I wanted to use them, but they'd only accept payment via Plaid, that ridiculous service where I have to hand my banking password to a third party -- you know, the exact thing that we all know to never ever do. That's a nope for me, sadly.
That's not true at all. You can move money via ACH.
Are you sure? My USD Wise "account" has no sort code nor account number (unlike other currency accounts I hold), so nobody can initiate an ACH transfer into it. There is a button to initiate an ACH transfer "in" but it has to come from my linked bank account. Linked with the aforementioned Plaid.
I am 100% sure, I’ve been using Wise for the last year using ACH for deposits into my USD account
Except the card won't work as they say it should as chip-n-pin in Europe (signature required every time and of course it doesn't work for transit). At least not if you're me. Spent hours going back and forth with their support to be finally told that I should try requesting a new card.
Yeah, they send verification codes via app notifications. I am so glad I got one before my international vacation this summer. Wise card worked where nothing else would.