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Comment by scrollaway | Hacker News Reader

My company is with SVB because we couldn't find a good alternative that had decent rates for international transfers (US 100% remote company, international founders).

Open to suggestions...

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How about a combination of any other US bank + Transferwise? This is what I do (using Bank of America in the US). The transfers to Transferwise go through their US account (thus can be done as a no- or low-cost ACH) and the rates by Transferwise are pretty close to market rate.

Word of warning: I used to love Transferwise, but they completely shut down a good friend of mine's account and froze his funds, stranding him in Europe without any money. They flagged his account, saying he was selling illicit substances and being paid through his Transferwise account, which is completely absurd. If you knew this guy... Anyway, it took him weeks to get the money released, and even then most of it was not deposited into his account, but instead sent back to the senders (his family). Minus fees, of course. Which, granted, aren't very much. :P

Considered it, then SVB came back with a better offer. "Other banks" not being that attractive or much better than SVB in the first place, either, and having to deal with two systems rather than just one.

Wish there was something like Simple / N26 for businesses.

Simple seems great, but its daily/monthly transfer limits are really scary. I'm not in the habit of wanting to exceed them, but I can think of some one-off events where you might want to (restructure your investments, do something with your bonus, buy a car, buy a house, etc) and the idea that you straight-up can't should give anyone pause.

Where are you getting this 'straight up can't' from? You can just call them and they will temporarily raise it for you.

And, when/if they say no?

That's pretty much the state of banking in the US, already.

Currencyfair.com is pretty awesome. It's not a bank but you can keep money in it and send international transfers. It's basically a p2p currency exchange company.

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