wiLLBe Review 2024 – Pros & Cons
| Updated: |(Disclosure: Some of the links below may be affiliate links)
wiLLBe is a digital bank account from the Liechtensteinische Landesbank (LLB). Since the recent interest rate rises, the wiLLBe account has become very popular in Switzerland, even though it is from Liechtenstein.
So, is this account good for a Swiss resident? This article provides an in-depth review of its advantages and disadvantages.
By the end of the review, you will know whether you should use wiLLBe as a bank account.
| Monthly fee | 0 CHF |
|---|---|
| Users | 100’000 |
| Card | None |
| Currencies | CHF, EUR, USD |
| Withdrawals in Switzerland | Not possible |
| Withdrawals abroad | Not possible |
| Languages | German and English |
| Custody bank | Liechtensteinische Landesbank |
| Depositor protection | 100’000 CHF |
| Established | 2022 |
| Headquarters | Vaduz, Liechtenstein |
wiLLBe
wiLLBe is a bank account provided by the Liechtensteinische Landesbank (LLB). This account offers both cash accounts and investment accounts. However, I will focus on the cash account in this review.
The Liechtensteinische Landesbank is the oldest bank in Liechtenstein (from 1861) and is owned mainly by the state. It is a large bank with over a thousand employees and a good reputation and rating.
If you wonder why I am talking about a bank account from Liechtenstein, it is essential to know that this country uses the same currency as Switzerland, Swiss francs (CHF). The two countries share many policies, so it is not outlandish to use a bank from Liechtenstein when living in Switzerland.
So, we can now delve into the wiLLBe account in detail.
wiLLBe Features
wiLLBe is a fully mobile bank account with two main features:
- A cash account: wiLLBe Cash
- An investment account: wiLLBe Invest
We will focus on the cash account because it is pretty popular among Swiss residents. If people are interested, I may also do a full review of the investment feature. A savings account is a good short-term investment.
You have accounts in three currencies: CHF, EUR, and USD. What made wiLLBe very popular is its interest rates. As for April 2023, they offer the following interest rates:
- Up to 50’000: 1.10% on CHF, 3.55% on EUR, and 4.75% on USD
- Up to 150’000: 0.80% on CHF, 3.25% on EUR, and 4.45% on USD
- Above 150’000: 0.25% on CHF, EUR and USD
For a while, the wiLLBe account had the highest interest rate and the best CHF limits, which made it popular in 2023. It is also worth mentioning that interest is paid every three months.
Another interesting feature (for a savings account) is that withdrawals are not limited. This is important because many high-interest rate accounts had several limitations on withdrawals.
You can send money from your account to other IBANs with regular bank transfers.
This is about all the features that wiLLBe has. Since it is a savings account, you do not get a debit or credit card. You also cannot deposit cash. On the same note, you cannot withdraw cash at an ATM. So, you must do a bank transfer if you want your money back.
These features are fine for a savings account, but this is not meant to be your main account since you cannot pay bills from it. It is intended to save cash and invest money.
wiLLBe Fees
We can now look at the fees of the wiLLBe savings account.
The fees are simple: the wiLLBe savings account is free.
If you send CHF to an EUR or USD account, you will pay about 0.15% markup. This is an excellent markup, significantly better than Swiss banks.
So, the wiLLBe savings account is very cheap and can even provide great currency exchanges.
User reviews
Before using any service, we should see what its users think about it.
Users of wiLLBe rate it 3.3 stars on TrustPilot. Unfortunately, the website has only 24 reviews, which is not much. However, these reviews can reveal some interesting things.
All the negative reviews are about being rejected by the app. The app does not clearly state the reasons for rejecting an application. To open an account, you must reside in Liechtenstein, Germany, Switzerland, or Austria. However, it means that these people are not customers of wiLLBe.
On the other hand, all reviews from actual customers are positive. People seem to like the app, the simple onboarding, and the features.
The app gets a 4.5 rating (out of 68 reviews) on the Apple Store and a 4.2 rating (out of 240 reviews) on the Play Store. These are good ratings. Again, negative ratings are mostly about not being able to create an account.
Overall, actual users of wiLLBe are happy with the service.
Is wiLLBe safe?
If you consider depositing significant money into a bank, consider its safety.
Since we are only talking about the savings account, we only have to look at what would happen to this cash if wiLLBe or the LLB were to go bankrupt.
The LLB guarantees deposits of up to 100,000 CHF. Your money should be safe from bankruptcy below that amount. This is the standard Liechtenstein deposit insurance.
It is also worth noting that the LLB has an excellent Moody’s rating of Aa2, making it unlikely to fail.
We should note that wiLLBe is very recent, starting in 2022. This means the app has yet to prove itself. As a result, the LLB may close it if it does not work for them. This is not a big problem because the money will be safe, but if you plan to use that account for many years, it is essential to consider it.
Overall, wiLLBe seems to be pretty safe for your cash.
Alternatives
It is challenging to compare wiLLBe because very few accounts like this are available in Switzerland.
The goal of wiLLBe as a savings account is to get the most interest rate with the lowest limits. So, we should not compare the other fees or features because they are not relevant here.
For instance, we can compare wiLLBe and Neon. Neon only has an interest rate of 0.50% up to 25'000 CHF and 0.25% above that (as of July 2024). This is lower than wiLLBe and has a lower threshold. Moreover, you are limited to 50’000 CHF of monthly withdrawal. Both will be free. So, wiLLBe is better than Neon as a savings account.
