Do you need to receive money from your business partners, employers, or loved ones abroad? Well, Paypal is one of the fastest options. However, in Nigeria, you can only use your Paypal account to send money abroad. This means since it’s not functional here, you need Paypal alternatives to receive foreign currencies.
While many Nigerians opt for a foreign verified Paypal account, the risk associated with this method outweighs the pros. For one, you could get scammed. That’s why we recommend signing up for financial apps that allow you receive foreign payments directly into your account. In this article, we’ll be listing out a few of these Paypal alternatives so you can try them out.
1. Grey Finance
Grey formerly known as Aboki Africa, allows you to create foreign bank accounts in USD, EUR, or GBP. This is an excellent choice if you’re a freelancer or remote worker looking for a Paypal alternative to directly receive payments online. Especially since each bank account comes with an IBAN and routing number – making it suitable for business transactions. With Grey, you can also swap your foreign currencies to Naira at competitive rates and withdraw it directly to your local bank account.
Opening a Grey account is completely free and you don’t need a minimum account balance to start receiving payments. Although, you’d be required to verify your account with a government-issued ID. It’s also an ideal option if you’re looking to send money from Nigeria abroad.
2. Skrill
Skrill is an international payment solution that allows you to receive money from anywhere in the world. It’s very similar to Paypal and it’s available to Nigerians. All you have to do is create a personal account on Skrill. Once you’ve set up and verified your account with a government-issued ID, share your registered email address to get paid. Again, ensure you only share the email address linked to your Skrill account.
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Once you’ve received payments, withdraw directly to your Nigerian bank account. The downside to using Skrill is that the withdrawal charges are a bit high. However, if you don’t mind paying 5 Euros to withdraw, then it’s an excellent alternative.
3. Chipper Cash
Looking to receive USD? While Chippercash allows you to send and receive payments across Africa. Recently, they launched money transfers to and from the United States. On the app, however, you can still receive money from the UK and Uganda. Although, the payments will be immediately converted to US dollars.
Unfortunately, since you can’t carry out currency exchange directly on the app, you’d have to connect a domiciliary account to withdraw your USD. This means you need a dom account with any of their partner banks – First Bank, Zenith, FCMB, or UBA. Once this is sorted, simply withdraw and head over to the nearest branch to get your cash.
4. Eversend
Eversend is a multicurrency app that allows you to receive foreign currencies, hold and exchange them. So far, you can receive USD, EUR, GBP, and Naira on the Eversend app. Each currency has its wallet so if you receive USD for example, it’ll automatically be in your USD wallet. You can then choose to swap this USD to Naira and withdraw it to your local bank account.
However, to receive foreign currencies on Eversend, your sender has to also create an Eversend account. This is because since it’s a wallet, you don’t get a foreign bank account for receiving direct transfers. If you’d like to explore this solution, download the app to get started.
5. Payoneer
As a Nigerian business owner, Payoneer is a great way to manage your international business transactions. Like most examples on this list, you’d get a foreign bank account from any of the available eight countries of your choice. Some of these countries include the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada. This means you can get paid like a local.
Once you receive payments, you can connect your Payoneer account to a Nigerian bank for seamless withdrawals. With this, you get the equivalent of whatever currency you’re trying to exchange. The only downside to using Payoneer is that it can take days to get your funds after a withdrawal.
6. Lemonade Finance
Do you want to receive foreign payments from the United Kingdom or Canada? Then Lemonade Finance is a Paypal alternative focusing on these two regions. Although it’s more of a wallet-based system so it’s more suitable if you’re receiving money from a family member or loved one. Simply get them to download the mobile app and create a GBP or CAD wallet. Thereafter, they can fund their lemonade wallet via direct debit.
From the Lemonade app, they can transfer the equivalent of a foreign currency directly to your bank account. You don’t have to worry about any conversions or fees as all transfers on Lemonade are free.
7. Geegpay
Targeted at freelancers and people who get foreign gigs, Geegpag is a way to receive payments for your foreign gigs. All you have to do is create a foreign bank account on the site and send it to your employer. Once you receive payments, you can immediately exchange your money ad withdraw it to your local bank account. If you’d like, you can also request for a virtual card for easy spending. A unique feature of this app is that you can create invoices and automate your billings.
We hope this list has been helpful. Let us know which of these Paypal alternatives you’ve tried and the ones you’re looking forward to using in the comments below. Don’t forget to share this post with your friends who might just be looking for how to receive payments from abroad.
