Transfers Sent (Wise Payouts)

The Transfers Sent screen tracks every payout that flows through Wise, the international payments platform Books integrates with. Wise gives you transparent FX rates, low fees, and supports payouts in dozens of currencies — making it the recommended way to pay foreign vendors.

When to Use Wise vs. Other Methods

For domestic-only USD operations you may not need Wise at all. For anyone with international vendors, Wise turns FX-related accounting headaches into a single integrated workflow.

How a Wise Payout Flows Through Books

Sending money via Wise touches several pieces of Books in sequence:

• Recipient — A vendor record + a Wise recipient holding the bank details
• Quote — A Wise quote: how much you pay, what they receive, the exchange rate, the fee
• Payment Method — Where Wise pulls the funds from (your linked Wise balance, ACH debit, etc.)
• Payment PIN — Your 4–6 digit security code (see Authentication)
• Transfer — Wise creates the transfer; Books records the Supplier Payment
• Status updates — Wise webhooks update the transfer through Processing → Sent → Converted

Getting There

• Click Transfers Sent in the left sidebar
• The list shows every Wise transfer with status, amount, recipient, and reference

Transfer Statuses

Initiating a Wise Payout

The most common path is from a bill:

Steps

• From Bills, open the bill you want to pay
• Use the dedicated Wise payment action (separate from the standard Record Payment dropdown — Wise has its own quote / authorization workflow)
• Pick the Recipient — a Wise recipient previously attached to the vendor, or fill in the bank details inline
• Books fetches a Wise quote: The amount in vendor currency; The amount you pay (in your funding currency); The exchange rate; The fee; When funds will arrive
• Pick the Wise payment method — typically your Wise balance or an ACH debit
• Provide written authorization, and (if your tenant has the PIN gate enabled) enter your Payment PIN
• Click Send Payment

What Happens Next

• Books records a Supplier Payment in your books (debit A/P, credit the source bank account, plus FX gain/loss if applicable)
• The transfer appears in Transfers Sent with status Processing
• Wise webhooks update the status as the transfer progresses
• The bill stage moves to Processing then Paid when the transfer completes

You can also initiate a Wise payout directly from Transfers Sent → + New without an existing bill, but the bill-first workflow is preferred — it keeps your AP clean.

Recipients

A recipient is a saved set of bank details for one party in one currency. You manage recipients on the vendor record (see Vendors (UG-012) → Wise Payment Recipient Details) or inline when initiating a payout.

A recipient typically holds:

• Account holder name and address
• Currency
• Bank country
• Account number / IBAN / sort code / SWIFT (depending on country)
• An optional label (e.g., "Acme — EUR account")

A vendor can have multiple recipients in different currencies. Each Wise transfer picks one recipient.

Re-Quoting

Wise quotes have a short lifetime (usually 30 minutes). If you let one expire, Books offers to re-quote before sending — fetching a fresh exchange rate.

If your auto-selected payment method differs from the original default (for example, Wise switched you from balance to ACH because the balance was too low), Books re-quotes automatically and shows you the new totals before you confirm.

The Payment PIN

Books supports a Payment PIN — a 4–6 digit code separate from your login password — as an additional security gate on outgoing payments. The PIN is set up from Settings → Payment Security. The Wise payment flow includes an authorization step and, once a PIN is configured for your tenant, prompts for it before the payout is sent.

If your tenant does not yet have the PIN gate enforced, the workflow still includes a written authorization step. Setting up the PIN in advance is strongly recommended either way — it adds a real layer of protection if your session is hijacked.

See Sign Up, Login, and Authentication (UG-002) → Payment PIN for details.

Cancelling a Transfer

A Wise transfer can sometimes be cancelled before it reaches Sent status — for example, if it is still Processing or On Hold. Books exposes the cancel action when Wise allows it.

After cancellation:

• The transfer status moves to Cancelled
• Books reverses the Supplier Payment
• The bill returns to Pending

Once a transfer is Sent, it cannot be cancelled — you have to chase a recall through Wise support, which is rarely successful.

Bounced Transfers

If the recipient bank rejects the transfer (wrong account number, account closed, etc.), Wise marks it Bounced and returns the funds. Books then:

• Updates the transfer status to Bounced
• Reverses the Supplier Payment (or marks it as needing reversal, depending on Wise's behavior)
• Restores the bill's outstanding balance

You will likely need to update the recipient's bank details and try again.

Filters and Search

Use the filter bar:

• Search — by bill reference, vendor name, transfer reference
• Status — Processing / Sent / Converted / Bounced / Cancelled / On Hold
• Date range

What Wise Does That Books Doesn't See

Wise has its own dashboard at wise.com where you can see balances, top up your account, and download transfer receipts. Books focuses on the bookkeeping side: who got paid, how much, how it cleared in your AP. For tax-receipt-quality documents, the Wise dashboard is the source.

Common Questions

Tips and Best Practices

• Pre-fund your Wise balance for currencies you pay in regularly. Saves an ACH debit and a day of waiting.
• Add Wise recipients to vendors before the first bill is due, not the night you need to pay.
• Confirm the recipient bank details with the vendor before the first payout. Mistyped IBANs are a major source of bounced transfers.
• Use the bill-first workflow. Pay-from-bill keeps your AP clean and the journal entries correct.
• Set the Payment PIN. It only takes a minute and prevents real losses.
• Watch the FX rate. For very large transfers, even a small quote-time difference can be material — pick a quiet market day if you can.

Related Guides

• UG-012 — Vendors
• UG-021 — Bills
• UG-022 — Payments Received
• UG-070 — Multi-Currency
• UG-002 — Sign Up, Login, and Authentication
• UG-080 — Settings and Configuration