If you run an online business that collects payments through Stripe, you’ve probably noticed how much money you lose on currency conversion every time you withdraw to your local bank account. For businesses based outside the US that sell in USD, this adds up quickly.
The good news is there’s a straightforward way to minimize these fees: connect your Wise (formerly TransferWise) multi-currency account to Stripe.
Here’s exactly how it works and why it’s worth setting up.
The Problem with Default Stripe Withdrawals
When you receive a payment in USD on Stripe and withdraw to a European bank account, Stripe converts the currency for you. Their conversion fee is typically around 1% on top of the mid-market rate, plus a fixed transfer fee.
For small amounts this might seem negligible, but at 10,000 USD per month in revenue, you’re losing around 100 USD just on Stripe’s conversion — every single month. Over a year, that’s 1,200 USD that could stay in your pocket.
Your bank may also add its own conversion spread when the funds arrive, eating into your revenue even further.
The Solution: Stripe + Wise
Wise provides you with local bank account details in multiple currencies — including a US bank account (with routing and account numbers), a EUR account (with IBAN), GBP, and others.
By adding your Wise USD account details as your payout bank account in Stripe, withdrawals go directly into your Wise balance in USD — with no currency conversion on either end. The money simply moves from Stripe’s USD balance to your Wise USD balance.
Once the funds are in Wise, you can convert them to your local currency at the mid-market rate with Wise’s transparent fee (typically 0.4-0.6%, depending on the currency pair). This is almost always cheaper than Stripe’s built-in conversion.
How to Set It Up
The process takes about 10 minutes:
- Open a Wise account (if you don’t already have one) and complete verification. You’ll need your ID and proof of address.
- Get your USD account details — In Wise, go to your USD balance and click “Get account details.” You’ll receive a US routing number and account number. These are real US banking details, held at a partner bank.
- Add the bank account in Stripe — Go to Stripe Dashboard → Settings → Payouts → Add bank account. Select “United States” as the country, enter your Wise routing number and account number.
- Set it as your default payout account — Once added, make this your primary payout method.
- Wait for verification — Stripe will send two small deposits to verify the account. This usually takes 1-2 business days. Confirm the amounts in Stripe to complete setup.
From this point, all your Stripe payouts will land in your Wise USD balance.
Important: Stripe’s EUR Withdrawal Fee
One thing to note — for European companies, Stripe charges a 1% fee on payouts in non-EUR currencies. So if your Stripe account is registered as a European entity, withdrawing in USD to your Wise account will incur this fee.
In that case, do the math to see whether Stripe’s 1% USD payout fee plus Wise’s cheaper conversion still beats Stripe’s built-in EUR conversion. In most cases it does, but it depends on your volume and the specific currency pair.
If you’re registered as a US entity on Stripe (which some international businesses are), this fee doesn’t apply and the savings are clear-cut.
When to Convert
One underrated benefit of this setup is that you gain control over when you convert your currency. Instead of Stripe converting at whatever rate happens to be active during your payout window, you hold USD in Wise and convert when the rate is favorable.
You can also set up rate alerts in Wise to notify you when EUR/USD (or your preferred pair) hits a target rate. This is especially useful if you’re dealing with large amounts.
Alternatives to Wise
Wise isn’t the only option for this approach:
- Payoneer — Also provides local receiving accounts in multiple currencies. Fees are slightly higher than Wise for conversion, but Payoneer has better coverage in some markets.
- Mercury — A US-based business banking option that works well with Stripe. Good if you want a full US banking relationship.
- Revolut Business — Offers multi-currency accounts with competitive conversion rates. A solid alternative if you already use Revolut.
That said, Wise remains my top recommendation for most online businesses. The fees are transparent, the platform is reliable, and the conversion rates are consistently close to the mid-market rate.
The Bottom Line
If you’re running an online business with Stripe and dealing with multiple currencies, spending 10 minutes to connect a Wise account could save you thousands of dollars per year. It’s one of those small optimizations that compounds over time.
The setup is simple, the savings are real, and once it’s done, it runs on autopilot.
Related
Hi Jean, thank you for this post, was looking for such solution for a while. I have a few questions and would greatly appreciate if you could help, since it’s not quite obvious how to do what you suggest:
1. Do I have to choose an “international wire transfer” option in 2Checkout for that?
2. If yes, what did you use as a bank name? Because in Transferwise borderless account details there is no information about bank itself. It says Transferwise and then goes the address.
3. If it’s still yes, what did you use for Bank Account/IBAN? Cause again in borderless account details there is no such thing per se. I can just guess that it means “Wire transfer number”, but then I don’t know in which field should I paste my “Account number”
I’m just not sure if I’m seeing the same thing you meant in your article.
Thank you.
Sounds good. So, are you sure does 2checkout accept Transferwise? Thank you!
Yes since Transferwise Borderless gives you the US bank account details that you can then input into your 2Checkout account.