Introduction
Here’s something worth sitting with: Sub-Saharan Africa saw a 130% growth in freelance job postings between 2023 and 2025, making it one of the fastest-growing freelance regions in the world. African talent is in demand like never before. And yet, for many of those freelancers, a painful slice of every payment disappears before it ever reaches them, swallowed by withdrawal fees, conversion charges, and the invisible tax of using the wrong payment infrastructure. One of the biggest reasons? Not using direct payment methods like ACH, which move money efficiently without unnecessary intermediaries or hidden costs.
The work is global. The earnings should be too. But getting there requires understanding one thing most freelancers overlook entirely: how their money actually moves. Specifically, ACH and why it might be the most important three letters in your payment setup.
This is where Cleva comes in.
With Cleva’s ACH support, you can receive payments directly from platforms like Upwork, Deel, Payoneer, Gusto, Rippling, PayPal, and Contra into your USD account. You keep more of your money with lower fees, your dollars stay intact, and you earn Cleva points on every USD deposit you receive.
What is ACH and why should every remote worker care?
ACH stands for Automated Clearing House, and it is the backbone of US domestic transfers. It is the same network that powers direct deposit, payroll, and bill payments across American businesses every single day. When a platform sends an ACH payment, it moves money directly to your account using your US routing and account numbers; no wire, international relay or chain of correspondent banks adding fees at each stop.
This matters enormously for Nigerian freelancers and remote workers, because most local bank accounts and even many fintech wallets simply are not set up to receive ACH. Cleva changes that by giving you a real US bank account, one that platforms like Upwork, Gusto, and Rippling recognise as a legitimate US destination.
Every major platform, one ACH-ready Cleva account
Upwork is where millions of freelancers bill clients every week. By adding your Cleva routing and account number as a US bank account in Upwork’s withdrawal settings, your earnings route directly via ACH. With this, you don’t need any middleman eating into what you earned. Even better, Cleva charges ZERO fees on your Upwork withdrawals. This means that your Upwork deposits into Cleva are completely free. For more context, if you withdraw $500 from Upwork, exactly $500 lands in your Cleva account. You get to keep every dollar.
Deel has become the standard for remote workers employed by international companies. If your employer processes payroll through Deel, your salary or contractor payout arrives directly into your Cleva USD account via ACH. exactly the way a US-based employee receives their paycheck.
Payoneer itself supports ACH withdrawals to US bank accounts. Rather than leaving your money sitting in a Payoneer wallet where conversion fees are waiting, withdraw to Cleva via ACH and keep your dollars in USD until you decide to convert, on your terms, at your chosen rate. And guess what? It’s cheaper for you.
ACH payments from Gusto, Rippling, PayPal and Contra, all in one place
Gusto is the payroll platform of choice for thousands of US startups and growing companies. If you’re on a US company’s payroll through Gusto, as a contractor or full-time employee, your ACH direct deposit lands automatically in Cleva every pay cycle. Set it once, and it runs itself.
Rippling powers HR and payroll for a growing number of global-first companies. The process mirrors Gusto: add your Cleva account details as your bank account in Rippling. Each payroll run sends your money directly via ACH, with no delays or unnecessary stops.
PayPal may surprise you here. It supports ACH transfers to linked US bank accounts, even with its steep fees and poor conversion rates. By linking your Cleva USD account to PayPal, you can move funds easily. This lets you keep your dollars intact instead of triggering PayPal’s automatic conversion.
Contra is built specifically for independent professionals and creators who want to work without platform commissions eating into their rate. Contra supports direct US bank transfers, so adding your Cleva account details means your project payments arrive via ACH, untouched.
ACH on Cleva means low fees
ACH transfers are among the cheapest payment rails in existence. Many platforms charge nothing or close to nothing to send one. Compare this to wire transfers, which often charge fixed fees on both sending and receiving ends. Payment wallets also hide conversion spreads you may only notice after checking your balance.
Because your Cleva account holds real USD, there’s also no forced conversion on receipt. Your dollars arrive as dollars. You decide when and whether to convert. For freelancers billing high monthly volumes, the difference between ACH into a USD account and any other withdrawal method is not a rounding error. It is a meaningful sum staying in your pocket instead of disappearing into someone else’s fee structure.
Earn Cleva Points on every ACH transfer
Every ACH transfer received into your Cleva USD account earns you Cleva points, redeemable for better exchange rates, cashback, and more. This means your Upwork payout, your Deel salary, your Gusto payroll cycle, every one of them builds your points balance while it builds your USD balance.
It is the only payment setup where getting paid actually pays you back.
Setting up your withdrawal method only takes few minutes
Open the Cleva app, navigate to your USD account details, and copy your routing and account number. Go to whichever platform you receive payments from and add it as a US bank account, the section is usually labelled “bank transfer,” “direct deposit,” or “withdrawal method.” Save the details, and the next time a payment processes, it heads directly to Cleva via ACH.
One setup. Every platform. Automatic from there.
Conclusion
African talent is powering global businesses at a scale that would have seemed impossible a decade ago. The payment infrastructure supporting that talent should match its ambition. ACH into Cleva is not a workaround, it is the same direct, low-cost rail that US-based workers have used for years, finally accessible to you.
Stop losing a percentage of every payment to fees that exist simply because of where you bank. Open your Cleva USD account, add your details to your platforms, and let ACH do what it was built to do, move money cleanly, quickly, and cheaply.
Share this article
