For many of us using Upwork, the challenge isn’t just about earning well—it’s about keeping as much of that money as possible.
Upwork offers several methods to withdraw funds, each with its own set of fees, processing times, and challenges.
It isn’t always easy to decide which is the best, and will keep more of the money I earned in my hands.
So I experimented with various approaches, to find the absolute cheapest way to withdraw money from Upwork to a UK bank account.
Direct to local bank account GBP
Upwork’s direct to local bank account withdrawal allows you to directly withdraw your cash to your UK bank account. Sounds simple enough. Do the work, and get paid into your UK bank business account.
There a couple of problems with this though.
- Earnings are in USD, but withdrawals to a UK bank account use Upwork’s own exchange rate, meaning you lose out a little in the conversion.
- There’s a $0.99 charge to get your own money.
- Upwork doesn’t recognise UK digital banks.
I tested a number of leading digital banks to see which ones work with Upwork’s direct to local bank account payments.
Tide, Starling, Monzo, Mettle, and Anna Money all failed. Upwork returned a message that the bank cannot be found. Many digital banks use sort codes beginning 04, but I also tested some with 20, and other codes for a belt-and-braces approach.
Zempler Bank to the rescue
The only digital bank I found to work with Upwork’s direct to local bank account payment method was Zempler.
Unlike many digital banks Zempler (formerly Cashplus) has been offering business accounts to freelancers and small business for over 15 years.
Long enough to be well established and recognised by Upwork for withdrawing your money.
The Zempler Business Go account is free to set up, there are no monthly fees, and no credit checks. You do have to pay £5.99 if you want a physical card though. You get 3 free transactions a month, after which it costs 30p per transaction.
Get a free Zempler business account
A business bank account help you seperate your personal income and expenditure and make managing your business finances and tax a whole lot easier.
The Zempler business account is free to open, with 3 free transactions a month, and just 30p after that.
How to withdraw your money for free
The other way to withdraw your cash is a direct to U.S. bank account withdrawal. These withdrawals are completely free, and there’s no currency conversion so you get to keep 100% of your hard earned cash.
The only issue is, you need a US bank account, and your money will still be in USD, but there’s a way around that to get GBP into your UK account.
Use Wise
This is where Wise comes in. Wise offers personal and business multi currency accounts with local bank details. Its business accounts carry a monthly fee, but its personal accounts are free.
As a freelancer, unless you’re set up as a Limited Company, or earning many thousands a month, you should be fine with a free personal account.
Wise isn’t recognised for withdrawals from Upwork in GBP, but its U.S bank details are accepted for local transfers in US dollars.
Once the money is in your Wise account, you can then convert it to GBP via Wise which has a far better exchange rate, and either send it to one your UK accounts, or spend it directly via Wise.
Get a free Wise account
Local bank details for GBP, USD, and EUR. Super low cost money transfers, virtual cards, and fee free ATM withdrawals.
You can't get much cheaper than Wise
Try Revolut
Similar to Wise, Revolut offers multi currency accounts and also has local US bank details. Revolut’s main business accounts are pretty expensive, but its personal account is free.
Better yet, Revolut offers a free business account specifically aimed at freelancers called Revolut Pro.
The Pro account sits within the Revolut personal app, functions much the same as the personal account, but is authorised by Revolut for business activity.
The method is the same as with the Wise account. Make a free withdrawal from Upwork to Revolut using the local US bank details. Then once the money is in your Revolut account, exchange it into GBP to spend.
Withdrawal methods to avoid – Paypal
For a $2 fee Upwork also offers withdrawals to a Paypal account, which while unfortunately isn’t the end of the world. What makes matters worse though, is Paypal then adds its own charges on top of that.
The Paypal fees include a fixed fee, a variable fee, an international fee, and a currency conversion fee. Upwork swallow some of these costs, but you’re still left with the international transfer and currency conversion.
On a withdrawal worth around £1,000 you’d be looking at £4.99 fee plus a loss based on currency conversion.