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Topic: Opening a bank account in the UK  (Read 873 times)

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Opening a bank account in the UK
« on: December 14, 2017, 06:06:14 PM »
Hi,We are selling our home in Texas and moving to the Uk next year. Im from the UK my husband from USA. We have a bank account over here, its a second chance bank and they dont transfer internationally. I dont hold a UK bank account anymore so does anyone have any experience with HSBC or Loyd's bank. Ive seen online that they have international banking accounts. Also, is it possible to transfer money through transfer wise from the account.


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Re: Opening a bank account in the UK
« Reply #1 on: December 14, 2017, 06:11:16 PM »
Hi,We are selling our home in Texas and moving to the Uk next year. Im from the UK my husband from USA. We have a bank account over here, its a second chance bank and they dont transfer internationally. I dont hold a UK bank account anymore so does anyone have any experience with HSBC or Loyd's bank. Ive seen online that they have international banking accounts. Also, is it possible to transfer money through transfer wise from the account.

HSBC and Lloyd's "international banking" services typically require a sizable minimum balance.  But if you're selling a home, you may have the requisite funds to qualify.  I don't.

But I just kept my US-based credit union account for stateside banking, and I have a Lloyd's account for over here.  I use Transferwise to move money from one to the other, and the transaction fees are less than 1% of the transfer amount.  It's all quite reasonable.
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Re: Opening a bank account in the UK
« Reply #2 on: December 14, 2017, 06:13:29 PM »
  I use Transferwise to move money from one to the other, and the transaction fees are less than 1% of the transfer amount.  It's all quite reasonable.

And very easy! Another fan of Transferwise!  :)


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Re: Opening a bank account in the UK
« Reply #3 on: December 14, 2017, 10:23:41 PM »
Hi,We are selling our home in Texas and moving to the Uk next year. Im from the UK my husband from USA. We have a bank account over here, its a second chance bank and they dont transfer internationally. I dont hold a UK bank account anymore so does anyone have any experience with HSBC or Loyd's bank. Ive seen online that they have international banking accounts. Also, is it possible to transfer money through transfer wise from the account.

Our son was in a similar position, and moving from Texas. He opened a regular HSBC account in the USA in January this year. Shortly before moving he put over $200k into it - his house buying money. That got him to Premier status such that when he moved over in September they treated him well and were very helpful in opening a UK HSBC account and he then transferred his money and 10 weeks later bought a house.

You can use Transferwise to move money from the US account to the UK account (or anywhere else) and we regularly do so as sums under $100k are much cheaper with Transferwise.
Dual USC/UKC living in the UK since May 2016


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