Elevate Pay (Virtual US Bank Account)

[arslanameer]

I recently heard that Elevate Pay (**Edited for Community Guidelines**) has expanded its services to my country (Pakistan) where services like paypal and stripe are not available, enabling remote workers there to establish U.S. bank accounts. This seems like it could streamline the process of earning and transferring payments significantly.

I'm quite interested in understanding more about this development, particularly in the context of Upwork's policies. Are there any specific clauses or terms in Upwork's agreement that address the use of virtual remote accounts like the ones offered by Elevate Pay?

Moreover, I'm contemplating adding a U.S. bank account directly through Elevate Pay, which would naturally be registered under my name. My main concern is whether this approach is sustainable and secure in the long term. Does this arrangement pose any legal issues or conflict with any of Upwork's terms and conditions?

This innovation appears to be a significant advancement, especially considering the potential cost savings when comparing Elevate Pay with current services like Payoneer.

I'm keen to gather insights from Upwork on this matter.

[bobafett999]

If they say that you will have a virtual USD account, you may want to try out.  Buy remember it is a small startup, it could fail!

Share you experience.  Other freelancers would appreciate that

[ashrafkhan81]

As far as I know, there is nothing in Upwork ToS to suggest Virtual Accounts are not allowed, I have used virtual accounts in the past and have restarted using virtual accounts recently. They work fine. 

But like Prashant mentioned if it is a new company they may fail, I faced the exact problem while using a Virtual account from Aeldera Bank. Aeldera worked fine and was a great convenience to store dollars, they offered highly competitive exchange rates and all but one fine day we received an email from them asking to withdraw all funds as they were shutting down the operations. 

I did not lose any money but it was a lot of inconvenience to find another service provider, and in the meantime I had to use Upwork local transfer which is very expensive and does not offer FIRC certificates. 

Be careful! 

[umair-ikram]

Elevate works the same way Wise works by giving you a USD bank account which you can add in upwork as payment option and without any deduction full amount will be reflected in your elevate/ wise account and you can then withdraw it in PKR. 

[arslanameer]

Hi Umair,
Thank you for your response.
I created a Wise account last year but haven't had the chance to use it. Being in Pakistan, would you suggest I use Wise instead of Payoneer? Or, if possible (I haven’t checked yet), should I add both Payoneer and Wise accounts and use them at my convenience?
I have heard news of people with around $5k having their Payoneer accounts suddenly blocked.

Also, Isn't it more convenient to use Direct Transfer than adding something in the middle? As $0.99 is total fee?
I have been using Payoneer ever since i created Upwork account.

[umair-ikram]

Hello Arslan,

With Payoneer, there is a minimum balance limit at withdrawl, With wise you can even withdraw 2 dollars as well. I have been using wise for over two years now and i found it the most convenient. As far as Direct Transfer is concerned that comes down to the exchange rate and usually it was much lower than the market rate. For example If 1 USD = 281 PKR , the upwork will give it around 269. So you are loosing money at the exchange rate level. I hope this helps

[83516784]

Hi M.Umair
How long it will take to get USD from Upwork to elevate?

[9a8ab8a4]

I added Elevate as a payment method on Upwork, but it is inactive. 

Can you please help me in this regard?

[64ed25ba]

Hi Faizan, I need your help in adding elevate as a payment method on upwork

[shoaib_baloch]

It will be active within 3 days.

[5b80ae6c]

Hi Umair,

Can you please tell me if Elevate pay if legit or scam ? I've recenlty created my account but I'm not feeling comfartable transfering USd to it. Please let me know if it works or you have tried it yourself 

[tansain]

Elevate pay is FDIC insured, wise and payoneer are not, i think you should add all virtual accounts in your upwork account and use as per you conveinve!

[fb21]

Please read these images about FDIC with Payoneer and Wise.

[a5d194fa]

It works pretty well actually. I added my Elevate bank account to Payoneer and the funds reached my elevate account after a few hours of withdrawl (probably becuase I did it after business hours). And, it is a blessing for those platforms where Payoneer isn't supported. Elevate is getting SWIFT transactions enabled pretty soon so any  user will be able to  send and receive international transactions to supported countries. 

I'll give it at least a year before keeping a large balance in it tho. They claim not to randomly ban user accounts with no explanation like Payoneer but let's see after it gets more popular in Pakistan.

[danyal105]

Hi! What is the exchange rate offered by Elevate in Pakistan?

[anas786]

I have been using Elevate Pay since December and it was working like a charm. But Today when I logged in to my account I saw a screen "Your account is temporarily suspended. We will reach out shortly." However, I was only using it to withdraw my freelancing amount. Now my funds are stuck there and they don't provide any chat support or customer call center. They only have email addresses on which I don't know how much time would they take to respond.

[fb21]

remember it is a small startup, you may use it for testing and trying it out.

you can email 'em at: hello@elevatepay.co

[amir_cap90]

Thank you everyone, your insights are helpful. I’ve been using Wise for several years and recently connected my Upwork Elevate account. It typically takes two days for Wise to transfer USD from Upwork to my Wise account, which is likely why I qualified for Elevate.
I will keep posted about my elevate experience.

[danyal105]

Hi! What is the exchange rate offered by elevate in Pakistan?

[amir_cap90]

I withdrew last week and they do charge 1.5$ as their service changes, and their rate is 277$.

[arslanameer]

Hi Amir,

Did you connect Elevate Pay directly with Upwork or with Payoneer?
I ask because Payoneer deducts a percentage when transferring USD to a USD bank account.

Are there any Upwork charges during the transfer to Elevate Pay?
How long does it take to transfer the amount?

With Payoneer, on working days, I can receive my amount from Upwork to my PK bank in just an hour or two, with no hassle.

[amir_cap90]

Elevate gave me US bank details which i do connect with Upwork and i withdraw on Friday the funds came to my elevate on Monday afternoon. There ia no any Upwork charges for this.