Long-time Wise users report closures as regulators press on checks

Tomas Stambulsky wrote on X on 11 November that they had “used @Wise for 8+ years, never had an issue” and that two days earlier the company emailed them that their account was being closed, with “no reason given”.Tomas Stambulsky (@founderish), Wise closing account after 8+ years, with replies. Stambulsky added: “2 friends already went thru this. now its me”.

Stambulsky is one of at least six people who said on X between 29 October and 11 November 2026 that Wise had closed or was closing their personal or business accounts.Grok x-search summary of Wise closure posts, 1 Oct to 11 Nov 2026. The posts are not a count of closures, and they do not say where the users live or which Wise company held their money.

What users say

Alexandra Spalato wrote on X that they had been a Wise customer “since 2018” and that a few days earlier the company closed their personal and business accounts, with “No warning, no reason given”.Alexandra Spalato (@alexadark), personal and business accounts closed; Wise reply. Spalato said they are an independent AI consultant whose clients paid their company through Wise Business, and that they moved money to their personal account to live. Spalato wrote: “That’s exactly what the product is for. Nothing unusual.” Spalato wrote that they sent “ID, selfie, an explanation of my transfers” and offered to send invoices and contracts.

Wise replied publicly on the same post: “we understand how frustrating account deactivation and held funds are. We want to review your personal and business accounts right away.”

Others described similar experiences. One business owner wrote that Wise “shut down my company’s business account on October 29 with zero explanation” and was holding the company’s operating cash with no timeline to return it.duanthy (@duanthytjon), business account shut 29 Oct. Another user wrote on 10 November that Wise “Rejected my appeal today and permanently closed it”.Trader Nita (@_TraderNita), appeal rejected. A third wrote that they had watched other people’s accounts close and thought “must be something they have done, then bang my turn”.Quantum (@Sporthub365), account closed no appeal.

Signs of a rise

Posts on X are not a count of closures, but two public signals rose in late summer. Wise answers some customers’ posts on X, and by our count of X search results its account posted an average of 31.1 replies a month mentioning account closures from September 2025 to July 2026, and 42.7 a month from August to October 2026, with 48 in August.@Wise replies on X mentioning account closures, collected by monthly X search on 12 Nov 2026. Most of August’s replies came before the Belgian central bank published its notices on 25 August: 37 of the 48. X search misses some posts: in a check of November 2025 it returned 33 of 53 such replies, so the count is an index, not a full count, and that check covered one month only.

On Trustpilot, English-language 1-star reviews of Wise averaged 12.0 a day in the 30 days to 12 November, up from 9.6 a day six to twelve months earlier, by our calculation; their share of English reviews rose from 12.5% to 15.5% over the same period, while all English reviews ran at 68 to 77 a day.Trustpilot review counts for wise.com by star rating and date window, 12 Nov 2026. These are reviews, not closures. Of the newest 200 of those 1-star reviews, posted from 27 October, 38 describe Wise closing or deactivating the reviewer’s account, by our reading.Newest 200 English 1-star Trustpilot reviews of Wise, coded for closures, 12 Nov 2026. We have no earlier sample to compare, so this does not show a change.

The dotted line on the chart marks the date of the notices. The rise began before the notices were published, and October fell back to 35 replies. Nothing here counts closures or shows why accounts were closed.

What Wise says

Wise’s help centre page on closed accounts says it will “close accounts that we believe go against your agreement with us”.Wise Help Centre, My account was closed by Wise. It also says: “We can’t tell you specific reasons why we closed your account, and Customer Support doesn’t have the ability to view the reason.” In a statement on 1 June, Wise said its European arm “is subject by law to a number of disclosure prohibitions that prevent it from commenting on specific cases”.Wise blog, Preventing and combating financial crime at Wise (1 June 2026 statement).

The page says: “We never take decisions to close accounts lightly”. On money left in a closed account, it says Wise will work on sending it back to the customer’s bank account, but first needs to carry out “security checks as part of our regulation”. Customers can appeal, but “Making an appeal doesn’t mean we’ll automatically change our decision”.

The same 1 June statement described how Wise handles suspicious activity: “we focus on taking the appropriate action to investigate, suspend transactions or accounts and, where necessary, offboard customers.”

The pressure on Wise

On 25 August 2026 the National Bank of Belgium published two notices about Wise Europe.National Bank of Belgium, publication concerning Wise Europe SA (Art. 93 §2(1)); National Bank of Belgium, publication of decision concerning Wise Europe SA (Art. 98/1). The first said Wise Europe SA “has failed to abide by the order issued to it by the Bank on 8 July 2025”. That order required it to comply by 31 March 2026 with rules on sharing information within the group, identifying and verifying customers and their beneficial owners, due diligence on customer relationships and transactions, and analysis of atypical transactions. A beneficial owner is the person who ultimately owns or controls a customer.

In the second, the bank said it had found “material shortcomings in the due diligence performed by Wise Europe SA”. It ordered Wise Europe to ensure full compliance “no later than 31 January 2027,” taking into account “the corrective actions and additional risk mitigation measures already implemented by Wise Europe SA”.

The order reaches beyond Belgium. Wise said in June that “Wise Europe is established in Belgium and serves customers across the rest of Europe from there under the EU passporting system for financial services”.

Belgian prosecutors are also investigating. The BBC reported on 1 June that “UK money transfer company Wise is being investigated over suspicions criminals used its accounts for money laundering, Belgian prosecutors have told French media.”BBC, Wise under investigation over money laundering control concerns. Prosecutors told AFP the investigation was focused on Wise’s European operations, not its UK business, and was nearing its conclusion, the BBC reported. Wise said it was working with the Brussels prosecutor’s office but that “no specific findings have been shared with us to date”.

In the United States, California’s financial regulator said in July 2025 that Wise US had agreed, in a settlement with six states, to pay a $4.2 million penalty, including $700,000 to California, and to “correct deficiencies in its AML/CFT Program”.California DFPI, .2 million multistate enforcement action against Wise US. Wise US agreed to hire an independent third party to verify the fixes and to file quarterly reports for two years.

What is not known

Wise has not publicly said the closures are tied to the Belgian order or the US settlement, and the posts do not say which Wise company held the accounts. Wise’s own description of its controls includes suspending accounts and, where necessary, offboarding customers. Wise Europe’s deadline from the Belgian central bank is 31 January 2027.