Any tips for managing business's USD Funds and minimising banking fees?

jlim87 on 19/05/2019 - 20:28

Hi,

So I regularly receive funds paid in USD to my business Paypal account, and also via direct deposit. Each time this happens, NAB obviously converts it at their rates. I usually leave as much USD in Paypal as possible as I can use that to make USD payments and save on the unnecessary currency conversion fees. However I would soon be more regularly going over to the US for work, and was wondering what is the best option for me to save money from frees.

I've read about Transferwise which sounds amazing and would immediately help me save from those bank fees, however I'm waiting for their Mastercard to be available to Australian users so I could have USD sitting in the bank account, and I just use their Mastercard when I wanna make payments in USD either when im there or online.

Is there any one in the same scenario and what is your payment flow?

Financial

Comments

  • meowsers on 19/05/2019 - 20:59

    You could get a multi currency account through HSBC. Easy.

    https://www.hsbc.com.au/accounts/compare/foreign-currency/

    Another option would be a Citibank US account and Citibank AUD account linked and you can use their global transfer feature for instant transfers, but limited w/ exchange rate and I think there is a markup obviously.

    My personal trick is to use a Stripe Merchant account and transact based on currency there. Much easier.

    • jlim87 on 20/05/2019 - 12:04

      I haven't called them yet, but those do look like personal accounts rather than Business ones.

      Also, yeah they would be a mark up, unlike transferwise which is close to XE.com rates and very transparent. I'll look up Stripe, thanks

  • Raheen on 19/05/2019 - 21:14

    Non residents can open USD bank accounts, but you have to go to the US to do it in person (Nevada bank branches I've heard get alot of this, casinos overseas money maybe money laundering perhaps) then use transferwise… I send money to and from Japan but I have a bank account on both sides, not sure you can send from paypal to transferwise to so that they convert to AUD and deposit in your account here.

  • Clear on 19/05/2019 - 21:50

    Instead of a US bank account there is Payoneer which is commonly used instead of PayPal by the affiliate community. The fees are smaller than AU banks (in my experience), it can be linked up to your local cards and you can get a Payoneer Mastercard but that has a ~$30 annual fee.

    • jlim87 on 20/05/2019 - 12:01

      Thanks, I'll look it up!

  • Yoo on 19/05/2019 - 21:52

    I use Stripe for my non-AUD business transactions. It goes straight to my NAB account. Less fees and much better conversion rate than Paypal!

    Transferwise card is great. I use it for my personal transactions in the US and Europe. Not sure about their business integration (insurance, handling refunds, …) Stripe is great for that.

    • jlim87 on 20/05/2019 - 12:01

      I assume you have Transferwise linked up to a personal bank account in the US/EU?

      Would love to use Stripe only, but some clients just only pay via PayPal which is annoying as their conversion rate sucks too.

      • Yoo on 20/05/2019 - 19:00

        TW opened a bank account in US and EU (Germany) for me and it's linked to my AU personal account. I transferred some money on these accounts (usual low TW fees) and I use the card as any local do. No fees or exchange rate and I can even take some cash out at the ATM.

        • jlim87 on 21/05/2019 - 11:55

          Thank you, this sounds amazing. Will contact them, cheers

  • Richfield on 19/05/2019 - 22:31

    NAB offers USD bank accounts which would save the conversion.

    • jlim87 on 20/05/2019 - 11:59

      Thanks, didn't know about this. The only downside I can see right now (without calling them yet so I could be wrong), is that I assume I wouldn't have a debit/credit card for this USD account that I can use while I'm in the US.

      And when I do want to convert it to USD, I'd still be subject to NAB's bad rates. (Unless I send it to Transferwise, convert it there, and withdraw it and pay a < $2 transferwise deposit fee)

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