Best Multi-currency Account for Sole-trader?

Izzy_Skint_2

Hello folks.

Just starting up my business as a sole trader. It is likely that I will be looking for clients from abroad. It is therefore also likely that I will be requesting a fee in GBP, so I will need an account that will automatically convert to the local currency, and then, of course house that fee in my account (I would assume converting it back to GBP).

My annual income will be modest.

Does anyone know of an account that can offer this?

Many Thanks. 

DullGreyGuy

Izzy_Skint_2 said:

Hello folks.

Just starting up my business as a sole trader. It is likely that I will be looking for clients from abroad. It is therefore also likely that I will be requesting a fee in GBP, so I will need an account that will automatically convert to the local currency, and then, of course house that fee in my account (I would assume converting it back to GBP).

My annual income will be modest.

Does anyone know of an account that can offer this?

Many Thanks. 

So you want to bill your client £1,000 but expect that they will send you us$1,350 if they are states side. Are you wanting to hold it in USD or auto convert it to GBP when it hits? Or keep it in USD? 

If its the later, which currencies do you need to be able to hold?

Any normal account will convert non-GBP to GBP when its paid in; if you are invoicing them in GBP you need to be clear what happens when they dont pay in GBP and there is an excess/shortfall depending on FX and banking fees. 

PRAISETHESUN

Surely if you bill the client in GBP then the onus is on the client to pay you in GBP and manage the conversion (and any associated fees) on their end? What advantages do you foresee in billing and potentially holding foreign currencies on your end?

Izzy_Skint_2

PRAISETHESUN said:

Surely if you bill the client in GBP then the onus is on the client to pay you in GBP and manage the conversion (and any associated fees) on their end? What advantages do you foresee in billing and potentially holding foreign currencies on your end?

Hello. To be honest I'm fairly new to this, so I suppose out of curtosy I would have asked them to pay in their currency. However, I suppose as I am the country hosting the service I would charge in GBP, yes?

This is part answers Grey Guy's post as well?

Thanks for your input.

DullGreyGuy

Izzy_Skint_2 said:

PRAISETHESUN said:

Surely if you bill the client in GBP then the onus is on the client to pay you in GBP and manage the conversion (and any associated fees) on their end? What advantages do you foresee in billing and potentially holding foreign currencies on your end?

Hello. To be honest I'm fairly new to this, so I suppose out of curtosy I would have asked them to pay in their currency. However, I suppose as I am the country hosting the service I would charge in GBP, yes?

This is part answers Grey Guy's post as well?

Thanks for your input.

Depends if you want FX risk or not, if you want different currencies or not, if you want to have differential pricing for different countries to mitigate the FX risk. 

Personally my company charges in GBP, my overseas clients can instruct their bank to send me £10,000 or whatever their bill is and thats what then comes into my account. I dont accept card payments but it would be the same if I did. I dont have use of holding other currencies and dont want the risk of a currency tanking and then I've only been paid 80%

If I were buying supplies from the US then maybe I would be happy to bill in USD but would then want an account to hold USD so I could use them to pay my suppliers who all bill in USD because they dont want FX. 

Else could follow what other companies do and charge my UK clients 100% my normal rate and charge my overseas clients 110% of my normal rate but in their currency which protects me from FX but it depends if those overseas will pay the premium.

PRAISETHESUN

Izzy_Skint_2 said:

PRAISETHESUN said:

Surely if you bill the client in GBP then the onus is on the client to pay you in GBP and manage the conversion (and any associated fees) on their end? What advantages do you foresee in billing and potentially holding foreign currencies on your end?

Hello. To be honest I'm fairly new to this, so I suppose out of curtosy I would have asked them to pay in their currency. However, I suppose as I am the country hosting the service I would charge in GBP, yes?

This is part answers Grey Guy's post as well?

Thanks for your input.

You can realistically invoice in any currency you wish, but it makes most sense to keep it in GBP since you are resident in UK. I personally would keep it simple and stick to GBP, otherwise you expose yourself to additional banking fees, exchange rate risk, etc, all of which will eat into your profits.

Izzy_Skint_2

Thank you very very much for that folks. I think I was overcomplicating the matter. However, as a matter of interest I am trying to search for what the potential charges are on an account ,should a client pay me in foreign currency. I've tried several search terms, to no avail. Can anyone help in that respect, or has knowledge of a particular account with reasonable charges?

Thanks again.

wmb194

Izzy_Skint_2 said:

Thank you very very much for that folks. I think I was overcomplicating the matter. However, as a matter of interest I am trying to search for what the potential charges are on an account ,should a client pay me in foreign currency. I've tried several search terms, to no avail. Can anyone help in that respect, or has knowledge of a particular account with reasonable charges?

Thanks again.

You could look at Wise.

https://wise.com/gb/business/

friolento

WISE or iFast