Best way to get USD payments to a GBP account (via paypal!)??

Rainbow_Butterfly

I have recently started working for odesk.com. They make payments in USD to a paypal account. Paypal allow the account to be set in one primary currency, so I think I have a choice of:

1) Having the primary currency of paypal as GBP - paying a paypal currency converstion fee of 3.9% + $0.30 USD when they convert it from USD to GBP.

2) Having the primary currency of paypal as USD - then being charged by my bank for the currency conversion.

My bank account is with Lloyds TSB. Does anyone know what fee % they will charge for the conversion?

Is there another alternate way/ better bank account etc way of doing this that I havnt thought of?

Thanks!!

fawinds

Your bank will never do the conversion. When you withdraw money to a UK bank account, paypal will convert it to GBP and then pay it into your account. They do not allow withdrawals in other currencies into UK bank accounts.

You can create GBP and USD balances in your paypal account and have your employer pay you in USD to your USD balance, but before paying the money to your UK bank account, either you or paypal will have to convert it to GBP at a rate of 3%

missile

I believe another alternative would be to open a USD account with LTSB. see here > http://www.lloydstsb-offshore.com/international-current-accounts/?WT.ac=LTSBDOTCOM_Internationalaccount

I suggest you contact LTSB.

fawinds

missile wrote: »

I believe another alternative would be to open a USD account with LTSB. see here > http://www.lloydstsb-offshore.com/international-current-accounts/?WT.ac=LTSBDOTCOM_Internationalaccount

I suggest you contact LTSB.

Paypal will not pay USD into non US based accounts. I have a Citibank UK based USD account and cannot pay there USD from Paypal. Same for Lloyds TSB, unless they give you a real US based account, which I doubt.

missile

I was suggesting oDesk.com could pay into the LTSB USD account.

From oDesk website

Q: How do I get paid?

We've made it easy for you to get paid, no matter where you are. For U.S.-based contractors, we can deposit your earnings directly into your bank account. For U.S. and international contractors, we offer MoneyBookers, wire transfers — and the favorite of many contractors — the Payoneer debit MasterCard, which works everywhere a regular MasterCard would work. You'll find full details of our payment methods

There seem to be several payment options available to OP. Paypal would be my last choice.