For the past year I worked on a remote contract with a US tech company. Paid in USD, ultimately needing Korean won. Simple, right?
Then a year in, I actually reconciled what landed in my account. The exchange rate had gone up — and yet my real received amount was lower than I'd expected. I traced it, and money was leaking at every step of the transfer path I hadn't been watching.
This is what I learned switching routes over that year: from a direct bank wire to Wise, the real cost difference, and one right buried in my contract. If you're a freelancer or contractor in any country earning USD from abroad, this should save you something.
Money leaks in more than one place
Getting USD from overseas into local currency looks like one step. It's actually at least four:
- The wire fee from the US bank, through correspondent banks, to the receiving bank.
- The exchange rate the receiving bank applies — this is the big one.
- The receiving fee on the destination side.
- A hidden "lifting charge" some correspondent banks skim.
The largest is the rate. Banks quote two rates, and the "buyer rate" applied when an individual sells dollars is worse than the mid-market reference — typically a 1.5–2% spread. On $1,000, that's $15–20 gone to the rate alone.
That number looks small. Accumulated over a year, it stops looking small.
Route A — receiving directly through a major US bank
My first setup was the simplest: the company wired USD to my US bank account, and I wired it on to my Korean bank. I picked this at contract start without much thought, assuming the client would conventionally cover fees anyway. (Lesson one: specify the transfer method, route, and who pays in the contract.)
The problem was the bank's exchange rate. It applied the buyer rate straight up, with a wider-than-usual spread versus mid-market — plus a send fee, plus the Korean receiving bank's fee.
I only noticed months in. Comparing statements, there was a steady 2–3% gap between the won I'd expect at mid-market and the won that actually arrived. Per dollar, ~20–30 KRW. On a monthly contract amount, a meaningful sum was vanishing every single month — at the high end, over 300,000 KRW in a month.
The moment I realized 2–3% of my contract was a constant that disappeared whether I worked or not, I decided to change routes.
Route B — switching to Wise
I landed on Wise. It's the most-recommended option among Korean freelancers, minimizes the middle margin, and gives a rate close to actual mid-market.
The limit worry turned out to be a non-issue. Before switching, my biggest concern was Wise's annual receiving limit for personal accounts — there's a lot of "you'll need a business account" advice out there (I looked at OFX as a backup for this reason). In the end I finished the contract comfortably inside the personal limit. Monthly and annual caps both apply, but at my contract size there was room. Calculate your projected annual receipts first; if you're under the cap, there's no reason to jump to a business account.
The cost difference was obvious from month one. The spread versus mid-market dropped to less than half, and fixed fees are shown transparently — no "skimmed somewhere in a correspondent bank" black box.
Roughly:
- Direct bank wire: ~2–3% loss vs. mid-market
- Wise: ~0.7–1% loss vs. mid-market
Same contract amount, only the route changed, and the monthly received amount went up. Over several months that added up.
Putting a year in numbers
Comparing a full year on the bank route (hypothetical) vs. Wise (actual), ratios only:
- Bank route: final received ≈ 2.5% under mid-market
- Wise route: ≈ 0.8% under
- Difference: ≈ 1.7 percentage points
Annualized, 1.7% of the contract total came down to route choice alone. Same work, same contract, one variable swapped. Small monthly, not small over a year.
The clause hiding in your contract
Here's the most important find.
Most remote contracts contain something like "payment to a bank account designated by the contractor." Read literally, that means the contractor can designate the method and route too — not just the account number.
I used the bank route early on simply because I set it up that way out of ignorance, not because the company required it. Mid-contract I requested a route change, and the company accepted with zero friction. The transfer route is the contractor's choice, not the company's prerogative.
Had I known this on day one, I'd have used Wise from the start. The cost of not knowing, over a year, was real.
Checklist — if you're in a similar spot
- Decide the transfer route before you start. The company's default is its convenience, not your optimum. Direct wires from large US banks tend to be expensive.
- Calculate projected annual receipts first. Under the personal cap? Skip the business account. Over it? Consider running OFX or similar in parallel.
- Read the "designated account" clause carefully. In most standard contracts the route is your call, and asking to change it is no big deal for the company.
- Reconcile every statement against mid-market. If the spread stays above ~2%, it's time to switch.
I hope this protects a few people's annual pay.
If you get paid across borders, what's your routing setup? Anyone found something cleaner than Wise for KRW (or your own currency)?
