Virtual USD Accounts for Freelancers: How They Work and Which is Best
A virtual USD account gives you a US routing number and account number — your clients pay you 'locally' in the US, avoiding international wire fees. Here's how it works and which platform's virtual account is cheapest.
How virtual USD accounts work
When you open a Wise Business account, you get a real US bank account number (held at an FDIC-insured partner bank). Your US client pays this as a local ACH transfer — no SWIFT fee, no correspondent bank, no wire fee. Wise holds the USD in their US pool and pays you from their INR/PHP/NGN pool in your country.
- Wise: Virtual USD account (routing + account number), plus EUR IBAN, GBP sort code, AUD BSB, CAD, NZD, SGD — 9 currencies total.
- Payoneer: USD virtual account (routing + account number). Also EUR, GBP, AUD, CAD, JPY.
- Airwallex: USD virtual account plus 12+ local currency accounts.
- Revolut Business: USD IBAN (for EU/UK companies). Local account details in 25 currencies.
Which virtual USD account pays out the most?
The virtual USD account itself is free on all platforms. The cost comes when you convert USD to your local currency:
- Wise: 0.45% FX margin → $995.50 per $1,000 converted
- Airwallex: 0.5% FX margin → $995.00 per $1,000 converted
- Payoneer: 2.0% FX margin → $980.00 per $1,000 converted (before withdrawal fees)
- PayPal: 3-4% FX margin → ~$960-970 per $1,000 converted
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ForexFee guides are based on publicly available information and live rate data from Wise's comparison API. For pricing, KYC requirements and current promotions, always check each provider's official site. See our methodology for how we source and rank rates.