Bank recommendations for small business (GK)

[AreTheyTheLemmings?]

I use Wise to pay contractors who are overseas. It works fairly seamlessly with my company's bank account. No complaints.
I've never used it to receive business payments, so I don't really have any insights to offer regarding that.

[RetireJapan]

It is possible to set up 'virtual' bank accounts in other countries with Wise, which would make it very easy for companies in those countries to send you money.

[Yossarian]

Wise works well. My clients pay USD into my Wise virtual USD account. Then I transfer to my Japanese account.

There are transfer limits of 1M yen I think with Wise. Anything more than that you might have to split transfers. I'm not 100% sure about that so if you expect to invoice more than 1M yen, you should check.

Stripe is good if you want to offer CC payments to your clients. The fees and exchange rates aren't as favourable as Wise though.

[cocacola]

Wise works well. My clients pay USD into my Wise virtual USD account. Then I transfer to my Japanese account.

There are transfer limits of 1M yen I think with Wise. Anything more than that you might have to split transfers. I'm not 100% sure about that so if you expect to invoice more than 1M yen, you should check.

Ah, I think I did read something about a 1M yen limit with Wise... so, is that limit for the funds incoming into the Wise account (ie. client payments), or, say from your Wise USD account to your Japanese bank account?

I am expecting to invoice more than $10K USD, so I need to find a solution that is easy for the clients to make the payments, as well as not have limits to my business...

Would there be any other alternatives to check, if Wise has a 1M yen limit on incoming payments?

[Yossarian]

Limits are on transfers into Japan. And how much you can hold in an account - they give you 30 days to transfer excess of 1M though so not a huge deal.

Invoices over $10k might be better to send Swift transfer and then do the exchange in Japan. It will be slightly cheaper (fee thousand yen or so) each time that way. Your clients can do the Swift transfer for you. Or you can do it from your Wise virtual account. (Check the japanfinance subreddit - someone did a great break down of this recently)

Wise might be a little more expensive than swift + exchange in your J bank. But it's super easy. Money enters my Wise account and within minutes it's in my J account. Swift payments can take several days though.

[cocacola]

Invoices over $10k might be better to send Swift transfer and then do the exchange in Japan. It will be slightly cheaper (fee thousand yen or so) each time that way. Your clients can do the Swift transfer for you.

The few times I had to do SWIFT transfers were such a pain in the ass. I just want to reduce as much friction as possible so that... ahem... there's no excuse for paying me If I am invoicing that amount (or more), then saving a few bucks is not that big of a deal to me. I just want the payment process to be as worry-free for my clients as I can possibly make it for them. Have you had your clients do SWIFT transfers to you? How did that go? Have making SWIFT transfers gotten better? I had to recently (about 1-year ago) do an IBAN transfer online and it was a serious pain...

Or you can do it from your Wise virtual account. (Check the japanfinance subreddit - someone did a great break down of this recently)

Ah, I will check it out, thanks for the tip.

Wise might be a little more expensive than swift + exchange in your J bank. But it's super easy. Money enters my Wise account and within minutes it's in my J account. Swift payments can take several days though.

That lag-time for SWIFT transfers to make it through... that's also another pain. If all else fails, I'll have to ask clients to do more than one transfer... but it would be great to not have that hassle.

Thank-you for your advice!!

[Yossarian]

I just want the payment process to be as worry-free for my clients as I can possibly make it for them.

Wise for transfers into a USD virtual account and Stripe for CC payments is smooth and worry-free. I only do Wise at the moment but if a client was determined to pay by CC, I'd use CC.

I don't mind paying a little extra (and it's really not much) for Wise because of how easy it is for everyone.

[cocacola]

Wise for transfers into a USD virtual account and Stripe for CC payments is smooth and worry-free. I only do Wise at the moment but if a client was determined to pay by CC, I'd use CC.

I don't mind paying a little extra (and it's really not much) for Wise because of how easy it is for everyone.

@Yossarian

I have done some research, and it seems that most major banks require a monthly fee for a business account... however, when researching into Rakuten business banking (as you had suggested), it appears that there is no monthly charge to have a business account.

I wanted to look further into this, but there is not much more information on their site, other than a little splash graphic that says "no monthly management fee".



Could you confirm that having a Rakuten business account is in fact free from monthly fees?

I am leaning towards your setup where you have a Rakuten business bank account, connected to a Wise account...

[Yossarian]

I set up a Rakuten business account. It's free. But I'm a freelancer so not sure if it'd be the same for a GK.

Tbh, I don't use that account anymore cos transfers aren't free. Also, as a freelancer isn't any need for a business account. So I set up a second account with SMBC instead — get free transfers with their olive accounts.

[cocacola]

I set up a Rakuten business account. It's free. But I'm a freelancer so not sure if it'd be the same for a GK.

Ah, okay, I will do more poking around and see if the rules are different for a GK.

Thanks very much!