Cheaper international transfers from USA to UK?

Nanako

Hi all. Not sure if this is the right subforum, it seemed like the closest to the subject

I do lots of freelance work for americans, despite living in the UK. They typically pay me by sending money through paypal.

We have both grown rather annoyed at the high fees paypal charges though, both for the transfer itself, and for currency exchange. The amount lost this way has kind of reached a tipping point and we want to explore the market to find alternatives.

The payments are small and regular, typically the equivilant of around £50 each week, though sometimes larger lump sums

Can anyone recommend an alternative payment provider that might be able to service our needs and take less of a cut than paypal does?

We'd be happy to accept various downsides that might offset the cost, like longer throughput times

Sandtree

Wise (formally TransferWise) is what we use for international transfers 

The downside is not everyone has heard of them and some may not be happy/comfortable creating a new account just for you. Secondly, the buyers wont get any of the PayPal type protections if you abscond with the monies or turns out you didnt deliver what was promised etc 

Nanako

Sandtree said:

Wise (formally TransferWise) is what we use for international transfers 

The downside is not everyone has heard of them and some may not be happy/comfortable creating a new account just for you. Secondly, the buyers wont get any of the PayPal type protections if you abscond with the monies or turns out you didnt deliver what was promised etc 

both of these things are not an issue, i have a longstanding working relationship, I will look into it thank you!

Nanako

i've had a look, and thats a pretty good rate, better than xe.com

I'm still open to any other suggestions, but wise is definitely the best i've seen so far and we'll probably be using it unless an even better option turns up

Nanako

Sandtree said:

Wise (formally TransferWise) is what we use for international transfers 

The downside is not everyone has heard of them and some may not be happy/comfortable creating a new account just for you. Secondly, the buyers wont get any of the PayPal type protections if you abscond with the monies or turns out you didnt deliver what was promised etc 

i'm a bit confused about how wise handles things once the sender has sent money. Can i freely move it to my bank account from there?

JenB79

I'd consider opening a Fineco multicurrencies account. Unlike Wise, they do NOT charge you to convert from USD > GBP, so for regular transactions you will save quite a bit in the long run. Exchange rates are more or less the same on both (I have accounts with both Wise and Fineco). Your US clients would pay you into your unique Fineco USD account and you then convert to GBP (free of charge) before sending the GBP funds to your UK bank account.

https://finecobank.co.uk/public/open-account/

Sandtree

Nanako said:

Sandtree said:

Wise (formally TransferWise) is what we use for international transfers 

The downside is not everyone has heard of them and some may not be happy/comfortable creating a new account just for you. Secondly, the buyers wont get any of the PayPal type protections if you abscond with the monies or turns out you didnt deliver what was promised etc 

i'm a bit confused about how wise handles things once the sender has sent money. Can i freely move it to my bank account from there?

There are two ways it can work...

1) The sender has an account with Wise, they enter your normal bank details in the UK, money gets converted and transferred into your normal bank account generally well within 12 hours... if you have a Wise account too then you can give them your email address instead of your bank account details.

2) The sender doesn't have an account with Wise, Wise gives you bank details in the USA and the sender transfers to that account as they would to any other bank account. Wise holds the money on your behalf until such time as you ask for it to be transferred to your normal bank

Wise isnt a bank and therefore doesn't have FSCS protection. Personally, always used option 1 and never had any issues at all. If the amounts you were transferring are more than mine, you dont need the money straight away or you are receiving and payout in USD etc then the second option could be worth a more detailed look into how it all works properly. 2 also avoids the customer having to sign up for a Wise account.