A bank account solution for US expats

If you need a US bank account geared towards US citizen expats American Citizens Abroad and the State Department Federal Credit Union have got together to offer an account that can be opened from outside the USA, provides inexpensive international transfers through Wise, and says it give easy online access from overseas. This could be a very useful tool at a time when some US banks and brokerages are making it difficult for their expatriate customers,

https://www.americansabroad.org/sdfcu-account/

That link doesn't work. 

I'm looking for a US bank that I can open a checking account (while we're still in the US) that I'll be able to use in the UK. I saw that Chase and Citi have options and seem to have locations in the UK - anyone have any experience with either of those? The HSBC option is cost prohibitive for me with their large fees.

Our current bank in the US seems to have issues whenever we try to make online or international purchases, so we're ready to drop them and move to someone we can use once we move. We want a real bank, not a Wise account.(We already have Barclay's accounts, so don't need a UK-only bank)

Any suggestions would be appreciated!

That link doesn't work. 

Try: https://www.americansabroad.org/sdfcu [nofollow]

Wife and myself opened a joint account (checking+savings) with minimal fuss, although we are still in the USA. Be prepared to be redirected to some funky URLs with names like app.loanspq.com and zixmail etc during the verification process. Apparently no credit check as we have ours volunaterily frozen at all 3 credit bureaus. SDFCU web interface looks decent.

My daughter moved back from the USA 18 months ago. Her Chase US account works just fine from the UK and she easily opened a Chase UK account within days of arriving in England. She stayed with us initially and opened her account online. No need to prove UK address with a utility bill or anything.

Still no problems with Chase?  Did she keep her USA account open?

Just doing some preliminary legwork. My ex-employer's pension entity will not send pension payments to financial institutions out of the USA. Social Security is, of course, no problem. So I need to keep a US bank account to receive the pension payments.  If having a Chase account in the States would facilitate receipt and then transfer of the pension funds, that would be ideal.

(Have an inquiry in with the federal credit union via ACA, as their online literature seems to lean heavily to my needing to have a smartphone to download aps and use "what's ap", when I would not be planning to own a smartphone. I've asked if they can do online banking via a PC, as does BofA.)

Still no problems with Chase?  Did she keep her USA account open?

Just doing some preliminary legwork. My ex-employer's pension entity will not send pension payments to financial institutions out of the USA. Social Security is, of course, no problem. So I need to keep a US bank account to receive the pension payments.  If having a Chase account in the States would facilitate receipt and then transfer of the pension funds, that would be ideal.

(Have an inquiry in with the federal credit union via ACA, as their online literature seems to lean heavily to my needing to have a smartphone to download aps and use "what's ap", when I would not be planning to own a smartphone. I've asked if they can do online banking via a PC, as does BofA.)

She still has no problems using her Chase US account.

It is good that you are checking what is required for 2FA. At a minimum I expect you will need a US phone number.

Good to know.  Hopefully the Fed CU will serve in the US to accept my pension payments and I'll periodically transfer them abroad as required through something like Wise or Revolut, or XE.  Just in case BofA were to cut us off as customers if we have no US address. Doesn't hurt to already have a second bank set up.

Chase seems to have a presence in France as well. So I'm checking them out for our "in country" bank.  It would be nice if being with one of their other-country affiliate institutions smoothed the way and I could keep accounts open in both countries. Apparently BofA has an affiliation with a version of BofA in France, but it's a little complicated getting info on it.  (Slow going when reading French.) When I was looking at banks in Ireland several years ago there was BofA, but only for business customers. So...?

I will have the same phone number I've had for decades. Using CallCentric my number goes where-ever I go and text messages can arrive/be sent via my desktop. I can also plug in a landline handset and it serves as a USA telephone for conversations. It worked fine for us while we were in the UK. I used to enjoy hearing the USA-ring on the phone when one of the Daughter's friends called.

Of course, while online banking with BofA was no problem from the UK, the online banking w/RBS had me having to insert my debit card into a number generator that created a code for me to use every time I wanted to log in to online banking even while there.  Hopefully it won't be that complicated with the credit union or whichever bank we end up with there.

My daughter is very happy with Chase.co.uk so I’m guessing their French offerings are going to be good as well.

As a backup I created a free Wise USD account which has a US routing number and account number. I have it linked to my Vanguard account so when I make a Vanguard withdrawal it goes straight to my Wise account and then it takes less than a minute for me to transfer it to my UK bank.

Good to know. I'll check with the retirement accounting wonks at the university to see if they'll deposit to Wise.

Good to know. I'll check with the retirement accounting wonks at the university to see if they'll deposit to Wise.

It will not be Wise, which is not a bank, but a bank associated with Wise. My USD Wise account is held by Community Federal Savings Bank, 89-16 Jamaica Ave, Woodhaven, NY, 11421, United States which is their partner bank in the United States. (The routing number points to this bank, and my account number is with them)

Got it.

I also spoke to my local credit union and they said it was fine with them if I didn't have a US address. So there's that. Will be speaking with Chase next week. I have a friend in Texas and a relative in Florida who both said I could use their addresses as needed.

Our lease is up in October. We can sign a month-to-month after that, if needed.  If things keep on as they are, I'm not sure I'll be able to stay until the mid-terms are over to see how it sorts out. They won't be clean no matter what the results.  I'm thinking maybe the thing to do is to go to the UK for a few months, and pop to France to house-hunt from there. If I go over first, there's no time-limit on how long I can stay in the UK (at present) as an Irish person.  The daughter has up to six months, I think. So it would seem to make sense that I go on ahead for us, and then have her ship what we'd be shipping once I have an address to ship it to. (Assuming her visa is approved.)

If you're ever looking for a Mortgage - I'd be happy to go through it with you.