Moving Money from the US to the UK

My husband and I have moved to the UK and have recently sold our house in the US, we have the moeny we made from the sale in our account in the US and we were wondering if anyone had transferred large amounts of money from the US to the UK and the best ways of doing it i.e. being charged the least amount.  We would really appreciate any suggestions anyone had.

Thanks

Me too!  I'll be doing the same thing.    I would love to know this as well

~Liza

As it's likely to be a large sum of money, you'll get a much better rate with places like this, there are also companies where you can place a deposit and lock in your exchange rate;

https://www.xe.com/fx/how.htm

A lot of people on the immigration forums have recommended them, they're easy to call and deal with etc. There are also various threads on this if you do some hunting around UK Yankee on the expat boards.

Good Luck.

I have done it through paypal, but I don't think it's the best way, the exchange seems to be off and they charge a fee as well.

i will be transferring the deposit for my UK house from US bank (schwab) to UK bank (Natwest).  They quoted very good rates and only $35 charges.  best yet- they convert the money from US into UK pounds sterling before its transferred out- so that my UK bank can't *bleep* it up.  see if your US bank does a wire transfer.

i thought about doing it other ways, paypal, physically writing a US check and sending it to my UK bank, bankers drafts, etc...

now if i could just get the exchange rate down to 1.6 i'd be set.  anyone have a crystal ball?

Yes, best way is to wire-transfer the funds from bank to bank. Check the wire transfer fee with your US bank and the exchange charge and conversion rates with both your US and UK banks and how either bank normally handles this type of transaction. I suggest waiting until the dollar is stronger again or just wire transfer what you need until it *is* stronger.

Of note: wire transfer fees are not based on the amount normally and not that costly.

I will ask my husband about this for you too; he's a banker in London now, formerly a banker at his bank's US branch and knows both sides of the pond--give me a day or so as he's away on a business trip.

 

 

i will be transferring the deposit for my UK house from US bank (schwab) to UK bank (Natwest).  They quoted very good rates and only $35 charges.  best yet- they convert the money from US into UK pounds sterling before its transferred out- so that my UK bank can't *bleep* it up.  see if your US bank does a wire transfer.

i thought about doing it other ways, paypal, physically writing a US check and sending it to my UK bank, bankers drafts, etc...

now if i could just get the exchange rate down to 1.6 i'd be set.  anyone have a crystal ball?

Does the $35 include the NW receive fee? It's definitely a secure and speedy way to do it, but yes it sucks you are stuck with the banks exchange rate.

Here is another company I have seen recommended on various Immigration forums like VJ, where you can lock in a rate and then wait to see if it gets stronger or weaker.

If anyone finds a crystal ball, I'd like to see it as well please
http://www.hifx.co.uk/pservices/emigration.asp

I'm moving this to the Money Issues Board so that it might get more responses.

new-dawn- i hadn't thought of NW's recieving fee.  since the money is in pounds sterling it should be minimal.  i'll call them and ask.

It takes a lot of fiddling, but we're getting an account with www.xe.com - to do transfers with them. My husband has a lot of old workmats who use xe for transfering money from US to UK and back.

It takes a lot of fiddling, but we're getting an account with www.xe.com - to do transfers with them. My husband has a lot of old workmats who use xe for transfering money from US to UK and back.

Heya. I'm going to take a look at these other options New-Dawn and Marlespo are presenting.   

Yes, my DH did indeed confirm that wire-transfering from bank to bank is an easy and safe route of transferring funds. But hell, if there is a better way to do this with as secure a route with less monies spent on fees and better FX rates? Why do it any other way? I'm all ears.

btw, have you all thought about starting a 'wives investment club'? I haven't read through all the posts in the forum yet, so maybe you have. I know when I was living in Taiwan, the flippin' wives were sitting at the stock market all day. This was their job. Imagine. These ladies were making money. No joke.

Meanwhilst, I know I come off pretentious and self-righteous at times, but I learned a lot in Germany and Taiwan with my ex-pat experiences and I may be coming off too strong. Ignore me when I go off the handle, eh? Or... let's pull together....because--

If we're not having fun, why do it? 

 

 

   

My husband and I have moved to the UK and have recently sold our house in the US, we have the moeny we made from the sale in our account in the US and we were wondering if anyone had transferred large amounts of money from the US to the UK and the best ways of doing it i.e. being charged the least amount.  We would really appreciate any suggestions anyone had.

Thanks

I sold up in the States last year and when I got here opened a Lloyds TSB account after a sit-down with one of the branch managers to introduce myself and explain what I wanted to do. After checking my passport, Visa and proof of residence I was given an account. Lloyds charges 8 quid per transfer, and once you're set up by providing your Stateside account number, routing number, etc it's converted to British Sterling and in your British account within 48 hours. Just write yourself a check from your American bank, deposit it , sign a transfer form and thats it....tellers deal with it everyday so it's no great mystery to them. Within days of opening the account I had a Visa debit card to access our funds and within 6 months from opening the account Lloyds sent me an application for a VISA Platinum card with a 5000 quid limit.  Simple form, I filled it out and was approved within 10 days. That kills 2 birds with 1 stone because that gets you into the British credit reporting system (which I believe is Equifax U.K) then within a few months your'e off to the races because you can apply for a mortgage, store cards, etc

disclaimer....I doubt very much that this is exclusive to Lloyds TSB but they've done right by me so far, I may not eventually get my mortgage through them when I decide to buy (or IF since prices are so high.....but thats a story for another day )

My husband thought that we might deposit our money in a bank that has branches in the UK (specifically Liverpool).  What are the snafus with that? 

The biggest difficulty I had was having a credit union in the US that would not do international wire transfers.  So, if you can, while still in the US, open an account with BofA or Wells Fargo, some place that will do the transfer.  Because of my difficulties, I have my mother mail me a cashier's check that I deposit here in my HSBC account.  It's the easiest way to do it and not pay huge fees.

my sister just bought a house in canada and she used a service called Custom House Foreign Exchange.  they have a UK branch, i'm going to give them a call and see if they'll give me a better rate than my normal bank.  we'll see...