Saving for a move? (Currency)

I've got at least three years until it's practical for me to move to the UK, but I've decided to start saving for it now. But the money I'm earning is in US dollars, and I'm concerned about how the dollar will be doing three years from now.

Due to the fact that I don't have a UK address, I've found it impossible to open a bank account in the UK -- anybody found a way to handle this?

What I'm planning on doing is buying £50 notes every time the exchange rate is good, and keeping the collection of £50 notes in my safety deposit box in the US until I graduate/get a job/work permit/visa/etc. That way my savings won't be hit by fluctuations in the dollar.

Does anybody see a flaw in this plan, or a better way to do it? How have you handled saving for an international move?

Welcome, Raccoon!

Best of luck in your plans!

Regarding opening a UK bank account, I did have an address over here so I can't help you. But this thread has a lot of info about banking: http://talk.uk-yankee.com/index.php?topic=5567.45. Hope it helps!

you can open a HSBC bank account in the US.  and then after 6 months you can open a UK sterling account.  there are notes throughout the forum about people who have done this.  you could do a wire transfer everytime the exchange rate is good. 

Meggles, are you sure about that?
I work for a bank, and at one time worked on the New Account Sanctioning helpdesk, so i had to know the rules inside and out.  It's been a couple of years since then, but Im pretty sure that ALL UK banks require you to prove you have a UK address.

in this thread a poster mentioned that at HSBC you can open a joint US/UK Account. 

http://talk.uk-yankee.com/index.php?topic=15411.msg164515#msg164515

They must have been referring to a UK resident opening a UK account with HSBC, then opening a US dollar account.


Many US banks offer a US dollar/Canadian dollar account.  Do any banks in the US offer the same for US dollar/UK pounds sterling?