Getting paid across borders without the bank eating your margin

The first time a US client paid me, the invoice said one number and my bank credited a smaller one. No fee line — just a worse exchange rate than the real one. That gap is the single most ignored cost in a one-person cross-border business.

Where the money actually leaks

• The FX spread. Banks quote you a rate 2–4% worse than the mid-market rate and call it “no fees”. The spread is the fee.
• Double conversion. Client pays USD → bank converts to EUR → you spend in EUR. Sometimes it converts twice. You pay each time.
• Incoming wire fees. Flat charges that hurt most on smaller invoices.

The setup that fixes most of it

Hold a multi-currency account with local receiving details in the currencies your clients use. Then you get paid like a local in USD, GBP or EUR, hold the balance, and convert only when the rate suits you — at the real mid-market rate.

For most EU solos this is the boring, correct answer:

Not sure which account to open first — or whether you need a separate business account at all? I lined up the options in best business bank accounts for EU freelancers.

What the spread actually costs: a worked example

Numbers make it concrete. Say you invoice a US client $2,000 and the real mid-market rate would give you €1,850. Here’s the gap, depending on how you receive it:

One invoice, up to ~€70 difference. Repeat that across a year of foreign clients and you’re donating a holiday’s worth of money to a spread you never agreed to.

A simple rule of thumb

If more than ~20% of your income arrives in a currency you don’t spend, a multi-currency account pays for itself in the first few invoices.

What this is not

A multi-currency account is a money layer, not accounting. It won’t do your VAT, your OSS, or your bookkeeping — keep those separate (see the invoicing & accounting roundup). Mixing the two is how solos end up with a shoebox of FX screenshots at quarter-end.

Bottom line

You can’t control your clients’ currencies, but you can stop donating 3–5% of every foreign invoice to a spread you never agreed to. Fix the money layer once; it keeps paying you back.

Part of the banking for freelancers in Europe guide — and see the best business bank accounts for EU freelancers.

Part of the complete EU admin guide for solopreneurs.