Reducing exchange rate costs for hirers

[aabb97f2]

Hi There, I work in Ireland and I hire developers from around the world.  I use transferwise to get good exchange rates and along with that I get a US bank account with an ACH number.  Unfortunately that account cannot accept direct debits, however I can make internal US payments from it.  Is there any way I can fund my upwork development using this account and avoid the crazy credit card fees i pay from a euro credit card account??  Or does anyone have any other ideas??

[VladimirG]

Hi Cormac,

Can you please confirm you're referring to the bank account you tried setting up on your account and for which you received a notification from our team yesterday? If that's the case, please refer to the explanation our team shared, follow the outlined steps and follow up on the same ticket once you have more information, so our team could assist you further.

[aabb97f2]

Hi Vladimir,  I had the account set up as the primary funding dource, however when you tried to take payment you could not as the account does not allow DD.  When I spoke to your representative, they told me that you only accepted bank payments from US customers with US bank accounts and that customers in other countries need to use a credit card.  That costs me an additional 5% in credit card and exchange rate costs compared to US cusotmers.  Your representative told me that they would raise the issue but could not give me any commitment to come back to me on progress.  That leaves me stuck.  My request does not seem unreasonable, I have a US account and I can make payments from that to any other US account, my request was that you create some way that I can pro-actively fund my account in Upwork rather than you collecting the funds.  

[cupidmedia]

Upwork isn't a bank, so they can't hold on to funds in a balance for you. It's unlikely they're going to change their system just for you.

However, have you considered using PayPal and funding that with funds from your USD bank account? You still need to have a credit card attached to your PayPal account as a backup funding source for Upwork to accept your PayPal account, but you could run a balance on it by adding funds to it from your USD bank account. PayPal will always pay Upwork from your balance first.

I'm in Australia and I have been paying Upwork from my USD PayPal balance for 5+ years now without an issue. The only drawback is that this method doesn't allow me to choose the flat $25/month payment processing fee with Upwork, I have to pay the 2.75% fee on each transaction. But saving on currency conversion was worth it for me.

[bobafett999]

Don't you guys have a credit/debit card company that has zero foreign transaction fees?  In US there are several. I have some of them. I have observed that for foreign transactions debit cards are the best - you almost get the best price at the time the transaction hits your account.

[aabb97f2]

HI Prashant,  We do have such companies, but they also have a large spread on the exchange rate.  By making the payment in dollars, I can buy dollars at a much better rate than any credit card company will provide.

[bobafett999]

---

@Cormac M wrote:

HI Prashant,  We do have such companies, but they also have a large spread on the exchange rate.  By making the payment in dollars, I can buy dollars at a much better rate than any credit card company will provide.

---

 I believe based on my experience debit cards are best for cash withdrawls. Here, you are trying to sub-optimize three balls - foreign transaction fees, float and spread.  Look at each option in totality rather than individual components.

[aabb97f2]

Hi Jennifer,  Thats a great suggestion -- I have just looked though and my Paypal account is in Ireland and it seems I can only add European bank accounts to it.  I will call Paypal and see though.  If it works I will post

[aabb97f2]

Hi Jennifer,  I have tried to open a Paypal US account, but it requires a US Social Security Number -- which I don't have.  Do you have any workaround?

[cupidmedia]

Sorry Cormac, not sure. The account I use for Upwork is my employer's business account. But in my personal Australian PayPal account I can add USD to my currency list, so if I receive payments from other people in USD it won't be converted. I can also use PayPal's own currency exchange to convert my AUD balance to USD. You might need to contact PayPal to see if what you want to do is possible.