Working from home and freelancing for foreign companies is becoming increasingly popular in Africa. However, most cross-border payments do not support incoming payments in some African countries.
As a result, most African freelancers and remote workers struggle to receive foreign currency payments. Even when these platforms allow incoming payments, they can be pretty expensive and slow.
Grey Finance and Geegpay have streamlined the process of receiving foreign currency and withdrawing it into your bank account. Their services allow you to receive, swap and withdraw multiple currencies.
In this article, we’ll highlight their features and differences to help you choose the best platform for receiving foreign currency payments.
Read Next: Fastest and Cheapest Ways to Send Money to Nigeria in 2022
What Can I do with Geegpay?
Geegpay makes payday way easier for African remote workers or freelancers. It’s not just a platform to receive money, you can also receive money and transact seamlessly by requesting a foreign account with Geegpay.
When you sign up with Geegpay, you have access to several services including virtual foreign accounts, cards, transaction statements, smart invoicing, and more.
Another upside of using Geegpay is that you can exchange currencies for free on the platform. You can also use the virtual foreign account on any platform that accepts EUR, GBP, and USD accounts, such as Deel, Payoneer, Fiverr, and others.
You can use your Geegpay virtual cards to make direct purchases in foreign currency across many websites.
Grey Finance: Send and Recieve USD, GBP, and EUR With Virtual Foreign Accounts
Geegpay’s main focus is to enable freelancers and remote workers to be paid in foreign currency without friction. However, Grey Finance focuses on allowing Africans to receive and send money to friends, family, and employees abroad.
Grey.co also offers instant currency conversion for a small fee; you can convert to your local currency or any other currencies available on the platform.
You can also sign up conveniently with the grey mobile in a few minutes with your smartphone; Geegpay hasn’t launched its mobile app.
Creating and Verifying an Account: Grey Finance vs Geegpay
Opening an account with Geegpay is pretty straightforward. First, visit the website, then click on “open an account”.
Next, register with your legal name (the name on your government ID), email address, and a secure password. After that, confirm your email and finish the KYC verification by submitting your ID.
Grey finance accounts are just as easy to create. Visit the website, select the option to create an account, and then fill out all the required fields.
Following that, verify your email and Identity by uploading your government ID and recording a short video of your face.
Both platforms verify your account within 24-48 hours; if your account hasn’t been verified within this period, reach out to their support.
Keep in mind that if your government ID is blurry or your profile name doesn’t match the ID you submitted, your verification may delay or get rejected.
What Countries Do Geegpay and Grey Finance Support?
Both Geegpay and Grey finance allows you to receive foreign currencies from the UK, US, and most European countries. However, only Nigerians and Kenyans can currently open virtual foreign accounts with Grey Finance.
Geegpay, on the other hand, allows you to convert to more than five African currencies on the platform. These currencies include Nigerian Naira, Ghana Cedis, Rwanda franc, Egyptian Pound, Kenyan Shillings, and South African Rand.
Geegpay also provides free direct bank transfers and mobile money withdrawals to all of the countries listed above.
Grey vs Geegpay: Exchange Rates and Withdrawal Speed
A major benefit to signing up with either Geegpay or Grey finance is that they both use fx rates. So, you’ll be getting a high value for your money when receiving foreign currencies into your account.
Payments take one to two business days to appear in your Grey and Geegpay account. For USD payments, it can take 3-5 business days if the sender uses ACH transfers.
Also, withdrawal to your bank account or mobile money is instant on both platforms.
Also Read: Fastest and Cheapest Ways to Send Money to Nigeria in 2022
Charges: Conversion, Receiving Fee
Grey finance and Geegpay are pretty transparent about their charges. Grey charges a receiving fee of 1% while Geegpay charges 0.9% with a minimum of $1 charge.
Currency conversion and withdrawals are absolutely free on Geegpay. However, you’ll have to pay a small fee for swapping currencies with Grey finance.
Find out more about Grey finance currency swap fees
You can also use Geegpay to send money to family and friends for free using their custom tag or email.
Debit Cards
You can create both virtual and physical debit cards on Geegpay. These debit cards allow you to make both local and foreign transactions seamlessly.
One significant advantage of using the Geegpay physical MasterCard is the ability to make cross-border payments from anywhere in the world. When traveling to other countries, you can easily use your physical card to make purchases and pay for services.
Grey finance hasn’t launched debit cards yet but you can fund your grey account with your virtual or physical debit cards.
Geegpay vs Grey Finance: Credits
A major advantage of using Geegpay is that it allows you to collect payday loans and build your credit score.
You can finance your workspace equipment, and alternative power sources e.g solar to make your remote work go smoothly and pay back with low interest.
Geegpay enables you to collect low-interest payday loans by providing payment proof to lending platforms, with your permission of course. Your eligibility for payday loans is dependent on your credit score and your calculated average pay.
Geegpay vs Grey: Customer Support
More than anything else, both grey finance and Geegpay have excellent reviews from users.
Also, both platforms have an extensive knowledge library that answers most of your questions about using their platform. These self-help docs guide you on how to create an account, guidelines for receiving payments, and more.
They also provide fast and helpful customer support if you encounter any issues with their platform.
Smart Invoicing
Most freelancers struggle with having a fixed payday, but with Geegpay, you can set up a smart invoice that reminds your employer to pay you at the scheduled time.
Geegpay allows you to auto-bill your employer either weekly or monthly on a set date, reminding them to pay you.
Grey finance does not currently offer this feature, but your virtual foreign account is fully functional; once your employer pays you, you will receive it within 24-48 hours.
USD Account Regulations
Grey finance allows you to receive payments into your USD account via wire and SWIFT transfers, whereas Geegpay accepts payments via wire, SWIFT, and ACH transfers.
As a result, you can’t collect USD payments on Payoneer with Grey finance, but you can collect GBP and EUR payments.
Also, Geegpay only allows US residents and US banks to send you money, but people outside the US can send you money on your Grey finance USD account.
Conclusion
Both Grey.co and Geegpay allow you to receive, hold, and swap multiple currencies. The fees for receiving, withdrawing, and exchanging money are also transparent and affordable across both platforms.
While Geegpay supports more African currencies than Grey Finance, Grey Finance allows you to access your account via mobile, making it the more flexible option.
Leave a Comment