We can also compare wiLLBe and Yuh. Yuh currently has an interest rate of 0.75% (as of October 2024). Both apps are free and have no withdrawal limits. Again, wiLLBe is better than Yuh as a savings account.
As a savings account, wiLLBe is a great candidate. I do not know of a better account available in Switzerland. However, some people will likely not like that it is not Swiss.
FAQ
How much can withdraw per month from wiLLBe?
There are no withdrawal limits on your wiLLBe Savings account.
Do you get a card with your wiLLBe acount?
No, you can only use wiLLBe through the app.
Summary
wiLLBe is an account by the LLB, in Liechtenstein, with a nice interest rate, low fees and good withdrawal limits. We review it in details.
4.5
wiLLBe Savings Pros
Let's summarize the main advantages of wiLLBe Savings:
- High interest rates
- No withdrawal limits
- Good currency conversion rates
- Good deposit insurance guarantee
- Available in three different currencies
wiLLBe Savings Cons
Let's summarize the main disadvantages of wiLLBe Savings:
- No card with the app
Conclusion
wiLLBe is an excellent savings account from the Liechtensteinische Landesbank. It provides good interest rates with no withdrawal limits. It even provides good currency conversion rates for EUR and USD.
If you are looking for an excellent place to keep cash as a short-term investment, wiLLBe is a good candidate. This could apply, for instance, if you want to keep cash for a future downpayment or if you want to keep a significant portion of your portfolio cash.
Some people may even want to put their emergency funds into such an account. Since there are no withdrawal limits, it is not the wrong place for that.
If you are looking for other places like this, you can check my list of short-term investments.
What about you? What do you think about this account?
Recommended reading
- More articles about Best banks
- More articles about Save
- What is the best Swiss bank for non-resident?
- Coop Finance+ Review 2024 – Pros & Cons
- Neon Bank Review 2024: The Best Swiss Digital Bank
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Hi Baptiste,
So, Alpian uses diffferent children IBANs when sending money to a bank in Lichtenstein (maybe also for other regions). You can get those in advance from their great customer services and your money will safely arrive on your wiLLBe account, but you won’t be able to send money to Alpian, because your main IBAN will remain unvalidated.
So it looks like you need a few additional bank accounts if you want to benefit from everything that wiLLBe has to offer while keeping some flexibility.
Thanks for sharing, John.
This is quite interesting. But indeed this can be a problem when validation is severe. This should be well documented.
I essentially gave up after waiting almost a month for the activation letter which never came.
Sorry to hear that. Did you try to contact them to see what was going on?
For Wise and Revolut, I suspected that they are blocking transfers used for conversions on the fly, but that personal IBANs should be OK, so I did a test and it worked :)
This is a great find, thank you Baptiste.
+ 3 accounts (CHF, EUR, USD) and no monthly fees
+ Rates are not limited in time
+ Rates apply per slice, not on the whole amount (not super clear from their table)
+ Unlimited withdrawals
+ Straightforward registration process
+ Efficient and quick customer support
– Funds can only be transferred to/from an account you own (no IBKR or Wise). That can be a problem if you use want to transfer funds in foreign currencies to/from your broker
– Rates can change quickly (aligned with central banks)
> + Rates apply per slice, not on the whole amount
What do you mean? Are you saying that the FX rate and/or fee depends on the amount that is converted?
No, I mean that the interest table should be read as follows:
– Up to CHF50’000, 1.1% interest on this slice
– From CHF50’001 and up to CHF150’000, 0.8% on this slice
Etc.
I was worried that the interest would switch to 0.8% for the entire sum as soon as you go beyond CHF50k.
I find that other banks explain the rate which applies in a clearer way.
Your CHF, EUR and USD account is on your own name in case of Wise (but CHF has a British IBAN). However USD account is in an American bank therefore you have to pay some extra fees. Maybe you can receive USD into Yuh account without any conversion.
You probably have a CHF account on your name already if you live in Switzerland. Furthermore you can use Revolut also with all above mentioned currencies with same IBAN what is on your own name. You can find multiple options/solutions on this website and most of them has tested already ;)
Thanks, John!
I agree that the fact that you can only transfer to accounts in your name may be an issue for non-CHF. It would have been good to transfer directly USD or EUR to IB for instance.
In EUR at least, don’t Wise and Revolut give you an account in your name?
I should have added Wise as a separate line in my comment. They explicitly block transfers from Wise and Revolut :/
It looks like Yuh could be a good intermediary if they are not blocked by LLB :D
Oh, they are blocking transfers FROM Wise but not TO Wise?
An update after using it
– Transferring EUR from Wise works (yeah!)
– They don’t like/know Alpian (weird… and hopefully only temporary)
– You need to receive money from an account before you can send to it…
– They only offer IBANs starting with LI, which can be a problem for some banks like Radicant which only support CH IBANs
– Interests are paid quarterly (better than most, not as good as Alpian)
– The analysis tab is pretty cool to track growth (since this is a savings bank)
Hi John,
Thanks for the update.
What do you mean by they don’t like Alpian? You can’t send money to Alpian?
Oh, interesting. I did not know Radicant only supported CH IBAN, this is a big limitation.