Last Updated on March 18, 2026 by Bruno Bianchi
Question
A relatively large amount of money needs to be transferred to an account in Spain. The easiest way seems to be a wire transfer, but BMO told that you need to visit their branch in Canada in person to send a wire transfer.
Sounds ridiculous nowadays when everybody is travelling or works remotely.
Normal Global online transfers will take too long due to a day limit and will be more expensive.
Any advice? How people transferred their money from Canada if they need to buy a car or so?
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These are the answers of some Facebook group members:
“Wise. I’ve sent 20k in one go and it arrives (usually) next day. However, think BMO may be looking into it a bit more as my last transfer took a week, Wise hadn’t received it from BMO so hopefully they don’t stop us using it”
“I ended up going to Toronto to a TD branch to transfer all my savings. It was cheaper than Wise. It cost $50 to send all and it was in my Spanish back account the next day. Flight was €300 round trip so that was the cheapest option comparing all the fees.”
“Originally used our local bank in Canada because they said we had to – what a load of bollocks!!! Now only use Wise, pay virtually nothing for the pleasure, and the money is available virtually instantly. Don’t fall for their heavy sales (and commissions) tactics, just use Wise like everyone else.”
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Explore Cities →“Wise!! I’ve been living gere for 3+ years, and large transfer amounts never fail with Wise. Best of luck!”
“I transferred from NBC to Caixa Bank and regardless of the amount I transfer, I only pay a fixed fee of $5.95. When we set up the Spanish account, we informed that we would be sending money from Canada and we didn’t have any issues so far.”
“BMo is one of the few Canadian banks that allows bill pay transfers to Wise. Otherwise, it costs a lot to direct debit each time”
“We use XE. The rate is a bit better than Wise, we have found.”
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