How does TransferWise verify my address?
How does TransferWise verify my address?
We might ask to verify your address when you use TransferWise. We’re a financial institution, so we need to know who's using our service and where they live. It helps us combat money laundering, and keep everyone’s money safe.
When we verify your address, we ask you to share a document that has the same address as you list on your TransferWise account.
Documents we accept
We'll ask you to provide a high quality photo or scan of a document showing your valid address. It should show:
- Your name: must match the name on your TransferWise account
- Your full personal address: must match the address on your TransferWise account
- Date of issue
- A logo, or clear name of the sender: like your bank, your local authority, your utilities provider, etc
- The nature of the document: like the type of bill, subject of the letter, etc
A valid proof of address document can be:
- Utility bills: gas, electric, or landline phone (no mobile phone bills)
- A bank or credit card statement (photo/scan of a physical letter or PDF of statement)
- A council tax bill, or a HMRC notification
- Vehicle registration or tax
- Photo driving licence showing your address and expiry date
- Any other government or financial institution-issued document
Important information to note:
- Your bank statement, utility bill or council tax bill cannot be older than 3 months
- You can also submit a document from a Local Authority or FCA authorised institution which was issued within the last 12 months. For example, a yearly council tax bill or a letter confirming the opening of a bank account
- Your address cannot be a PO Box, as this will not be accepted
- If we have requested an ID document and an address document, these must be separate documents
- The address proof must be issued to your personal address. We cannot accept address proofs that have been issued to a business
However, there are a few exceptions:
- Sending NZD: if you live in New Zealand and send from NZD we need to verify your identity and address. We don't accept Kiwi Access Card as identity documents
- Sending JPY: you'll need to confirm your My Number along with your ID.
- Sending from AED: you don’t have to live in the UAE to send from AED. If you live in the UAE and need to verify your address, we can’t accept your UAE driving license or PO box.
I want to change my address
You typically can edit your address from your TransferWise account. But, if the address field is greyed out — you can't change it yourself. Get in touch and we'll help change it.
On web:
- Select your name on the top right corner
- Select Your details
- Select Edit details
On the TransferWise app:
- Go to your Account
- Tap on Personal account
- Tap on Edit your details
Once you’ve done this, we’ll get in touch with you if we need to verify your new address.
If you change your address from Japan, you'll no longer be able to send money from JPY.
What do you do with this information?
Protecting your information is very important to us. All data, financial details, or documents you provide us are stored securely, encrypted, and kept private as per our privacy policy.
Troubleshooting verification process
We hope you don't have any issues with verification. But here are a few tips in case you do.
If we don't accept your document:
- It may have some of the information covered. We need to see the full document photo page
- It may be expired. Please check that your document is still valid before you upload it
- Your details may not match. Please check that you have entered your name and date of birth correctly on the website
- We may also need the back of the document. If there is information on both sides, please make sure you upload both for us
- It may be a document type that we can not accept
- It may be in a format we can not accept, for example ID documents are not accepted in PDF format. However, if this is the case, you can make a screenshot of the document, and upload that screenshot, as this will be in JPG format, which we can accept
If you haven't heard from our team within 5 working days:
We'll email you once we've verified you. So be sure to check the email you use to log into TransferWise first. And if you have a transfer already in progress, we'll automatically resume it.