfer (n) — money a person or business sends or receives, in one transaction, through our product.

Transfer (v) — when a person or business sends money using us.

U

Universal

Use ‘universal’ when you’re talking about Wise overall — it’s encompassing, inclusive, and right at a brand level.

V

Verify

To provide proof to show that something is true and legitimate, like your identity or where your money came from. Financial organisations often have to ask customers for proof to help keep their money safe.

W

Wise debit card

A card we offer that allows users to spend in 150+ currencies.

Bear in mind that some regions have different card offerings, which might have particular requirements about what we call the card in marketing content.

Use the full title ‘Wise debit card’ the first time you refer to it, and once it’s clear that you’re referring to the Wise debit card, you can use 'your card' or 'Wise card'.

Wise Business

Always write Wise Business with capital letters. There are also some rules around when to use the term Wise Business in marketing applications, and when not to.

But treat these rules with a pinch of salt. If business in the header and the supporting copy reads well and feels right, then go for it. Just don’t overdo it — using the word business 3 times in a short piece of copy is going to be too much.

  • When ‘Business’ doesn’t feature in the headline, add a subheader that includes it, such as "with Wise Business"
  • When ‘business’ is used in the headline, don’t include a subheader
  • Use ‘Wise Business’ in the headline when you need to raise awareness immediately, like in paid marketing

Worldwide

Don’t use ‘worldwide’ as a term to describe Wise or our services. Use ‘universal’ or ‘global’ instead, depending on the context.