Does this sound like a good plan??

I'm moving to the UK in May, and although I do not see any bills coming after I leave, I want to be prepared.  So, I'm going to add my mother to my account and leave a bit of money (like $300-$500), but when I'm overseas I can also add more money with PayPal.

Does that sound like a good plan? Or, can anyone recommend something better? Thanks

it's certainly a workable solution!

See what some of the other posters do in regards to this - im sure there's a multitude of ways and ones that may be cheaper to do as well, there again if you don't expect much movement in the account, you could just stick with this option.

Cheers! Dennis! West London & Slough UK!

I opened up a checking account using my dad's address & put him on the account.  It's good for paying off my student loans plus if he wants to give me money he can just put it in that account and I can do a transfer...it works well for Christmas gifts & when I visit back to the States as I can just use my ATM card there!

I've done about the same thing. I put my parents name on my US bank account. It has been useful. I use it for student loans as well. And for some other things, ordering from US companies, Christmas presents, etc. I still do a little bit of internet work for US clients, so it makes it easier for them to pay me as well. I don't use PayPal, but if you get along with them (I don't) it seems like a sensible extension.

i've done exactly the same thing.  i kept my US checking account, cancelled my savings account.  added my mother to the checking account.  it's also useful when i get checks etc in US dollars.  the one thing i would say is use a US bank where you can use online banking- a godsend!  as for paypal- i'm not experienced enough to comment.

i've done exactly the same thing.  i kept my US checking account, cancelled my savings account.  added my mother to the checking account.  it's also useful when i get checks etc in US dollars.  the one thing i would say is use a US bank where you can use online banking- a godsend!  as for paypal- i'm not experienced enough to comment.

Yes if your mom is on your account, do you need the paypal option?  if your mom is receiving any potential bills, ideally she could just write the check and pay for them?  i don't know anything about paypal, but i wasn't sure if it was necessary for you.  when i left, i didn't add my dad but i did give him a checkbook with a few signed checks for me.  there were a few bills that came in, and he just wrote the payee and amount in and sent them off.  not necessarily a great strategy (signed blank checks = BAD) but it worked for us since the checkbook never moved from his office.

I added my brother to my US account and left some checks with him. Since my bank is a credit union and transferring funds takes forever (two months!) I have US & UK PayPals accounts but I also opened a foreign currency trading account and just completed my first transfer through them. I was pretty happy with the ease of the transfer, the exchange rate I received and the speed (five days). I think you'll just have to try different things and find out which works best for you. Good luck!