I have 300k standing on my paypal

[makaylaglynn]

@linlou I couldn't find a solution. The solution would be to transfer the PayPal balance to a Transferwise USD account, but PayPal only allows transferring to SEPA EUR accounts. I called them too, but no success.

 

[a313931]

@makaylaglynn I have a solution. Make a revolut account, add your revolut card (it can be the virtual or physical one) to your paypal account. Then write to paypal support and tell them that you want to change your card's (the revolut one) currency into USD. Then withdraw your funds into your revolut card. The fee is only 2.50$ per withdraw and then you can convert your USD into EUR in revolut app with amazing exchange rate without fees. If you decide to try it, please try it with smaller sum at the start. I tried it few months ago and it worked great. The only downside - the revolut card has to be VISA card. I have no idea how they decide which card you get.

 

[makaylaglynn]

@a313931 Sounds promising! What do you do with your Revoult money afterwards? Do they offer a saving account where you can keep your money or do you transfer them from Revoult to a real local bank account?

 

[yochanannorth]

@makaylaglynn Do not do this unless you have bulletproof proof of source for your funds. Revolut are going to rain down HARD on your if you randomly create an account and add 300k on it.

 

[makaylaglynn]

@yochanannorth You're one of the many persons who are recommending not to do that. Why is a local bank account a better way? Why is Recvoult stricter?

 

[yochanannorth]

@makaylaglynn Let me preface by saying that I've never had a problem with Revolut, so I'm not one of those anti-Revolut shills. I've been using it for more than 5 years without any issues. I added my paycheck when I first started using it to expand my transfer limits.

However, I've never really put too much money into it. Riskiest thing I've done is transfer 5k from a third person account from outside the EEA and everything was fine.

That said, I have a history with the bank. I have used it for legitimate purposes for a long time so I'm not the kind of account that's usually caught by AML regulations. On the other hand, a brand new account transferring 300k out of nowhere is almost sure to trigger anti money laundering procedures. In this case they will lock your account and make you go through the ringer to prove the funds are yours. At the end, which may take months, they may decide to simply return the money to where it came from.

A brick and mortar bank operates quite differently. They are not so gung-ho on AML because they don't need to be: they won't lose their license any time soon. You can also establish trust much better by coming in a branch and explaining the situation face to face. They at least know you're a real person and not some sock puppet in Russia with cloned documents. Finally, they usually want customers with high savings who they can sell their shitty funds to, so they will at least hear you out.

My advice, walk into a brick and mortar bank, ideally an international bank like HSBC and request speaking to the manager. Then explain that you want to open an account for your 300k on Paypal and would like to consider investing it. You don't have to invest it with them, but this will encourage the manager to help you. Make sure you bring all your invoices and taxes, even if as a show of good faith. Bring your ID (more than one it you have), residence permit, anmeldung if you need it where you live and anything else which you think might be useful. Make sure you check the bank website before on documents. Good luck!

 

[makaylaglynn]

@yochanannorth I am going through all the comments now and yours caught my attention. I like to do it the safe way, so yours is the most attractive solution.

You said:

Ideally an international bank like HSBC and request speaking to the manager.

What are the benefits of having an international bank? What can a bank like HSBC do that a non-international one such as Sparkasse cannot?

 

[yochanannorth]

@makaylaglynn The staff are better trained to handle these situations for one. Secondly you said that you are non EU, and this can simplify some aspects of moving large quantities to another country. You can open an HSBC account from anywhere in the world from your original account and transfer money between them.

 

[a313931]

@makaylaglynn Convert USD into EUR (if you decided thats what you want)(with metal or premium upgrade there is no monthly limit, otherwise you can convert only 1000€ monthly without fees) and then I would definitelly transfer them to a real bank(should be free SEPA payment) or directly into your brokerage. It is possible to use revolut as your main bank account but imo with 300k it is too risky. They sometines block accounts and their support is really bad. Revolut offers investing into stocks and cryptocurrencies but i would strongly advise not to use it. (The same reasons, support is really bad, and you dont really own the shares)

 

[samsonrise]

@makaylaglynn Revolut is known to close accounts and freeze money too. You can use it to withdraw money from PayPal and move most of the money to a safer, traditional bank. If you don’t know anything about investments look for professional help in your country. And please diversify your investments, you don’t know what could happen in the future.

 

[xlaurax]

@a313931 The problem would be on revolut you can also get your account blocked for months, at least get the premium so you have priority support if you try this. Moving 300k on the free account just opened last days will definitely start some aml checks

 

[nonkazimulo]

@makaylaglynn From personal experience, best way I found is to open a USD account with my local bank (in the EU), with a physical card. Add that card to PayPal (don't think I had to call them to change currency as the card already identified as USD) and start withdrawing 5k at a time, 20k per day (I had this weird $45k/month withdrawal limit). The fee in my case is $10 from PayPal for every 5k and the money come directly into my USD account. Negotiating the USD/EUR rate directly with my bank is actually very good for larger amounts, comparable to what Wise and Revolut offers.

 

[makaylaglynn]

@nonkazimulo That's some real solid advice! Thank you! How do you decide when it is the best day to execute the conversion at your bank. The way I understand it the rate of the bank (even when negotiated) is depended on conversion rate of that particular day. I have found myself waiting endlessly forever for the "best" day. Do you see some currency forecasts or just pull the trigger any day?

 

[nonkazimulo]

@makaylaglynn

That's some real solid advice! Thank you! How do you decide when it is the best day to execute the conversion at your bank. The way I understand it the rate of the bank (even when negotiated) is depended on conversion rate of that particular day. I have found myself waiting endlessly forever for the "best" day. Do you see some currency forecasts or just pull the trigger any day?

Well, you don't have to convert your money to EUR... However, dealing with USD bank transfers as a European incurs a lot of ridiculous fees (I've seen $40+ USD for $250 bank transfer...) so for me, it's always cheaper to keep them in USD at my bank and exchange to EUR when I need to ... at the current rate (whichever it is), then do a SEPA transfer. But I'm not really worried about the exchange rate - it's one of the risks when you accept payment in USD in the first place.

 

[lumatt21]

@nonkazimulo I second this. This is the way to go. If you are dealing with these sums of money, establish a relationship with a “real” bank so that you can manage better the risks from the strict regulatory framework (money laundering, known your client, terrorism, …). Shop around for the best bank for your setup if you don’t have one yet (e.g. one that is optimised for freelancers, expats,…). Ideally, physically meet them and discuss with them about the expected transfer. They may also offer you other options for the transfer (e.g. temp US$ account with special deal for converting the full amount once arrived).
Good luck!

 

[makaylaglynn]

@lumatt21 Would N26 be a real bank? I know Revoult is not, but not sure about N26.

 

[lumatt21]

@makaylaglynn From what I know, it is. But they don't have branches so probably no direct contact (face to face) with their representatives. And as their offering is digital you'll probably be restricted to whatever is digitally implemented in the app.

 

[masterbuilder1769]

@makaylaglynn Transferwise and revolut lock accounts also.

How are you this stupid, withdraw to a real fucking bank and invest.

 

[evietheturtle]

@masterbuilder1769 To be fair a real bank would also trigger some extra checks if you suddenly just transferred 300k into your account. But yeah, at least you have some real person to talk there, instead of some shitty only customer support.

Transferwise shouldn't be too bad though. They seem to want such people as customers... They even have written articles for that specific use case: https://wise.com/gb/blog/how-to-send-money-from-paypal-to-transferwise

 

[praisehisname9]

@makaylaglynn Try yo talk to Revolut, may be they can help to convert the money cheaper.